Families can hunt for mineral treasures without lugging heavy equipment, getting their hands dirty or going all over town to the various gem, mineral and fossil shows. They can just head over to the Junior Education Center at the Tucson Gem and Mineral Show, Feb. 15- 17.

For at least 10 years, kids and their grown-ups have found something set up specifically for them in the frenzy of the dealing, selling and buying that make up the Tucson Gem, Mineral & Fossil Showcase.

The center is "geared toward introducing children to minerals in a more scientific way," said Carole Lee, spokeswoman for the Tucson Gem and Mineral Society, which is hosting its 48th annual show at the Tucson Convention Center.

The society will construct the center as a maze in its own corner of the show. Maps on where to find certain rocks and diagrams on geology will line the walls, while videos and models will continue to explain the world of minerals.

Volunteers from the University of Arizona's Society of Earth Sciences Students will staff stations in the center and talk about different mineral specimens, including quartz and garnet crystals, celestite, calcite and fluorite, explained Anna Domitrovic, a society officer and curator of mineralogy at the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum.

Participants can look through microscopes to examine the detail of tiny minerals called micromounts. Test kits will let kids find out the hardness, magnetism and other physical properties of various rocks.

Every child can leave the center with minerals he or she picks up at each station, Domitrovic said, and each will have a chance to get a "showy" one during a treasure hunt.

A day before the center opens, the UA students will go through the show, which opens Feb. 14, and come up with a list of questions, she explained. During the center's hours, kids can pick up the list, which instructs them, for instance, to find a particular specimen at some dealer's display or name the mineral in a specific case.

When the child returns the completed sheet, he or she can pick an especially flashy mineral specimen. Kids as old as 16 can play.

"Usually everybody gets something, as long as they make an attempt," Domitrovic said.

The treasure hunt encourages kids to pay attention to the rest of the show, which this year focuses on African minerals, gems and jewelry, Lee said.

"We're the only show that has exhibits," she said, adding that it boasts more than 100 from museums and private collections.

* Elena Acoba, a free-lance writer, is a former Arizona Daily Star reporter.