A screen free afternoon · Local
A screen free afternoon near Concord Mills
The local version of the question: how far, how long, and is it worth it.
Screen free is easy to say on a Saturday morning and hard to do by two in the afternoon.
From Concord Mills the practical question is timing rather than distance. Arriving in the first hour after opening is worth more than shaving minutes off the drive.
Getting there
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.
The quietest hour of the week is the first one on a weekday morning in term time. The busiest is Saturday around midday.
What you will find
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.
Nobody has to ban anything. Children put the phone down on their own when the alternative is better.
How long to allow
Screen free is easy to say on a Saturday morning and hard to do by two in the afternoon.
Photograph the machine as well as the child. In two years you will have forgotten what the room looked like.
Worth the trip?
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.
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.
Questions parents ask
Is there screen time involved?
The machines are levers and cables. The ice is ice.
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.
How do I get in touch?
By phone on +1 (424) 387-6232 or +1 (615) 968-4925, or by e-mail at info@newlife-entertainment.com.
Planning your visit in Concord Mills
Families searching from Concord Mills are usually weighing one thing: whether it is worth the trip for an hour of something the children have not done before. The honest answer is that it depends on the child, and the rest of this page is about telling which.
A short visit that ends while they still want more beats a long one that ends in a meltdown, every time.
Bring a snack for afterwards rather than during. Hungry children leave early and full children want to stay.
Nothing about the visit assumes you know the area. The centre is inside Concord Mills, which is signposted from everywhere in Concord and impossible to miss once you are there.
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
The two centres are at 433 Opry Mills Drive in Nashville and 8111 Concord Mills Blvd in Concord, open 10:00 AM to 8:00 PM most days and 11:00 AM to 6:00 PM on Sunday.