Being on maternity leave this summer was a blast. The girls and I took full advantage of our free time and explored Knoxville’s toddler friendly play spots at least 3 or 4 days a week. Here is my unsolicited amateur run-down of free or cheap Knoxville toddler activities, with pictures of course.
The Mall. Other than service at the Apple store, I don’t think I have stepped foot in a mall in years! Surprisingly there are tons of free or cheap stuff for toddlers to do there. We visited several times on Wednesdays to enjoy the $1 movie showings. Yes, I took a one month old to the movies. Multiple times! She slept like a champ! The movies conveniently ended a few minutes before the free 12:00 daily activity at the Disney store. Reese loved collecting the buttons at Disney. If we had time to kill Reese would ask to ride the motorcycle in the arcade. She is at that great age where tokens aren’t even necessary to enjoy the arcade games. Other days we visited for an hour or so to play on the indoor playground. If the germ factor makes you nervous you can plan to come at 2:15 – right after the daily cleaning. On one special occasion (reward for no pee pee in the bed for a full week!) Reese got to ride the train around the mall. Around $3 I think.
Safety City. I love Safety City! It is a miniature replica of Knoxville with tiny buildings, streets, and working stop lights. It was created to teach children about road safety, and the city has done a fabulous job maintaining it. They also have a huge playground and a great area for picnics. I loved it- and it is free 
The Knoxville Muse. The Knoxville Muse is a great place for hands on learning. It is indoors, so it was a nice place to cool off when the summer heat became too much for the baby. The staff there is really sweet and admission for kids is only $4. It sits right across from a duck pond. We always packed a picnic lunch and feed bread to the ducks. Toddlers love feeding ducks!
Smart Toys and Books. This is really a toy store, but Reese could hang out and play with the toys on display for hours. We went several times this summer. We had big plans to attend the weekly story time, but this toddler’s attention span is a little short for that so we just played
Swimming Pools & Splash Pads. I don’t have any splash pad pictures, because I wasn’t brave enough to have my camera that close to spraying water! Knoxville has several free splash pads and we visited 2 different ones this summer. The last two pictures are from swim lessons, which weren’t free, but the pictures were too cute not to share. Reese’s swim teacher was great.
Sado Boutique & Princess Sightings. The new Sado Boutique in West Knoxville has the most adorable children’s clothes. They also had a few princess Meet-n-Greets and we are all about Disney right now, so these trips were a big hit! Union Avenue Bookstore in downtown also has character readings on Saturdays. We met Anna there!
McKay’s Used Bookstore. This is my second favorite spot (2nd to Safety City). We read a lot, so it is always good to stock up. The children’s paper back books average around 60 cents, so we usually went home with several!
The Knoxville Zoo. Ok, so this one isn’t free, but by my calculations if you divide the cost of our pass by the number of times we visited we are pretty close to the free mark. There is so much for a toddler to do at the zoo now. I always enjoy the animals shows, and the splash pad is perfect for a hot summer day. Reese really just goes for the Dip-n-Dots since it is a junk food item I let her get away with (so I can have some too!).
We didn’t make it to Ijams Nature Center, but it is next on our list to visit! So Knoxville friends, what did I leave out? We are always looking for new adventures
Kandi McMahan ¦ Knoxville Based Photographer
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