Dip A Toe Into Meaning

(idiomatic, figuratively) To enter or get involved in tentatively and for the first time.

Example: 1987, Chez Dominique (in New York Magazine, volume 20, number 27, July 1987)
  Artists' books seldom dip a toe into literature.
2001, Bill Bryson, In a Sunburned Country
  Surfers Paradise is just over the border in Queensland, and I was eager to dip a toe into that interesting and erratic state.
2006, China Williams, George Dunford, Southeast Asia on a shoestring
  Surabaya's crumbling old town is the best place to dip a toe into the city's soul.