Activities to do with Children in Tampa Bay
This was to be the first time I visited the city of Tampa Bay, Florida. And it was the first time I would be taking an extended trip traveling with a small child. My sister, her son Nathan, who is three years, and myself were taking a trip there to celebrate her birthday. I was not certain as to how the week would go, how we would be able to entertain Nathan the entire time, but my sister of course was not worried. The one thing about Tampa that is very different from Phoenix, is the humidity and the plant life. Where as Phoenix is hot, dry and sparse, Tampa is hot, humid and lush.
The first thing we noticed was that, the tropical foliage, the intense colors and the smell. One of our trips out from our best Tampa Bay hotel, was to the beach. There are miles and miles of it, and Nathan thoroughly enjoyed playing in the water, and spotting the dolphins just off the shore. We were also extremely fortunate that the Lion King musical was in the middle of their run at the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center. This has been one of the few animated children’s movie that has consistently captured Nathan’s attention, and he sat mesmerized by the puppetry and the dancing for the entire two hours of the show. My sister smiled at me a few times because she knew that I was amazed at his behavior.
The next few days were spent doing totally child friendly activities, and in Tampa there are so many to choose from. Our first trip was to SeaWorld in Orlando, a bit of a drive, but Nathan would not stop talking about the dolphins we saw off of the coast, and we thought it would be great for him to be able to see one up close. And he did, he was even able to pet the nose of the dolphins we fed at the feeding tank. Our last venture into the theme parks of Tampa was to the Dinosaur World. Aside from life size sculptures throughout the park, which fascinated him, my sister were interested in the archaeological dig exhibit, again, this was fun for both kids and adults. The trip was wonderful, Nathan was wonderful, and the city of Tampa was wonderful.
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