Maine State Aquarium

Though it's not a very big aquarium - one large room with several closed tanks in the surrounding walls - it does have a certain fun appeal for young kids. There are two "touch tanks" that are the central focus of the aquarium. The first is in the middle of the room and contains several small sharks. The other takes up and entire wall length and has all sort of life from the bottom of the ocean.

After the initial excitement of the tanks around the walls, the kids naturally turned to the center tank. There they were allowed to pet the Spiney Dog Fish Shark - who is, by the way, quite the entertainer. He loves to be touched, but he also loves to push his head up out of the water and dance around. It was cute.

This was, by far, Peter's favorite part. He would stay there for long lengths of time, wander off, and always come back again. We were told to pet the shark using only two fingers (which was demonstrated as the pointer and middle fingers kept together) from back of head to tail, avoiding fins. Peter caught the "two fingers" part and would say to me "See, my two fingers" before petting the shark as he came around. His "two fingers" were the pointers of both hands.

The other children stayed closer to the other touch tank. They enjoyed being able to not only touch the sea life, but also to hold many of them. There were lots of starfish - which we had to watch closely because Peter thought he ought to pick them by only one leg.

The others not only held starfish, but also things like the sea cucumber, crabs, small lobsters, sand dollars, muscles, and much more.

Though it doesn't take long to go through the place, we easily spent an hour enjoying the marine life. The older kids would have stayed longer, but Peter was starting to get antsy. That was when it was time for Lobster Talk - where live and toy lobsters are used to explain to the children all about lobsters, tracking, and trapping. Beth and Gabi sat and listen to that, but the boys wouldn't be contained. There was no way to get pictures of that part.

Since we were out on the deck, the boys discovered a few discover set-ups. A Rubbings board complete with paper and crayons, a mystery feel exhibit (where you reach into a whole and try to figure out what is in it), and a true "sand box" - the Maine Beach kind (full of little rocks, lots of shells and not much sand). This kept them entertained while we waited for the girls.

This is not an aquarium we would have done by itself - since it's 2 1/2 hours from our home - but we coupled it with the Burnt Island Living History Tour so it made for a full day in Boothbay Harbor. (There are tons of other things to do in Boothbay Harbor if one is looking for a couple of good field trips all together).