Activities for middle school age children (Huntsville, Madison: movies, living in, move)

[hey teach]

I am looking for activity ideas within the Madison County boundaries that would be of interest to middle schoolers.
I have these:
Space & Rocket Center
Insanity Roller a Skating
Swimming
Ice Skating

I am looking for other suggestions. Free or pay.

[zenjenn]

Pints & Pixels (Obviously for the pixels, not the pints)
Bowling
Movies
Southern Adventures (Mini Golf, Water Slidea, etc)
Shakalaka (I think the place is a death trap personally, but it's very popular with that age)
Lowe Mill (my middle school Girl Scouts think it's the coolest.)

Is this for visitors? There's also Hamacon (anime convention) and Con Kasterborous (Doctor Who convention) both local and coming up - of interest to a select group of middle schoolers.

[Reactionary]

Canoeing the Flint River:

Home

Hiking Monte Sano, Green Mountain, or Land Trust trails.
Eating pizza - Sam and Greg's or Pane e Vino.
Botanical Garden.

[TurkeyRuben]

The city of Huntsville has a downtown "scavenger" hunt to find hidden ducks. It's a good history and geography lesson as you move about downtown. Pick up a card at the Huntsville Convention and Visitor's center. Take the finished card back to the same place and you win a little prize. Also, inside the convention and visitor's center, there is a photo op - there is a green screen and you pick from 4 backgrounds. The photo is emailed.

The Madison convention and visitor's center just started the same thing with hidden trains around Madison city.

Take a little drive to Elkmont and watch goat cheese being made at Bell Chevre. Call first to make sure they are hosting tours that day.

[hey teach]

Some great suggestions. I didn't know about the scavenger hunts. Keep those suggestions coming.

[CraigCreek]

Have you checked with the Huntsvile-Madison County Public library? They offer a wide variety of free summer programs for this age group, on an almost daily basis throughout the summer, and of course, also provide great books and other materials. Don't forget to ask the youth librarian(s) for booklists and/or suggestions tailored to the kids' own interests.

In most places, the local parks departments offer free or inexpensive programs for various ages, ranging from nature walks to Shakespeare in the Park to bluegrass festivals. There may also be state parks within easy distance that might have interesting activities and other attractions.

Make some calls and see what's out there - good luck keeping the young ones occupied and interested.

[RocketDawg]

There's the big waterslide thing that's coming to downtown sometime this month, but it's only temporary. I suppose it'd be for that age group, but pretty sure I read that tickets are fairly expensive.

My grandkids and son/DiL live in Kennesaw, a suburb of Atlanta, and there are tons of things for the kids to do there. They're staying busy this summer with White Water, Six Flags, and a zillion other activities designed for kids. There ARE some advantages to living in/near a large city ... but traffic is a factor.