Wonderful post! My favourite pastime is delving into the rock pools on beaches. As a small child, I always seemed to get soaked and my mother would get mad at me haha!
These days, my kids still enjoy the microcosms of a rock pool. We took them to Sydney a number of years ago and the Sea Life Centre there had excellent facilities for children to experience rock pools first-hand. They were allowed and encouraged to touch the rock pool inhabitants (gently of course).