WILD THING : Anaheim’s Oak Canyon Nature Center Is Always Open to Discovery

Tucked away in this manicured Anaheim Hills neighborhood is a place that breaks every rule in the homeowners’ association handbook. Weeds grow unchecked, dirt and dust are de rigueur and the residents literally run wild day and night.

Kids love it, naturally.

It’s the Oak Canyon Nature Center, a 58-acre wildlife sanctuary operated by the city of Anaheim’s Department of Parks, Recreation and Community Services. With its kid-friendly interpretive center, easy hiking trails and family programs, Oak Canyon lets children come to grips with the local flora and fauna. On Sunday, Sept. 8, the public can explore the center while getting to know over a dozen youth-oriented organizations from throughout the county at the sixth annual Children’s Discovery Faire.

Co-sponsored by the Oak Canyon Committee of Sea and Sage Audubon, the Children’s Discovery Faire was launched to introduce families to a variety of educational and artistic programs available to Orange County children, said festival director Linda Nash, a program coordinator for Oak Canyon.

From 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., exhibitors representing a wide range of interests will host displays and performances and distribute printed materials. Staff members from the Orange County and Santa Ana zoos will be on hand with a bevy of live critters. South Coast Repertory’s Young Conservatory students and several other arts groups will perform on the center’s outdoor stage.

And the Discovery Museum of Orange County, the Children’s Museum at La Habra and a number of music schools will host exhibits. Most will offer participatory workshops, said Nash, in which visitors can try their hand at chess, explore a new musical instrument, or take part in crafts projects. Food and drink will be sold, and the U.S. Forest Service characters Smokey Bear and Woodsy Owl keep watch throughout the day.

Before or after the fair, you may want to set aside time for the John C. Collier Interpretive Center. Accessible to preschoolers on up, the interpretive center includes a number of taxidermied animals and an inviting array of hands-on stations that can help prime your young explorers for a hike on one of Oak Canyon’s many trails.

To help them identify animal tracks, for example, there are plaster casts of opossum, cottontail rabbit and other critters’ footprints, along with gallery cards explaining the animals’ habits and habitats. They can peer at live bugs and reptiles in their cozy glass cases, or test their knowledge of natural science at Earthprobe, an interactive video.

Two pairs of binoculars and simple bird-watching guides are available in the bird-watching area, where a large window overlooks bird feeders and watering areas. Nearby, a “bird box” awaits with touchable bird skeletons, feathers and models. And for the younger ones, there’s Discovery Corner, stocked with games, puppets and toys.

Oak Canyon’s nature trails range from the gradual, paved slope of the 1/5-mile Heritage Trail (accessible to wheelchairs and strollers) to the more challenging 4/5-mile Roadrunner Ridge, which follows the northern boundary of Oak Canyon in a coastal sage scrub habitat.

The Oak Canyon Nature Center has a full schedule of low-cost public workshops, many of them geared to children as young as 3. For preschoolers, there’s the Snail Trail tour, a 1 1/2-hour, naturalist-led program that includes a slow-paced nature walk and live animal demonstration. Theme programs, focusing on such topics as local bird life, mammal tracking and reptiles, are also available. In addition, the center hosts regular Saturday morning family programs that explore everything from California’s endangered species to the unique ways American Indians used local plant life.

What: Oak Canyon Nature Center and the Children’s Discovery Faire.

When: The Discovery Faire will be held Sunday, Sept. 8, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Oak Canyon is open daily from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Where: 6700 E. Walnut Canyon Road, Anaheim.

Whereabouts: Riverside (91) Freeway to Imperial Highway. Turn right and go up the hill to Nohl Ranch Road, then turn left. Turn left onto Walnut Canyon Road.

Wherewithal: Admission is free to both the Discovery Faire and Nature Center.

Where to call: (714) 998-8380.