My son was four years old and already excited by the prospect of visiting a museum. I marveled at how wonderful it was for him to grow up in an enlightened age where "museum" does not equate with "boring." To the contrary, after his travels around Florida, it meant new and exciting ways to play. (And - sshh - learn!)

From grand all-day affairs with IMAX theaters and space simulators to small, neighborhood places lined with aquariums and seashells, Florida's hands-on places take the education of wee ones seriously, but in a spirit of giggles and gasps. Explore science, art, history and nature where the emphasis is "please DO touch." Here are some of our favorites and what we like best about them.


WEIRD SCIENCE

 If your kids' favorite part of science class is the experiments, they're going to love these places. They run on the premise that the best way to understand abstract principles of science is to set them in motion.

The majority of Florida's hands-on attractions concentrate on science and the state claims some major leaguers, such as Tampa's Museum of Science & Industry (MOSI), the largest science center in the Southeastern U.S. The new Whodunit? exhibit is cool and little ones love the Diplodocus Dinosaurs. Museum of Discovery and Science in Fort Lauderdale is another high-tech mammoth in the genre, where our favorite part is Virtual Volleyball and the enchanted Florida forest.

We like the small, local museums, especially for smaller children who tend to get overwhelmed easily. Some of our favorites include Fort Myers' Imaginarium Hands-On Museum (broadcast the weather and walk through a thunderstorm), South Florida Science Museum in West Palm Beach (operate a remote-control rover on Mars) and Sarasota's appropriately named G. WIZ (create a cartoon and sprint race against a friend).

With its stellar reputation for space travel, Florida has launched several interactive attractions dealing with rockets and constellations, most notably Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex. Gotta love those wacky Robot Scouts and, at its U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame, the training simulator rides. Miami Museum of Science & Planetarium expands beyond its planetarium orientation to encompass outdoor animal exhibits and an indoor Indiana Jones-style adventure exploring the Caribbean and Latin America.

Flight of a different nature sparks intrigue at National Museum of Naval Aviation in Pensacola, where kids can take the controls in a cockpit trainer or do battle in a simulator ride.


ART AT YOUR FINGERTIPS

 Touching in an art museum? What about that three-foot rule? In these museums, kids have a special place where they can get as close as they want to art, and that includes touching range.

Cummer Museum of Art & Gardens in Jacksonville was one of the first to debut its excellent interactive kids wing, Art Connections, with electronic painting and old-fashioned weaving. High-brow goes small-fry at Jacksonville Museum of Modern Art, where ArtExplorium Loft introduces young artists to inspiration and interaction with contemporary art. Orlando Museum of Art stocks its special Discovery Center with rubber stamps, colored pencils, books and games. The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art in Sarasota holds a room where kids can learn hands-on about preserving and restoring works of art.


AMONG THE LIVING

Florida is a wondrous place full of caves, farms, swamps, beaches, jungles, sinkholes and the rare plants and animals that inhabit them and the sea that surrounds us on three sides. Children are naturally fascinated, so feed their fascination at places where they can get a "feel" for life and its value.
The ultimate hands-on sea experiences take place where special programs allow you to swim with dolphins and other marine creatures as you learn about their behaviors and habits.

The best place to start your exploration, the Florida Museum of Natural History in Gainesville, allows visitors to walk through models of different geological features, including a limestone cave. Several smaller centers scattered around the state explore our rich marine life with touch tanks and more, such as the Florida Oceanographic Coastal Center in Stuart (rays tank and interactive puzzles) and Daytona Beach's Marine Science Center, where you push buttons and pull drawers to learn about sea turtles and more.

In addition to its touchable exhibits, Clearwater Marine Aquarium conducts hands-on sea life cruises. At Rookery Bay Environmental Learning Center in Naples, little ones can crawl into the mangrove roots of a re-created estuary via an immersion bubble. On Sanibel Island, Bailey-Matthews Shell Museum explores the wonderful world of seashells and kids can explore tactilely in the Children's Science Lab. Jacksonville's Museum of Science & History (MOSH) explores natural science with its super-cool marine mammals exhibit.

The ultimate hands-on sea experiences take place where special programs allow you to swim with dolphins and other marine creatures as you learn about their behaviors and habits. Miami Seaquarium has a dolphin interaction program and Discovery Cove in Orlando goes one better to make it an all-day affair where you swim in a lagoon with rays and snorkel down a lazy river and come face-to-face (through barriers) with sharks besides. In Islamorada, Theater of the Sea also lets you frolic (with care and understanding) among dolphin and rays, plus those adorable sea lions.

Other attractions are more in-tune with the flora and fauna on land. Microscopes, animal bones and shells, and live snakes give kids opportunities to interact at The Conservancy's Nature Center. On Sanibel Island, the Education Center at J.N. "Ding" Darling National Wildlife Refuge briefs visitors with hands-on displays before they head out to the trails. You can do creature crayon rubbings and watch birds on a live-feed TV screen. Gumbo Limbo Nature Center in Boca Raton, named after one of our funniest-sounding trees, and Calusa Nature Center & Planetarium in Fort Myers also present natural encounters of the touchy-feely kind.

The state has its share of petting farms where kids can get hands-on with domesticated animals. At Green Meadows Farm in Kissimmee, you go beyond petting to milking cows and riding ponies. In Lady Lake, Uncle Donald's Farm offers similar encounters with barnyard favorites.


THEN & NOW

 Some museums bring history lessons to life and put kids in the midst of historical and modern-day life situations.

Re-enactors populate the world of Colonial Spanish Quarter Museum in St. Augustine. They demonstrate the skills it took to survive in this brave new world and often engage youngsters in their weaving, blacksmithing, candle-making and such. Tallahassee's Museum of Florida History takes you back even further to Florida's prehistoric beasts at the beginning of a virtual timeline that showcases the state's most comprehensive collection of artifacts, from fun to funky.

At Orange County Regional History Center in Orlando, kids can climb into a saddle or try out a mattress stuffed with Spanish moss. At Schoolhouse Children's Museum in Boynton Beach, they step right into history, complete with costumes.

Kid City, The Children's Museum of Tampa and the Discovery Gallery at Pensacola's T.T. Wentworth, Jr. Florida State Museum (850-595-5990, www.historicpensacola.org) have created small worlds where kids play at working, buying groceries and keeping safe. In Tallahassee's Mary Brogan Museum of Art & Science they can plan a city.


ALL-AROUND FUN

 Some hands-on places can't be pigeon-holed into the categories above. Take for instance the Tallahassee Museum of History and Natural Science: Here you can see a Florida panther in its natural habitat, play the "guess what you're feeling" game in the Discovery Center, visit a 19th century farm with live animals and characters, and sit at the desk of an old one-room schoolhouse.

At DAYTONA USA it's all about auto racing and kids of any age can assist at a pit stop, design a car and even "feel the thunder" through movies and simulators. All-around fun goes all around the world at Walt Disney World's Epcot, where 11 Kidcot Funstops provide a passport-full of hands-on activities relative to the different nations represented.

Well-rounded museums such as the new Miami Children's Museum dip into a bit of everything that engages young imaginations. This one reflects its location with a cruise-ship model and sandcastle kids can climb. We like best the outdoor part of Junior Museum: The Adventure Place, where a miniature pioneer village awaits exploration. Children's Museum in Boca Raton and Explorations V Children's Museum in Lakeland are other small community projects that appeal to visitors as well as local youngsters. At the Children's Museum at Crane Point Museums and Nature Center in Marathon, kids can dress like a pirate.

In Florida, "museum" means gadgets, gizmos and games to kids. And fun they can get their hands around.