School is out for most areas of the Tricities in Tennessee. By now, my kids are getting pretty antsy. They’ve had a couple of “pajama days” where we stay home all day in our jammies. Today’s rain might have something to do with the cabin fever. We had to get out tonight for a snowcone. To help my fellow moms, I came up with the ABC’s of summer in the Tricities. Once you complete the list, just start over or pick the ones you like the most. I tried to include some free activities in the list (they’re the green ones) but some of these do have a cost involved. These get you out of the house for at least a few minutes. Let me know if there’s something I missed!
Natural Tunnel is a beautiful place to visit.
A- Andrew Johnson National Historic Site in Greeneville is a neat place to visit. You can also take a hike on the Appalachian Trail. Head to Atlanta Bread Company for dinner (they have live music, kid’s entertainment, and more throughout the week!)
B- Bay’s Mountain — $4 to get in the park, additional for barge rides and planetarium. Take a picnic lunch and spend the day! If you bought a Boy Scout coupon sheet last year, check to see if you still have the free entrance coupon. You might also head to Bristol Caverns. On June 7-9 you can also enjoy the Blue Plum Festival, which is free and has children’s activities.
C- Chick Fil A — eat in and let the kids play. For some gem-mining, head to Cooper’s Mine in Blountville.
D- Drive-in movie at the State Line Drive In or walk through the Daniel Boone Wilderness Trail.
E- Visit the Exchange Placein Kingsport
F- Farmer’s Market (take a couple of dollars and let the kids pick out a veggie for lunch) or head to Fun Expedition. Don’t forget the free Fun Fest activities in Kingsport in July!
G- Gray Fossil Site always has a cool exhibit. Take a bike ride or walk around the Greenbelt.
H- Hands-On Museum has fun activities for the kids in the summer
I- Ice cream on a hot summer day is a cool treat. Check the back of your Food City receipt to see if you have a TCBY coupon!
J- Jonesborough Days is always fun! These events take place over the 4th of July weekend usually.
K- Kingsport Idol takes place on Tuesday nights at the Farmer’s Market. Cost is $1 per person.
L- Leaping Lizards in Kingsport is a fun way to pass a rainy day.
M- Make smore’s outside. If you don’t have an area for a bonfire, head to Warrior’s Path and use one of their grills.
N- Natural Tunnel park is a wonderful place for the whole family to visit. Walk to the tunnel for free, or pay a small fee for the chair lift. Take a picnic lunch to the playground.
O- O’Charley’s restaurants usually have a free kids’ night — call ahead to see when your location offers it. Take a night off from cooking!
P- Public Library — borrow a movie, CD, or book. Join a summer reading program (or two) with your kids.
Q- Play 20 Questions while you’re sitting under the stars. Lay out on a quilt and watch the stars on a clear night while just talking with your kids.
R- Roan Mountain Rhododendron Festival (June 15-16) is always breathtaking!! I’m pretty sure this is a free activity. You could also just hike one of the trails, or throw stones in the creek. We love doing that! Or, take a roadtrip to the Ripley’s Aquarium.
S- Snowcones at the Beach Hut (on Stone Drive) or the Shiver Shack (in Colonial Heights) are affordable and delicious. Our kids always get the $1 cup and it’s the perfect size.
T- The Tricities Cinema in Blountville offers great deals for summer movies.
U- Use your walking shoes and do a tour of the historic sites in Jonesborough, TN. You can get a guide book for only $1 at the Visitor’s Center.
V- VBS programs — there are so many at area churches. Find one that fits your beliefs and let your child enjoy!!
Have you taken a bike ride on the Virginia Creeper Trail yet? It’s absolutely breathtaking!! If you don’t have bikes, you can rent them.
W- Warrior’s Path playground (or just walk around Duck Island!) , Wetlands Water Park
X- Draw X-ray figures outside with sidewalk chalk. This is really fun to do if you can get the glow-in-the-dark chalk!
Y- YMCA Aquatic center. I’ve heard that this is amazing! Also consider going to Yard Sales
Z- The zoo is an educational place for both parents and children. The Knoxville Zoo and Creation Kingdom are two of our favorites.
Add your own fun activities below. I love to have a good list to keep us busy!
Oh, I need to see if we have a drive in movie theater around here! That would be a blast!
Love the Zoo, a Drive in, and Aquatic center would be so much fun.
This is a great idea, I should make a list like this for my area! I know there is lots of fun stuff to do, but it can be hard to come up with something on the spur of the moment, so a list is useful.
That is a wonderful list! I need to do something like that for Chattanooga. I need ideas to keep the kids entertained. 🙂
What great ideas! And I love that most of these can be converted to things we can do in town. We already started our list of “must do’s” this summer so boredom doesn’t kick in.
This is such an awesome idea! I would love to make this a goal for the summer.
Great ideas! What kid doesn’t love the zoo!? 🙂 Our family especially loves the drive in 🙂
TCBY still exists?!
That’s really cool
Great ideas for the kids..
the ABCs of kids activities is a great idea to keep things interesting!
We are only on our 2nd day of summer break here in NY and still on our pj days. Your post has inspired me to actually make a list of inexpensive things to do locally instead of just winging it.
taking kids to a farmer’s market is excercise, learning and fun all in one!
we just made s’mores two nights ago with the neighbors, it was a big hit with the kids!
These are all great ideas, we like to find new places to take walks.
An ABC list of activities for the summer is a great idea !!
Forget the kids…these are great activities for me! Seriously, I don’t have any kids in the house so there a lot of things on this list I would love to do! I’ve got to visit that area soon, there are so many neat places to see.
These are all great ideas – from things to do near home to taking a trip! You have so many ideas, I’m amazed!
Wow, you really have a lot of activities that can entertain your family this summer. I need to put together a list like this.
I would love to make a list like this for the kids in our family. Great idea!
I love making s’mores! Great list!
Great ideas. We love spending the day at the zoo
These are lots of great activities for the kids. We spend a lot of time at the parks here in Rapid City, but most of our park time is spent with our dogs at the dog park. I like my children to be comfortable around all types of dogs not just our own. Of course our family pets are very different. One is a Corgi and the other a Laboordoodle. They have completely different personalities but I like to expose my kids to different types of people and things and that is why I like your suggestions so much. They are all different. Just like all of us!