The Boston Children’s Museum is filled with hands-on interactive exhibits and activities that entertain kids while they learn about the world around them.  But what does that really mean?  Here are three concrete reasons why kids love this museum – and why you should visit it when you’re in Boston:

1.  Fascinating exhibits for all ages.  Almost as soon as you walk into the museum, you’ll see the “New Balance Climb” – a gigantic 3-story high maze of tunnels, platforms, ledges, tubes, and chutes, made child-safe with lots of netting.  Kids from about 3 to 10 love to spend hours climbing through it and perfecting their balancing skills.

But that’s only the beginning.  Junior builders can make all kinds of things at “Johnny’s Workbench,” a construction area filled with real tools and supplies generously donated by Home Depot.  Over in the “Science Playground,” younger children explore the world of bubbles while their parents relax and snap photos of the iridescent spheres floating through the air.  Slightly older children test what happens when they drop golf balls into cylinders and tracks – not realizing that they’d demonstrating concepts such as momentum and velocity that they’ll encounter later in science classes at school.

Even the youngest museum goers – infants and toddlers – will find an exhibit area just for them where they can safely work on their crawling skills and enjoy the movements of a water bed.

2.  Special programs.  At “KidStage,” the museum’s performance area, professional actors and museum staff stage performances with music, dancing, and comedy.  Best of all, kids in the audience get to participate and experience being on stage themselves.  Lots of other special programs are also hosted here, so you never know what you’ll find to enjoy.

3.  The Boston Children’s Museum store.  In addition to offering a big array of reasonably priced games, puzzles, science kits, and books, the museum store has an extremely popular “recycling” center.  Area businesses donate scraps – everything from pieces of fabric, paper, and plastics to bits of wood, twine, and other building supplies.  The selection changes constantly, which is part of the fun as you find treasures for your next art and craft projects.  You fill up a bag and pay by the pound.

The Boston Children’s Museum is open 363 days a year, and is located in the South Boston Waterfront area, a short 5-10 minute walk from Boston’s South Station and downtown Financial District.  Best for children up to about 10 year old.

Everybody needs a dictionary. You may have a tattered family volume, a hardcover dictionary from student days, or a paperback bought at a bargain price. But you don’t have to buy a dictionary, you may go online and discover a universe of words and fun.

Start with “OneLook Dictionary Search,” a fascinating Website with 6,257,269 indexed words from 993 dictionaries. Your options include a basic word search or a “wildcard pattern” search that matches any sequence of letters. The word “bluebird” is used as an example. To find the definition you may enter “blue” or “bird” or “bl (blanks here)rd.” There’s also a reverse dictionary on the Website. If you enter the phrase “when cancer spreads through the body,” for example, dozens of medical words pop up.

“The AlphaDictionary” Website is just plain fun. A word of the day is posted on the site and when I accessed it the word was “glade.” You may submit your own word of the day if you’re so inclined. If you get bored while you’re looking for definitions click on “AlphaDictionary Word Games” and do crossword puzzles and “word jungles.”

Cambridge University Press has a Website called “Cambridge Dictionaries Online.” You’ll find a variety of dictionaries on this site, plus dozens of “Online Activities and Worksheets.” I clicked on CLD, activities to do with the “Cambridge Learner’s Dictionary,” and found an alphabet trivia quiz, collation games that show how words are used together, multiple meanings, verb patterns, information on nouns, verbs, and adjectives, “The Rich and Famous” crossword puzzle, and more.

There’s also a list of “The Top 40 Words 2004″ on this site. I learned the word “advice” has held its place as number one. According to Cambridge University, “The only change in the top 6 is the fall of ‘idiom’ from 4th place in 2003 to 17.” Like a soccer mom rooting for a small kid on the team, I found myself rooting for “idiom” and hoped it would rise to stardom again.

“The TravLang Translating Dictionaries” Website has dictionaries in more than 35 languages, including Hungarian, Polish, Esperanto, and Turkish. You’ll also find an AOL Translator link and an online dictionary on this site. Many foreign language dictionaries, including this one, have ads on them so be prepared.

“Webopedia” (I love the name) is both a dictionary and a search engine for Internet and Technical definitions. I’ve used it several times and found it user-friendly and concise. You’ll find other unusual dictionaries on this site, too: South Asia dictionaries, Biblical dictionaries, Gaelic dictionaries, and more.

You’ll want to check out an encompassing Website called “The Internet Public Library.” A stop here gets you “Strange and Unsual Dictionaries,” “VoyCabulary” (links to Web pages or phrasesto online references like dicitonaries) and even a Chinese Characters Dictionary.

The next time you’re stumped by a word, or need a break, or the kids have cabin fever, go on the Internet and visit online dictionaries. You’ll have fun, the kids will have fun, and everyone will learn new words and new things. What a deal.