Cat’s Meow Hopes for Great a Paws : Music: Fred Penner and his popular and eclectic band, a staple of Nickelodeon’s daily children’s programming, will perform this weekend at Knott’s.

Let their older brothers and sisters scream for heavy metal, rap and rock stars. The preschool set has a hot musical act of its own: Fred Penner and his Cat’s Meow Band.

Penner is a children’s singer whose superstar status among Canadian preschoolers has spilled over into the United States, thanks in part to his TV show, “Fred Penner’s Place,” a staple of Nickelodeon’s daily children’s programming. He and the band play today and Sunday at Knott’s Berry Farm, at 2 and again at 4 p.m.

Penner blends sophisticated music, wacky humor and fatherly warmth; his band is polished and eclectic, joining him on everything from “simple guitar/banjo folk” to rock ‘n’ roll and tropical or even what he calls “semiclassical” music.

“The musical patterns and chord progressions can be quite complex in the course of a song,” Penner said from Vancouver, where he was taping new episodes of his TV show. “But it’s the melody line that comes through. Most important for me is the lyric. I’m hoping the words that I’m saying--and the way the music supports the lyric--is so memorable that when you leave, it’s still working inside.”

Penner sings traditional songs, such as his trademark “The Cat Came Back” and Woody Guthrie’s “Car Car Song,” and many originals that have the same sing-along quality that children seem to love. The gleefully greedy “Sandwiches” is an audience favorite:

Sandwiches are beautiful, sandwiches are fine.

I like sandwiches. I eat them all the time.

I eat them for my supper and eat them for my lunch.

If I had a hundred sandwiches, I’d eat them all at once!

During the hourlong Knott’s concerts, Penner and the band will do “about 13 to 15 tunes, from every album I’ve done, except the Christmas album,” he said. He plans to include “Collections,” “I Am the Wind,” “You Can Do It If You Try” and “Happy Feet.”

“Happy Feet” is the working title of his eighth album, due in the fall. It “seems to be heading into a swing direction,” he said, “with good melodies, lots of children’s voices, good choir work and participation.” It will include “You Can Count on Me,” the song Sammy Cahn wrote especially for Penner’s TV show.

About to be released this summer is a second concert video, “Circle of Songs.” His first video, “The Cat Came Back,” was released earlier this year. The “Cat” song also was the basis for an illustrated book, as were other Penner favorites, including “Ebenezer Sneezer.” His TV show has been renewed by Nickelodeon through 1993.

All his work, he said, is part of a commitment to fostering parent-child dialogue.

“What I’m trying to relate to in performance and through the television link is communication. I’m asking questions, engaging in dialogue, involving the audience. At least half of the audience is parents. There are little asides in the show aimed specifically at parents. They go by quickly enough that it doesn’t dumbfound the child, but parents pick them up.

“What I hope happens along the way is a sort of triangle effect. Some of the stuff is aimed at children; at the same time, what is happening is being picked up on a different perspective by adults. Then after the show, or during the show, parents and children are interacting.”

Penner--who has four children of his own, from 3 months to 9 years old--holds a degree in psychology and economics from the University of Winnipeg and began his children’s music career as an outgrowth of his work in the early ‘70s with severely disabled children, work inspired by his sister, who had Down’s syndrome.

He is grateful for his success.

“I know the work is positive,” he said. “I enjoy the focus; I get the support I need. It’s a lovely life, a wonderful path that’s been created for me.”

Fred Penner performs today and Sunday at 2 and 4 p.m. at Knott’s Berry Farm, 8039 Beach Blvd., Buena Park. The concerts are free with admission to the park ($9.95 to $21.95). Information: (714) 827-1776.