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Philadelphia welcomes toddlers with their "Please Touch Museum" and much more.

The Liberty Bell isn't the only thing to see in one of the East Coast's most interesting cities - read on to check out all there is to do and see.  And, getting around is easy too: Philadelphia Trolley Works (215/389-TOUR) runs guided tours of all the landmarks aboard Victorian-style, burgundy and green trolleys. Choose a 90-minute ride, or an all-day pass which enables you to hop on and off at select stops. For more information on Philadelphia and the region, visit www.gophila.com, or contact the city's Convention and Visitors Bureau (215/636-3300).

Please Touch Museum
Memorial Hall in Fairmount Park
4231 Avenue of the Republic
Philadelphia, PA 19131
215/581-3181
One of the country's best children's museums and the first designed for children aged 7 and under, the Please Touch Museum treats kids with interactive exhibits like Roadside Attractions, City Capers, Flight Fantasy, River Adventures, Wonderland and Centennial Explorations. Don't miss their fantastic space, located in a National Historic Landmark built for the country’s centennial in 1876 and turned into a brand new museum in 2008, with a wooden carousel, kid-friendly café, parking and the Kids’ Store.

Franklin Institute Science Museum
220 North 20th Street
Philadelphia, PA 19103
215/448-1200
This contemporary science museum, one of our favorites, is dedicated to one of the city's most famous minds. Exhibits that will delight the kids include the world's largest pinball machine, a walk-through human heart, the chance to sit in the cockpit of a T-33 jet trainer and the Fels Planetarium. There is also, a new 3-D theater and the "Sky Bike" - where visitors can ride a bicycle along a one-inch cable, three stories above the ground (netting included). Be sure to get outside and visit the Science Park, a collaborative effort between the Franklin Institute and the Please Touch Museum and free with admission to either, where kids can learn from interactive displays while running and playing outdoors.

Academy of Natural Sciences
1900 Benjamin Franklin Parkway
Philadelphia, PA 19103
215/299-1000
Kids will love this classic, dusty natural history museum for its vast collection of dinosaur bones and fossils, including the T. Rex and its larger, newly-discovered challenger Giganotosaurus on display. Also, check out the "dig" area where kids can search for real fossils. Parent's will be intrigued to visit the first museum of natural history founded in the United States.

Philadelphia Zoo
3400 West Girard Avenue
Philadelphia, PA 19104
215/243-1100
This zoo is an historical attraction in itself, as the first established zoological park in America in 1874. Besides the more than 1,700 animals on display, notable attractions include two very rare white lions, a toddler-friendly Children's Zoo and the Small Mammal House. When you're done, stroll over to the Fairmount Park and Waterworks (215/685-6110) and watch the dozens of rowing crews plying the Schuylkill, as well as the park's Waterworks, a National Historic Engineering Landmark, designed by Frederick Graff as the first steam-pumping station of its kind in the U.S.

Adventure Aquarium
1 Riverside Drive
Camden, NJ 08103
856/365-3300
Located just across the Delaware River, this terrific, modern aquarium is worth the short ferry ride (you can drive, too). Kids have a chance to pet a shark, learn about a vast assortment of the world's most exceptional and strange fish and have a submerged diver answer questions via "scubaphone." Don't miss the showtime when he/she offers food to lure fish closer to the theater's window. Don't forget to check out the SpongeBob SquarePants 4-D ride! And the aquarium even encourages kids to not only look, but touch too, with its five new interactive attractions, including "Touch-a-Shark." (Photo provided by Adventure Aquarium.)