Kids >>

• Best Kid-Friendly Restaurant for Grown-Ups
  Tenno
  Sushi? Kids? In the same entry? I know it sounds like somebody's been snorting the wasabi, but hear me out. Parents, if you've worn a groove in the pavement circling from Baja Burrito to Pie in the Sky Pizza to Famous Dave's to Cracker Barrel and back, this lovable sushi joint right off I-440 at... More >>
• Best Kids' Birthday-Cake Designer (6 Comments)
  Brooke O'Dell, Ice This
  If you ever have a child in school with Brooke O'Dell's kid, heed this warning: Never, ever go head-to-head with Brooke over a homemade birthday cake. No matter what double-chocolate Diego or red velvet Spiderman you bake, it will not be as delicious or as creative as hers, and will just waste... More >>
• Best Water Park
  Maryland Farms YMCA/Gregory Mills Park
  Thanks to a massive overhaul last spring, the kids' pool at the Maryland Farms Y looks like freakin' Six Flags Over Brentwood. It's closed now for the season, alas, but when it opens next Memorial Day or thereabouts, your young ones will stare goggle-eyed at the arching fountains, giant bucket... More >>
• Best Place to Volunteer with the Kids
  Radnor Lake
  The answer: mulch. The question: What can you do with your kids to teach the virtues of giving back to the community? Once a month, the Friends of Radnor Lake host Volunteer Days, meeting up on crisp Saturday mornings to mulch trails, remove invasive species (consider yourself served, Japanese... More >>
• Best Restaurant-Slash-Field Trip
  Aquarium
  Don't go for the seafood. Go for the sea life. No eatery in town draws more oohs and ahhs from the family than Aquarium, with a 200,000-gallon saltwater tank filled with the real-life cast of Finding Nemo. Waiting for your meal was never more amusing than in this freshly Windexed ecosystem... More >>
• Best Indoor Playground
  Bounce U
  On the inflatable cliffs and slopes of this Sidco Drive play area, your kids are free to unleash their inner Indiana Jones, Kung Fu Panda or Iron Man without fear of concussion—yours or theirs. Unleash your human pinballs on a room-sized trampoline with a giant rubber mound in the middle,... More >>
• Best Kids' Meal Deal
  Chick-fil-A
  Let me offer you a hand up from the nethermost rung of hell that is CiCi's Pizza, where the damned endlessly circle a buffet line of empty trays while their 10-year-olds water the windowsill with Sierra Mist. Every Tuesday night at Chick-fil-A, the most guiltless fast-food experience going gets... More >>
• Best No-Cost Family Outing
  Nashville Public Library
  Puppet shows on Saturdays, story hours during the summer, a courtyard ringed with rosemary and climbable benches, a fountain for making wishes—the downtown public library is one of the city's jewels, and it never sparkles more than when you just need to get the kids out of the house. Plus... More >>
• Best Urban Outing for Kids
  Sudekum Planetarium
  The centerpiece of the Adventure Science Center's $21 million project is a GOTO Chiron optical star projector that fills the dome with more than 6.5 million heavenly bodies. That works out to about 3 bucks a star, or less if you factor in the Digistar 3 HD full-dome animation projections... More >>
• Best Rural Outing for Kids
  Breeden's Orchard
  Fall is the time to go to Breeden's in Mt. Juliet, when the orchard sags with russet fruit and kids are welcome to pluck the sweet, crisp bounty from the trees. Summer's fine too, because you can show your citified offspring that peaches don't actually start life in the supermarket produce... More >>
• Best New Kids Event
  Tales & Tunes
  Trip, trop, trippity trop came the families laden with picnic blankets and coolers when Cheekwood launched a series of music and storytelling in the mansion's splendid gardens. Tales & Tunes coincided with the summer-long installation of fairy tale-themed houses, and each Thursday's program... More >>
• Best Place to Take Kids on a Sunny Day
  The Greenway
  Thanks to the genius who dreamed up the greenways, it's possible to skate, scoot or stroll several traffic-free miles through some of the county's prettiest areas. Take in a wildflower meadow or bubbling stream without worrying that your wobbly young cyclist or your unrestrained toddler will... More >>
• Best Free Rainy-Day Outing with Kids
  Warner Park Nature Center
  If the kids are restless and you're short on cash, the Warner Park Nature Center (7311 Highway 100) is a no-charge rainy-day escape. Budding science geeks and Harry Potter fans will both enjoy the small natural history museum, with its critter skulls, snakeskins, stuffed animals (the taxidermal... More >>
• Best Person to Introduce Your Kids to Tennessee History
  Ronald Kidd
  Most kids think studying history is only marginally better than getting the flu. Fortunately, Ronald Kidd writes young-adult novels that make Tennessee's past accessible and fun: His youthful protagonists pull the reader into lives as complicated as the times in which they live. In Monkey Town,... More >>