Exploring Nashville with Kids

We headed south to Nashville, Tennessee, over Fall break and enjoyed both some warmer temperatures and spending a lot of time outdoors. When researching outdoor recreation in Nashville, Cheekwood Botanical Garden and Museum of Art immediately piqued my curiosity. Normally, this type of place isn’t something I’d choose for a family activity. Although I was pretty sure I would love the place, admiring intricate flower arrangements and looking at oil pastels of dead people usually isn’t my kids’ idea of fun.

But Cheekwood promised some fun outdoor exhibits, so we decided to give it a go. It did not disappoint. In fact, the girls never wanted to leave. So how did Nashville create a botanical garden and art museum that gets kids truly excited? This is why I think it worked:

• Whimsical and kid-friendly exhibits. While at Cheekwood, the girls were able to explore sculptor Patrick Dougherty’s playful installation of stick houses, play in a state-of-the-art tree house and watch as Thomas the Train huffed by on an elaborate outdoor miniature railway. Oh, and did I mention that there was also an exhibit of scarecrows made by different school classes and community groups? No less than three of the scarecrows were made to look like Olaf, the adorable snowman from the movie Frozen, so of course this was an immediate hit with the kids!

• No ‘Keep Off the Grass’ signs. Kids love to run around and the grounds at Cheekwood were an open invitation to do exactly that. Aside from a few fences around certain exhibits, there wasn’t much that restricted the kids’ movements. Hidden pathways and different nooks and crannies that were asking to get explored added to the excitement. The kids were even able to climb some rather large rocks, which was refreshing and a little bit unexpected considering the litigation-prone culture of the US.

• Water. If all else fails, just add water. And at Cheekwood there’s a lot of it, in the form of ponds, creeks, waterfalls and fountains. Better yet, the kids can actually splash it, put their feet in it and jump over it.

Now over to the Outdoor Play Party! At the last party I really enjoyed reading Simple Fall Learning Activities from Learning 2 Walk. Sheila had some great ideas for things to do with leaves and tree nuts – for example challenging each other to find a certain type of leaf. I love activities that can be done on the fly like that and don’t require any additional equipment!

I also thought these Autumn Leaf Masks from Mommy Loves Trees were gorgeous! I’m not a crafty person but with the help of my kids I think I could pull these off!

Now it’s time to link up to a new Outdoor Play Party!

We would appreciate it if you included a link back to this post (either in your post or sidebar) to help us spread the word about the importance (and fun!) of outdoor play! In return, we’ll gladly further share your post on Pinterest/Facebook/Twitter. Please feel free to grab the Outdoor Play Party button from the sidebar and/or include a text link back. 

Please note that by contributing you are giving permission for an image and link to your post to be republished if featured. (If you have been featured, please feel free to grab the ‘featured at’ button from the sidebar.) Share your ideas for outdoor play activities with us every other week!

Mae says:

Thanks for featuring my post. Nashville looks awesome.

November 7, 2014 at 10:29 am

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  Linda McGurk says:

  You always have great stuff on your blog, Mae. You know I’m a big fan:o) Nashville is a ton of fun, we’ve got some family down there, so we visit on a regular basis.

  November 7, 2014 at 10:54 am

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    Mae says:

    Oh thanks. Best way to see new things. We always do when visiting family.

    November 7, 2014 at 2:11 pm

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Kierna says:

This place looks so amazing, what an inviting yet child friendly space. So delighted to have you as a fellow co-host xx

November 8, 2014 at 6:20 am

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  Linda McGurk says:

  Yes, I was very impressed with it and the girls had a blast:o)

  November 9, 2014 at 11:45 pm

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Joanna @mumbalance says:

It looks like a great place 🙂 Shame London is a bit far for a day trip….

November 12, 2014 at 5:58 pm

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  Linda McGurk says:

  Haha, yeah that would be a bit hard to swing:o) Thanks for stopping by.

  November 12, 2014 at 10:43 pm

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Kate says:

What a neat place to explore! My husband has been to Nashville, but Bergen and I have never been–definitely on our list of places to travel.

November 13, 2014 at 12:47 am

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  Linda McGurk says:

  Kate – For a bigger city I think Nashville is really neat. It has a country feel to it (duh!) but is still so full of fun things to do! I highly recommend it.

  November 13, 2014 at 10:14 pm

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Karen Ung says:

Looks like such a cool place! Nature in Nashville looks beautiful!

December 5, 2014 at 2:40 am

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  Linda McGurk says:

  It is pretty neat. We’ve been several times and there’s always something new (for us) to look at.

  December 6, 2014 at 10:30 pm

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