A screen free afternoon · Guide
A screen free afternoon in Nashville: the practical guide
This is the practical version - what it is, who it suits, what to bring, and what usually happens in the first ten minutes.
Screen free is easy to say on a Saturday morning and hard to do by two in the afternoon.
Nothing about the visit assumes you know the area. The centre is inside Opry Mills, which is signposted from everywhere in Nashville and impossible to miss once you are there.
What it actually is
The feedback loop is the same one games use - do a thing, see a result, adjust - except it happens with hands, in a room, with other people watching.
Warn a nervous child about the noise before you walk in. Knowing what to expect is most of the difference between anxious and curious.
Who it suits
What replaces a screen has to be more interesting than a screen, which rules out most of the obvious answers. A machine a child actually controls is one of the few that works.
Nobody has to ban anything. Children put the phone down on their own when the alternative is better.
What to expect
Screen free is easy to say on a Saturday morning and hard to do by two in the afternoon.
A short visit that ends while they still want more beats a long one that ends in a meltdown, every time.
Before you go
The feedback loop is the same one games use - do a thing, see a result, adjust - except it happens with hands, in a room, with other people watching.
What replaces a screen has to be more interesting than a screen, which rules out most of the obvious answers. A machine a child actually controls is one of the few that works.
Questions parents ask
Is there screen time involved?
The machines are levers and cables. The ice is ice.
Where is New Life Entertainment?
Two centres: 433 Opry Mills Drive, Nashville TN 37214, and 8111 Concord Mills Blvd, Concord NC 28027.
What are the opening hours?
10:00 AM to 8:00 PM Monday to Saturday, and 11:00 AM to 6:00 PM on Sunday.
Planning your visit in Nashville
If Nashville is home, this is the sort of place you end up returning to rather than ticking off. That changes what a first visit is worth planning around.
Check the day of the week against the closing time before you leave. Sunday finishes earlier than the rest of the week and catches people out.
If it is the first time, do not also make it a birthday. Learning a place and celebrating in it are two different visits.
The nearest of the two centres to Nashville is the one to aim at - Opry Mills in Nashville - and the drive is the ordinary sort rather than an expedition.
The practical details
- XCAV ZONE — 433 Opry Mills Drive, Nashville TN 37214: four child-operated machines over a ball pit.
- ICE PARK — 8111 Concord Mills Blvd, Concord NC 28027: a real rink with bumper cars on the ice.
- Opening hours — 10:00 AM to 8:00 PM Monday to Saturday, 11:00 AM to 6:00 PM on Sunday.
- Phone — +1 (424) 387-6232 · +1 (615) 968-4925
- E-mail — info@newlife-entertainment.com
Questions about a specific day, a group or a party are best asked directly - info@newlife-entertainment.com, or either of the numbers on the contacts page.