Nashville
Indoor Activities for Kids in Nashville
When it is too hot, too cold or too wet to be outside, here is how Nashville families keep kids moving indoors, including a dinosaur play park for ages 1 to 10 in Madison, TN.
- Open daily 10AM – 7PM
- Ages 1–10, with a dedicated toddler area for ages 1–4
- Three levels, nine themed attractions
Indoor options for Nashville families
Nashville weather gives families plenty of reasons to plan an indoor day. Summers are humid enough that a July afternoon at the playground lasts about twenty minutes. Winter cold snaps arrive with little warning, and spring can bring rain for days at a stretch. On any of those days the question is the same: where can the kids actually move?
The usual indoor options around Nashville fall into a few groups. Children's museums and science centers are good for curious kids and a slower pace. Public libraries run story times and have play corners for younger children. Recreation centers and indoor pools keep swim lessons and open swims going whatever the sky is doing. Play cafés suit toddlers and parents who want a coffee, and a movie matinee works when everyone needs to sit still for two hours.
What most of those can't offer is room to run. That is the gap an indoor playground fills. Dinotopia is an indoor dinosaur play park for ages 1 to 10 at 2291 Gallatin Pike N in Madison, about 15 minutes north of downtown Nashville. It is open every day from 10AM to 7PM, every attraction is inside, and a rainy forecast doesn't change the plan.
Indoor play by age
Ages 2 to 9: the Mammal Ball Pool
A deep ball pool with soft woolly mammoth figures to climb over and hide behind, and cannons around the rim for kids who would rather launch the balls.
Ages 3 to 10: Jurassic Soft Play
The main structure: three levels of padded tunnels, rope bridges and crawl-through caves wound around a full-size dinosaur. Every level is visible from the seating below.
Ages 4 to 10: the Super Slides
A bank of wide slides from the top deck, side by side so two kids can race. Steep enough to be a real ride, short enough that the ladder is never a long wait.
Ages 5 to 10: Spider Tower and Donut Slide
A rope-web climb inside a soft-walled tower with net floors at each level, and a twisting tube slide taken sitting in a padded donut tube.
Ages 4 to 10: Godzilla Games
An arcade corner of skill games for when kids have run themselves out but aren't ready to leave. The arcade games are paid separately from the day pass.
Bringing kids of different ages
Mixed ages are the hard part of most indoor days: the attraction that thrills a nine-year-old can flatten a two-year-old. The fix is space set aside by age. At Dinotopia the Toddler Play Area is gated for ages 1 to 4, and the rest of the park is sized for older kids, so siblings can each play at their own level within sight of the same seats.
Supervising adults are responsible for the children in their group, including keeping younger children in the attractions for their age group, and every adult entering the gated play area needs a wristband. The age range for each attraction is listed with all nine attractions, so you can check before you go which ones suit your youngest.
Rainy-day and cold-weather ideas
On a rainy day most kids need to burn energy, not sit, and a museum visit or a movie can leave them with more of it than they started with. A good rainy day mixes one active stop with one calm one: a couple of hours of climbing and sliding in the morning, then lunch and a library story time or a movie in the afternoon.
Nashville's heat counts as weather too. On a 95-degree afternoon an indoor day is as sensible as it is during a storm, and from December through February, when outdoor playgrounds empty out, an indoor play floor is often the only place a five-year-old can run until they are properly tired.
Rainy afternoons are popular for exactly that reason. Walk-ins are welcome whenever there is space, but weekends, school holidays and rainy afternoons fill up, so booking online ahead of time is the safest way to be sure of a spot. If the gray day falls on a weekday, the weekday specials make it cheaper too, with passes from $13 per child.
A rainy-day plan that works
- 1
Sign the waiver at home
Everyone entering the play areas needs a signed waiver on file. It is online and takes a minute, and signing before you arrive shortens check-in.
- 2
Sort the socks
Non-slip socks are required in every play area. Bring the pair you bought on a previous visit or pick some up at the counter for $3.95. Outside socks aren't accepted.
- 3
Choose the pass that fits the day
A 2-hour play pass is a single visit. The All-day VIP pass includes re-entry for the rest of the day, so you can leave for lunch and come back.
- 4
Book ahead on busy days
Weekends, school holidays and rainy afternoons fill up. Buying online before you leave home is the safest way to be sure of a spot.
What an indoor dinosaur park is
Search for a dinosaur park or an indoor amusement park in Nashville and you are usually looking for the same thing: somewhere with the feel of a big day out that small children can actually enjoy. Nashville doesn't have a large outdoor ride park of its own, and the state's big theme parks sit in East Tennessee, which makes them a weekend trip rather than an afternoon. Our guide to day trips and amusement parks across Tennessee covers those.
An indoor amusement park swaps coasters for things sized to young kids. At Dinotopia, formerly Lost Worlds Dinotopia, that means nine themed attractions across three levels, all built around dinosaurs: soft play, slides, a climbing tower, a ball pool, an arcade, a toddler area, a café and a souvenir shop. There are no height charts to argue with, because everything is built for ages 1 to 10.
The two places grown-ups notice are the café and the shop. The Pterodactyl Café serves pizza, chicken tenders, combo meals, snacks, ICEEs and cold fountain drinks, and its tables look straight out over the play structure, so a meal doesn't mean losing sight of anyone. The Souvenir Shop has dinosaur figures, fossil kits, plush hatchlings and the grip socks everyone needs, and it is where arcade tickets get cashed out.
Planning a visit: what it costs
2-hour play pass
$19.95 + tax / child
Two hours across the soft play structure, slides, tower, ball pool and games.
All-day VIP pass
$24.99 + tax / child
Unlimited play for the whole day, with re-entry.
Parent / adult pass
$5 + tax per person
Entry for one adult supervising a child in the park.
Safety socks
$3.95 per pair
Required for everyone entering the play areas. Sold at the front counter.
Mon & Wed 2-hour play pass
$15 per child
Valid Monday and Wednesday.
Tuesday, one free parent
$19.95 per child
A child play pass with one accompanying adult admitted free.
Thursday 2-hour play pass
$13 per child
Valid Thursday.
Family Friday
$59.95 per family
Play passes for the whole family in one booking. Valid Friday.
Before you go
Hours
Open every day from 10AM to 7PM, with a few holiday exceptions posted on the site ahead of time.
Adults
Adults are $5 + tax per person, and one adult must stay with each group of children. On Tuesdays one adult comes in free with a child pass.
Socks
Non-slip socks are required for everyone entering the play areas and aren't included in any pass or promotional price.
Weekday specials
Valid on the day listed, in-park only, and not combinable with other offers.
Waiver
Everyone entering the play areas must have a signed waiver on file. Sign online before you leave home.
Food and drinks
Water bottles are fine. The Pterodactyl Café handles the rest, from pizza to ICEEs.
Indoor ideas for nearby towns
Birthday parties for ages 1 to 10
Two dinosaur party packages, each with 90 minutes of play and 30 minutes in a party room. Dino-Mite is $240 and the Brachiosaurus Bash is $359.95 on weekdays, plus tax and an 18% gratuity.
Coming back every week?
If indoor days are a regular thing in your house, a monthly membership can cost less than paying per visit.
Plan your indoor day
Open every day from 10AM to 7PM at 2291 Gallatin Pike N, Madison, TN 37115.
