Child's Play in Sarasota: From Tutus to Shark Teeth

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Let your children's creative side soar at G.WIZ in Sarasota.

Photo Credit: Contributed Photo

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The Howard Bros. Circus model at the Circus Museum on the Ringling Estate in Sarasota

Photo Credit: Ringling Museum

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The east facade of the Ca d'Zan Mansion at the Ringling Museum in Sarasota

Photo Credit: Ringling Museum

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See manatees and other marine life, up close, at Mote Marine Aquarium.

Photo Credit: Mote Marine Laboratories

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Long Boat Key Club & Resort's Kids' Program has games and arts & crafts activities for children.

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The kids will love playing in the powdery, quartz sand and warm waters of Siesta Beach.

Photo Credit: Sarasota Convention and Visitors Bureau

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A family enjoys the warm, clear waters of Siesta Key's Siesta Beach.

Photo Credit: Sarasota Convention and Visitors Bureau

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At Sarasota Jungle Gardens, kids can meet flamingos and hold parrots.

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Behind the veil of culture, there are cool hangouts for kids.

Sarasota, long a magnet for culture vultures and art aficionados, is also a great place to visit with kids.

At the Sarasota Children’s Garden, kids can don a tutu or tiara from a costume collection before taking on a pirate ship or a tower of rainbow-colored tires.

At the John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, pint-sized patrons might prove nonplussed by the circus impresario’s collection of Old Masters paintings. But they’re driven to flights of fantasy by the world’s largest miniature circus and the elaborate wagons and costumes on display.

Young ones more interested in facts and formulas than fairy tales flock to G.WIZ. At the science museum, visitors push, pull, twist and turn interactive exhibits to learn about electricity or sound waves.

“I love the machine village; I remember it from when I was a kid,” says Jen Wohlforth, the museum’s director of operations and a Sarasota native. “Kids often don’t realize that everything there is powered by people. When they have that ‘aha’ moment, it encourages them to ask questions and seek their own answers.”

Sea life both creepy (a chartreuse moray eel, sizable sharks) and cute (tiny seahorses, manatees named Hugh and Buffett) reside at Mote Marine Laboratory and Aquarium. Children can get their hands wet here, petting a stingray or panning for sharks’ teeth.

“Most of the exhibits are centered around things you would actually find here,” says Samantha Levell, 16, a volunteer at the aquarium. “Like the open-top grassflats exhibit, which pretty much replicates what you would see in Sarasota Bay.”

In November, the aquarium welcomes some tuxedoed friends to its new Penguin Island exhibit.

Other winged creatures can be spotted at neighboring Save Our Seabirds, home to pelicans, hawks and other rescued and injured birds under the care of the nonprofit organization. One swan was relocated from a pond at Sarasota Bradenton International Airport, where it was endangering aircraft.

The circa-1940 Sarasota Jungle Gardens oozes with vintage charm, harkening to the Florida roadside attractions of yore. Kids can get up close and personal with alligators and other creatures during the reptile show, feed flamingoes and pose for photos with a colorful bird on their arm.

When it’s time for sun and surf, there are few better places than Siesta Beach, recently named America’s best beach by Dr. Beach, coastal scientist Stephen P. Leatherman.

For food, kid-friendly dining options abound. An 1850s-era railroad depot relocated from Indiana serves as the setting for the Rosemary District’s Station 400, which serves breakfast and lunch and offers choices for children like PB&J and pancakes.

Downtown Sarasota institution Caragiulos lets kids play chef. All the fixings for the Kidzza Pizza Mia are brought to the table, where 10-and-unders can assemble their own pie. They even get extra dough to play with while waiting for the finished product.

Many area hotels also roll out the welcome mat. The Longboat Key Club & Resort’s Kids Klub programs feature crafts and games for guests five to 12. Children’s programs at the Ritz-Carlton include beachside camp sessions and Kids Night Out events where participants might gather around a beach bonfire or party in their pajamas.

Which means that Mom and Dad can squeeze in a little time to lounge by the pool or grab that tropical cocktail they’ve been craving.

If You Go

Caragiulos
69 South Palm Ave., Sarasota
941-951-0866
caragiulos.com

G.WIZ
1001 Boulevard of the Arts, Sarasota
941-309-4949
gwiz.org

Heavenly Cupcakes
5212 Ocean Blvd., Sarasota
941-922-0024
myheavenlycupcakes.com

John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art
5401 Bay Shore Rd., Sarasota
941-359-5700
ringling.org

Longboat Key Club & Resort
220 Sands Point Rd., Longboat Key
888-237-5545
longboatkeyclub.com

Mote Marine Laboratory and Aquarium
1600 Ken Thompson Parkway, Sarasota
941-388-4441
mote.org

The Ritz-Carlton, Sarasota
1111 Ritz-Carlton Drive, Sarasota
941-309-2000
ritzcarlton.com

Sarasota Children's Garden
1670 10th Way, Sarasota
941-330-1711
sarasotachildrensgarden.com

Sarasota Jungle Gardens
3701 Bay Shore Rd., Sarasota
941-355-5305
sarasotajunglegardens.com

Save Our Seabirds
1708 Ken Thompson Parkway, Sarasota
941-388-3010
saveourseabirds.org

Station 400
400 North Lemon Ave., Sarasota
941-906-1400
station400.com