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Nashville With Little Kids: Where We Actually Go
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items We live just outside Nashville with a 3 year old and a 1 year old, so I've learned the hard way which places are actually worth loading two car seats for. This is where we really go — parks, museums, the free stuff nobody tells you about, and the rai...
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Where We Actually Go
Where We Actually Go
Free stuff first, then the places worth paying for, then the rainy-day options. Most of what we do costs nothing.
There's a section built for the under-three crowd with light tables and blocks, which matters because most science museums are aimed at big kids and your toddler just wants to touch things. Worth the admission on a rainy day.
Adventure Science Center
The gardens are beautiful but the reason we go is the children's garden — water play, a treehouse, room to run. Go in spring for the tulips or fall for the pumpkins and it's a completely different day each time.
Cheekwood Estate & Gardens
Fully stroller-friendly, which is the whole ballgame with two under four. The playground by the entrance is as big a draw as the animals, so budget an hour there before you even start walking.
Nashville Zoo at Grassmere
Everyone calls it Dragon Park because of the big mosaic sea dragon the kids climb on. Free, and there's a separate section with smaller equipment so your toddler isn't getting run over by nine year olds.
Fannie Mae Dees Park (Dragon Park)
Free, and the nature play area is sand and water and things to build with instead of plastic equipment. Dress them in clothes you don't care about. This is where we go when they need to get properly dirty.
Shelby Bottoms Nature Center & Greenway
Completely free and criminally underused by parents. The children's floor has play structures and a rock wall, plus story times during the week. On a rainy day this beats anything you'd pay for.
Nashville Public Library
Free, and the children's gallery has hands-on stations for each region of Tennessee. It's aimed at slightly bigger kids but nobody minds a toddler pushing buttons. Good for an hour when it's too hot or too cold to be outside.
Tennessee State Museum
The park is free, with a lake full of ducks and wide flat paths for a stroller, and a full-size replica of the Parthenon that makes a toddler stop and stare. Pack a blanket and let them run. This is our default when we just need out of the house.
Centennial Park & The Parthenon
Kids five and under get in free, and there are toy cars to play with while you look at the real ones. If you've got a kid obsessed with vehicles, this is a cheap hour that feels like a big outing to them.
Lane Motor Museum
Free, and the flat lake trail is the one to take with a stroller — the rest get hilly fast. Turtles, herons, deer right off the path. Note that dogs aren't allowed on most of it, so this is a kids-only outing for us.
Radnor Lake State Park
About forty minutes out, and worth the drive for Tiny Town — a whole pretend-play village scaled to little kids. This is the one I'd pick over the science center if your child is under three.
Discovery Center at Murfree Spring
The one nobody talks about, which is exactly why I like it. Free, almost never crowded, old farm equipment and animals, and there are farm toys and books right by the entrance for the little ones.
Tennessee Agricultural Museum