2 Best Sights in The Tampa Bay Area, Florida

It's all about play here, and, with 53,000 square feet, more than a dozen themed areas, and over 170 interactive exhibits, there's plenty of opportunity for it. In areas designed to nurture imagination and strengthen confidence children and families can experience everything from flying an airplane to shopping for groceries. Kids can also create art, control the weather, navigate a mini–shipping channel, and "drive" a miniature (stationary) fire truck through Tampa. The newly expanded whimsical FORTS exhibit encourages hands-on creative play with oversized furniture, blankets, and cushions provided for children to build forts and fun hideaways.

"Don't touch" are words never spoken here. The museum is hands-on through and through, with an art studio, replica vet's office and grocery store, a "beach" with real sand, a touch tunnel, and other interactive play areas. Kids and grown-ups alike will marvel at Reefscape, a brilliantly colorful fabric and yarn interpretation of Florida's underwater ecosystems.