Five free and cheap family things to do in middle Tennessee

BY AMANDA HAGGARD

Rarely are the free and cheap events in town focused on the teens, but this week our list of family-friendly endeavors that don’t break the bank includes two: Southern Word, a nonprofit that focuses on literacy and creative writing for young people, is hosting a weekly event for teens interested in music production. The Nashville Public Library has a week of events for teens called Celebrate Pride in January as part of its Nashville Reads series.

If you’re looking to get the whole family out, Owl Hill Sanctuary has a decently priced Family Geocaching Day that, weather permitting, could be the perfect way to spend a Saturday. And if you just want to keep it simple this week, head out for a short storytime about nature at Shelby Bottoms or go watch a movie appropriate for all the members of your family in Smyrna.

As part of our series on free and cheap things to do with the family, here is our weekly roundup of places to spend time together over the next week:

JUNE-UARY: NASHVILLE READS TEEN PRIDE CELEBRATION

From Jan 23-27 the Nashville Public Library is hosting Celebrate Pride in January to go along with its Nashville Reads selection All Boys Aren’t Blue by George M. Johnson. There are several events slated for the week, including button-making and a pride button scavenger hunt on Jan. 24, a portrait collage event on Jan. 25, a tote bag and shirt-making gathering on Jan. 26, and a film screening on Jan. 27.

SOUTHERN WORD: MOVING THE MUSIC FORWARD

On Jan. 26 at the Bordeaux Branch of the Nashville Public Library, Southern Word will begin a weekly workshop on music production. The workshop happens every Thursday. “You bring the lyrics and hopefully a melody. A Southern Word music production mentor will work with you to figure out the chords, the instrumentation, and the structure to bring your song to life,” Southern Word says in its event description The workshop will include tutorials on Logic, Garageband and Bandlab. This one is for teens aged 12-18 and involves collaboration with other young adults.

Family Geocaching Day

At Owl’s Hill Sanctuary, they’re hosting a daylong geocaching event for the family. For a small cost, your intrepid crew can bring your own GPS or smartphone (with Google Maps installed) for a day of hiking and searching. The course is set up to be family-friendly, but also has a couple more challenging caches for more advanced folks. Attendees can also bring small trinkets to add to cache sites in the area.

Family Movie

At the Smyrna Public Library in Rutherford County on Jan. 28, they’ll be screening a family-friendly movie at 2 p.m. The title isn’t listed, but a photo of the movie “Home” accompanies the announcement.

Nature Story And Song

On Feb. 1 at Shelby Bottoms Nature Center, staff and volunteers will host a Nature Story and Song for families at 10 a.m. They’ll read a nature-themed book, bring out their educational snake named “Maize,” kids will have a chance to learn a song to get their wiggles out, and a few puppet characters will be on hand as well.