Kid Friendly Attractions (Jackson, Franklin, Lebanon: salon, to rent, hotel)

[jay vanvolkinburg]

My wife, 14 yoa daughter, and 7 yoa son, and I will be visiting Nashville in July to look at the different neighborhoods that we might be interested in moving to in the Spring/Summer 2010.
Can you help us out with attractions to take our children in between visiting various neighborhoods and looking at houses; eg zoo, etc.
Thank-you,
Jay

[alleycat]

Some possibilities:

The Adventure Science Center
Centennial Park
The Hermitage (home of Andrew Jackson)
Bicentennial Mall
The Country Music Hall of Fame
Riverfront Park and the Lower Broad/2nd Avenue N. area
The Wave Pool
Radnor Lake
The Natchez Trace Parkway (run by the National Park Service)
A Nashville Sounds baseball game (if you're from a place that doesn't have pro baseball; if you're from a city with a major league team, forget it)
The Nashville Zoo
Opry Mills and the Opryland Hotel
Belle Meade Plantation (if one of the kids is a horse lover)
General Jackson Showboat
Warner Parks
Old Hickory or Priest Lake (the kids might like Priest better)
The Ryman Auditorium
The Frist Center for the Visual Arts (there's a special hands-on kids art place on the second floor)
The Union Station Hotel (next door to the Frist)
Cheekwood (they usually have some special outdoor exhibit in the summer that kids would enjoy)

By the way, it will probably be hot and humid come July. Dress in light clothes, drink plenty of liquids, stay in the shade as much as possible.

[dawn4261]

Hey alleycat, you forgot about nashville shores.(water Park)
You can take an hours drive to Kentucky to Beach bend park (Amusement and waterpark) or Kentucky down under. My girls loved both these places.
How about Laser Tag downtown or Glow Galaxy(jumpy place) in Franklin. Opry Mills mall also has glow golf.
Bledsoe creek is a nice park & so is Cedars of Lebanon. Some have lake swimming and boats to rent.
Some towns have Splash pads where the kids can play in water for free. There's one in smyrna at Gregory mill park, one downtown, one in Lebanon at Dox fox , and there's some others maybe someone else can help with the location of.
How about berry picking? We go to Pratt's orchard in lebanon. I'm sure there is some kind of berries available in July. Maybe strawberries. They have a website. Call before you go.
There are also bowling alleys, roller skating & ice skating arenas, one in nashville and one in Franklin.
You absolutely have to go to a little ice pop shop called Las Paletas. They are located on 2907 12th Ave. S in nashville across from a little park. It is hidden a bit in the corner next to a salon with no sign but it's there. They make the best gourmet ice pops. I dont think they have a website but you can read their reviews on city search. Here is their #(615)386-2101. I'd also call before you go, they change their hours alot. Last I went, they only accepted cash, the ice pops were $2.59 each. They're a good size and well worth it.
The movie theater at providence marketplace in Mt. Juliet usually shows free movies on certain days of every week during the summer for free at 10 am.
Most libraries have shows for kids. Like magic shows and animals and plays.
Hope this helps a bit more, if I think of more, I'll post those too

[jay vanvolkinburg]

Thank-you alley cat and dawn....great list!

[alleycat]

Also, since you're looking to move here and not just visiting, the downtown Nashville Public Library.

[Chicago Rick]

The Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum has a lot of programming for kids and it's not only country music related, but music in general.

Nashville Shores, while fun, is not the cleanest place, but they're getting better.

As for the Sounds, I grew up a huge Cubs fan and was able to see them at Wrigley at least once a year. I have to disagree with alleycat. I enjoy Sounds games. Minor league games are a lot of fun because you're a whole lot closer to the action and you spend a whole lot less money. Maybe it's just because I am a huge baseball fan, but I think kids would enjoy it.

[alleycat]

Originally Posted by Chicago Rick

As for the Sounds, I grew up a huge Cubs fan and was able to see them at Wrigley at least once a year. I have to disagree with alleycat. I enjoy Sounds games. Minor league games are a lot of fun because you're a whole lot closer to the action and you spend a whole lot less money. Maybe it's just because I am a huge baseball fan, but I think kids would enjoy it.

Oh, I love the minors too. I just meant that if the OP was from a city with a MLB team, then it probably won't be worth the time to take in a Sounds game during a short visit to Nashville.

[Chicago Rick]

Originally Posted by alleycat

Oh, I love the minors too. I just meant that if the OP was from a city with a MLB team, then it probably won't be worth the time to take in a Sounds game during a short visit to Nashville.

I guess what I didn't make clear in my post is that I grew up in the Chicago area with 2 MLB clubs. I think it would be worth taking the kids to a Sounds game, but if they don't have much time here, you're probably right.

I'm still holding out hope for an MLB team in Nashville.

[alleycat]

Originally Posted by Chicago Rick

I guess what I didn't make clear in my post is that I grew up in the Chicago area with 2 MLB clubs. I think it would be worth taking the kids to a Sounds game, but if they don't have much time here, you're probably right.

I'm still holding out hope for an MLB team in Nashville.

With a name like "Chicago Rick" I could guess where you were from. ;-)

There was some hope for Nashville getting an MLB team years ago. There was a big push for it. At the time the Sounds were drawing bigger attendance than a couple of MLB teams. That was about the time Don Mattingly was playing for the Sounds. Since then the chances of Nashville getting a major league team has dimmed a lot. I don't think it will happen in my lifetime . . . but then I never expected Nashville to have an NHL team either.

Go Cards!

[Chicago Rick]

I still have a hard time believing the Preds were the first major professional sports team in Nashville. Obviously, I get having an NFL team, but hockey?

I was hoping the Marlins would relocate here, but I think they ended up getting a new ball park in Miami. As long as Nashville keeps growing I think we'll get an MLB team. We have hosted the Winter Meetings at least twice and the two cities I hear about getting a new team most are Vegas and Nashville. Fingers crossed.

Go Cards? I'm also rooting for Arizona in the Super Bowl. ;-)