When the greeter at the front desk introduces the red rat snake around her neck before introducing herself, you know you've entered a very special place. It's G. WIZ: The Hands-On Science Museum, and you may be surprised to know that it's just as fun for big kids as it is for the little tykes toward which it is geared.

I visited recently with two of my young-at-heart friends, Joey and Tams. Though we're all in our

Big kids explore the Tectonic Basin display

early 20s, we were eager to experience all the museum has to offer. As it turns out, that's a lot. On the recommendation of the museum's friendly staff, we headed to EcoZone first. Among its creatures are snakes, adorable turtles, fish viewable through a special reverse periscope and a creepy crew of Madagascar giant hissing cockroaches. Then it was off to the really fun stuff: the interactive exhibits.

Edgar Mitchell, the sixth man to walk on the moon, had recently been to the museum to give a talk titled "A View From the Moon." Though we missed his presentation, we were delighted to find that the rare Martian and moon fragments that he brought along were still on display. Nearby, we discovered the Brain Benders stations, which proved to be embarrassingly difficult. Our noggins got a good workout, but our physiques hadn't yet, so we headed over to BodyZone to learn about our bodies and test our strength.

Visiting kids couldn't get enough of On Your Mark, in which two runners test their times against each other in a short sprint. We decided we were much too cool to run indoors, but apparently jumping wasn't out of the question, since that's exactly what we did at the Leap Station, where we compared jump heights - numerous times. This roused our competitive sides, which showed as we tested our physicality at the Grip Strength Station. As the chart indicated, Joey is strong for his age, Tams is off the charts

The plasma ball, a favorite for all

for a woman, and I have the grip strength of an 11-year-old girl. Oh well! Off to another floor of fun.

G.WIZ's second area of interactive exhibits boasts EnergyZone,WaveZone and TechZone, where another set of grown-up kids showed us the masterpiece they had created at Animation Workstation: an epic dinosaur battle, complete with intervening alien aircraft (a paper airplane made at the Take Off station).

While the wee ones dedicated themselves to constructing a Ball Machine out of plastic piping, we were drawn toward the outta-this-world Laser Harp, whose strange sounds activate multi-colored fiber optic lights that surround it. But there was just too much to see to stay together, so I headed for the Mercator Your Face video exhibit, which stretches a photo of your face like a map. Joey occupied himself at the Take Off station and Tams was, well, everywhere. Eventually we convened at the giggle-inducing Frozen Shadows exhibit. There, a giant wall of phosphorescent material - the same stuff that glow-in-the-dark stickers and toys are made of - "froze" images of our shadows in the goofy poses we struck.

As staff members had warned, even after we had done everything there was to do, we just didn't want to leave. So we headed back to floor one, where we discovered we had completely missed the Tectonic Basin display. Being the intelligent recent grads that we are, we enhanced the display with our extensive knowledge of various causes of erosion ("Wind!" "Water!" "Um… really heavy animals!").

After all that fun, our brains and bodies were ready for a break, and some dinner. It was time to call it a day.

As it turned out, our visit to The Hands-On Science Museum was socially educational, too. While adults seemed more inclined to create things, test their strength and be mesmerized by optical illusions, kids were content to stand in awe of the less complex exhibits, such as the Bernoulli Blower, and involve themselves in group activities. Popular exhibits among those young and old were Nikola Tesla's plasma ball - that orb of purple "lightning" featured heavily in ‘80s science-fiction films - and just about anything involving magnets. Luckily for Sarasota residents and visitors, G.WIZ offers all of these delights, as well as unique monthly exhibits.

Admission for adults 19 and older is $9, $8 for seniors age 65 and older, $6 for children ages 3-18, and free for children younger than 3. Hours are 10 a.m. - 5 p.m. Monday - Friday, 10 a.m. - 6 p.m. on Saturdays and 12 p.m. - 6 p.m. on Sundays. Call 941-309-4949 for more information, or visit www.gwiz.org.