RECREATION : Wall-to-Wall Fun : Paint Pals Clubhouse in Simi Valley provides art projects, music and mirrors to keep children entertained.

Megan Mathis sits poised over a plaster witch stirring a ghostly pot, her lower lip tucked under her front teeth in concentration. The Simi Valley 7-year-old has been in the same position for the last 40 minutes, moving only to turn the statuette this way and that before carefully dipping a thin brush into a paint-filled cup.

So far, the witch’s hat is black and its face cream-colored, with a few strategically placed spots added for good measure. (“Those are warts,” she explains.) But deciding what color to paint the witch’s cape is a stumper.

“If you rush, it doesn’t turn out so good,” she says without looking up. “I don’t like it all sloppy.”

Not every child who comes to the Paint Pals Clubhouse in Simi Valley has Megan’s ability to focus so intently for so long. But that’s what owner Val Simon was counting on when she opened the clubhouse in July.

There are large plastic buckets of colored sand that children can pour onto “sand paintings” and rows and rows of white plaster statues, which include flowers, fish, animals, butterflies, alphabet letters and Ninja turtles. But Simon also wanted a place where children could go if they became restless between art projects.

Those kids can now head to the clubhouse’s “dark room” and place felt designs on a wall that glows under a fluorescent light.

Or the “shadow room,” a neon-covered area with a special light in the middle that every 50 seconds snaps a “picture” of the children’s shadows--which remain frozen on the wall even after they move away.

Or the fun-house mirror, which alternately makes little bodies look like the Michelin Tire Man or Popeye’s Olive Oil.

Or the karaoke machine at the back, where children can sing along to such hits as “Old MacDonald Had a Farm” and “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star.”

“When they’re little, they have short attention spans,” says Simon, a friendly, outgoing former waitress who explains that she has put everything she has into making the art and activities center a success.

“One child can sit and paint for hours. Others can’t sit still at all.”

Monica Lucero, 9, says she probably falls more into the latter category.

“I have just a little patience,” she says, tapping her toe while waiting for a sand painting of a dog to dry. “I do everything very fast.”

Despite her speed, Monica says she can spend hours at the clubhouse and not run out of things to do. “My mom gives me money, usually $5, but I can make a lot for that.”

Making the center affordable--and thus attractive for parents--was one of Simon’s priorities when she first looked at existing activity centers around town about a year ago. Most of the places she saw were either filled with video machines that quickly added up to big bucks for parents, she says, or cost so much that they only could be visited on special occasions.

Because of that, Simon decided to charge only $1 for kids to come to the center, regardless of how long they stay. She also waives that fee to any organization, group or school that wants to come on a field trip.

The cost of the plaster statues starts at $1.25. Singing with the karaoke machine costs 50 cents. Other activities, such as the shadow room, are free.

“It’s creative and fun for them, but the kids also learn a lot while they’re here,” Simon says. “They learn how to shop for the things they want to do on a fixed budget. They learn how to read on the karaoke machine. And they learn a little bit of independence.”

From the look of things, the combination of the center’s reasonable prices and its smorgasbord of activities seems to be paying off. On this particular weekday afternoon, more than 30 children are gathered around the art tables, standing on their heads in the shadow room, huddling around the karaoke microphone or hamming it up in front of the fun-house mirror.

Simon stresses that hers is not a day-care service. (“I’d need a completely different kind of license for that.”) But she does allow parents to drop off their kids and pick them up later if the children are old enough. Kids can receive phone calls at the clubhouse from their parents, as well as call home free when they are ready to go.

“I dropped them off at noon and kept calling, but they kept telling me they weren’t ready,” said Jean Fontana, who finally convinced her two children, 11-year-old Michelle and 8-year-old Lou, that it was time to go home at 6 o’clock.

Jeanne Elmore, who baby-sits for five children ages 4 to 10 just a few blocks away, says she brings the kids to the clubhouse about once a week and stays with them.

“It’s a calm thing for them,” she says. “At Chuck E. Cheese, they come out so wound up.”

* WHERE AND WHEN

Paint Pals Clubhouse, 1716 Erringer Road, Simi Valley. Monday through Saturday, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., Sunday 12 to 5 p.m. Plaster statues cost from $1.25 to $16. The karaoke machine costs 50 cents. There is a $1 entry fee. 581-4676.