Castles Fit for a Kid : Children Build Their Dreams From Sand in Oxnard Beach Contest

Their castles were simple bucket-shaped mounds, studded with feathers and broken clamshells.

But many of the children participating in Saturday’s sandcastle contest at Oxnard State Beach pretended that their crude moats and bridges were built on the sands of Egypt, pastures of England and plains of the North American Indians.

The contest for children under 12 was part of the monthlong Oxnard Sports Festival and drew 26 youngsters, most of whom live in Oxnard or Ventura. An Oxnard real estate company sponsored the castle-building contest for the city’s Parks and Recreation Department and provided winners with $50, $25 and $15 gift certificates from a toy store.

“We decided to do it because there aren’t a lot of events for children” in the Sports Festival, said Michele Izay, recreation supervisor for the city.

The children had 45 minutes to build their castles and decorate them with objects found on the beach. Flags and other manufactured ornaments were prohibited. Three judges critiqued the structures for creativity, rather than architectural design, Izay said.

“For every different kid there’s a completely different style,” she said.

Working at a leisurely pace, the children structured turrets and ramps with shovels, paper cups and dirty palms.

One Ventura girl decorated her sandcastle with a smiley face. Another carved his name in the sand at the base of a popsicle-stick drawbridge.

Twelve-year-old Jason Brown of Oxnard, who won first prize in the category of 10- to 12-year-olds, based his design on pictures he studied Friday night in encyclopedias and dictionaries. Hovering over his masterpiece, he showed off its many tunnels and bridges, said it was inhabited by kings and rich citizens of Egypt and pointed out that the watchtower was for “when they’re under attack.”

“Sometimes, if I’m bored, I’ll bring my little GI Joe guy and have a war,” Jason said.

“He’s a really good drawer,” said his proud mother, Irma Brown, a contract specialist at Point Mugu Naval Base. “Very skillful.”

Another parent trailed after her two children to capture them on videotape while others snapped cameras or called instructions from the sidelines.

Four-year-old Josh Klaristenfeld of Northridge had a castle he said he built for a kingdom of Indians--a pile of sand decorated with almost a dozen sea gull feathers that won second prize in his age category.

“We found them when there weren’t a lot of people,” he said, periodically wiping his runny nose on his T-shirt sleeve. He then straddled his castle’s driveway and reached between his legs to pat water onto the sand. “Put lots of water on it so it can be hard . . . I’m making this hard so they can walk in.”

His father, Ken Klaristenfeld, a psychoanalyst, said the children’s creations reflect their psychological states.

It is more important for children to take time to play and focus on a project than build something admirable, Klaristenfeld said. Children who built several structures may be more ambivalent than those who concentrate on one mound, he said.

“This is probably the most ancient form of art in the universe,” Klaristenfeld said. “This is where civilization began. I think that’s why we feel so soothed in a place like this.”