FOR THE KIDS : It’s a Zoo Out There for Youths Heading to Camp : Summer programs give children who love animals--from lizards to goats--a chance for some close-up encounters.

You’ve heard of tennis camp, computer camp, even weight-loss camp for kids. Now, for those kids who are nuts about animals, we have zoo camp, farm camp, horsemanship camp and even nature camp.

During their summer break, young children might learn everything from how to milk a goat to the finer points of grooming a horse. Summer vacation is about a month away, so it’s not too soon to sign up.

For young animal lovers, here are a few day camps in and around Ventura County:

* Moorpark College’s exotic animal training program offers a Junior Safari Day Camp it calls “You Belong in Our Zoo.” It’s for kids in grades one through seven who want a glimpse of how students at the college train exotic animals such as lions, tigers, wolves, coyotes, monkeys, snakes, sea lions and even a pot-bellied pig.

The kids help feed the animals, clean the pens and assist the students with the almost daily shows they put on to practice their animal-training skills. The camp’s hands-on experience is limited to smaller animals such as lizards, tortoises, harmless snakes and birds.

Camp runs from 8:30 to 11:30 a.m., Monday through Friday, and costs $110 per weekly session. They run from June 20 through July, and each is limited to 15 students.

* Zoo Camp at the Santa Barbara Zoo is a combination of learning about zoo animals, games, songs, arts and crafts and science experiments. Children will not have direct contact with the zoo’s general animal collection, but keepers bring out snakes, iguanas, tarantulas and birds of prey for personal encounters. Older campers can help out in the zoo’s domestic animal enclosure by feeding the sheep, goats, prairie dogs, guinea pigs and chicks. They also have cleanup duty.

The weeklong sessions are designed around themes such as animal habitats or conservation. Fridays include special activities such as a trip to the beach.

Zoo Camp, which runs from June 27 through Aug. 26, is for children 3 years old to grade six. They are divided into small groups by age. Camp runs from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., Monday through Friday, and the week costs $90.

* Painted Pony Camp in Santa Paula is for children, ages 5 to 10, who want a taste of farm life--real farm life, that is, because this is a working farm and the home of Pam and Steve Colvard. Their secluded spread includes goats, sheep, pigs, chickens, ducks, rabbits, turkeys, horses and ponies.

The kids learn about a different farm animal each day, and the day’s activities are designed around that animal. On goat day, for instance, they learn how to milk a goat, how to make goat’s milk ice cream and why a goat has split hoofs.

They spend time every day just hanging around the barnyard with the animals, which are gentle because they’ve all been raised by the Colvards. They also work in a garden, make butter, hear stories, sing songs, hike to a creek and catch polliwogs, and swim in the Colvards’ pool.

The weeklong camp sessions, which begin June 20, run from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., Monday through Friday. The cost is $100 a week.

Several horseback riding schools in Ventura County now offer summer camps for kids. They get an intensive daily dose of riding, along with a lot of horse know-how including saddling, grooming and caring for the horse, and even horse anatomy. The camps are for beginners as well as advanced riders. Here are a few:

* At Peppercorn Riding School in Saticoy’s Wheeler Canyon, weeklong summer sessions beginning June 20 run Monday through Friday, from 8 a.m. to noon. They are open to children 7 to 15 years old and the cost is $180 per week or $40 per day.

* Elvenstar Farm and Riding School in Moorpark is a little more intensive, with sessions running two weeks, from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday. The cost per session is $400. Kids 7 years and up ride about three hours per day. Summer camp begins June 20.

* Las Palmas Riding Club in Moorpark also offers two-week sessions beginning June 20. Children 6 to 14 years old go from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., Monday through Friday. In addition to riding and learning about horsemanship, the kids swim and go on field trips. The cost is $300 per session.

Ventura’s Community Services Department is offering a summer nature program for kids. All sessions are a week long and they run at different times during the summer, beginning June 27.

* One, called “Live Animals and Their Habitats,” takes children 7 to 12 on hikes through Arroyo Verde Park, looking for animal tracks. They get a close-up look at opossums, tortoises, tarantulas, scorpions, snakes and hawks. The weeklong session runs Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. The cost is $75.

* Another one, also for kids from 7-12, has them exploring the shore at Emma Wood State Beach, looking for tide pools and marine life. It’s one week long, 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., and on Friday, the last day, the kids spend a full day on a boat trip to Anacapa Island. This one runs $120.

* For younger kids, 3 to 6 years old, a weeklong program called “Seaside Critters” exposes them to marine life at Marina Park. It’s a shorter session, from 9 to 11:30 a.m., and it costs $55.

Details

* FYI: For kids who love animals, here are a few summer day camps:

Moorpark College’s exotic animal training program’s Junior Safari Day Camp, 7075 Campus Road, Moorpark, 378-1441.

Santa Barbara Zoo Camp, 500 Ninos Drive, Santa Barbara, 962-5339.

Painted Pony Summer Camp, 15315 Santa Paula-Ojai Road, Santa Paula, 525-9820.

Peppercorn Riding School, 6645 Wheeler Canyon Road, Saticoy, 525-9824.

Elvenstar Farm and Riding School, 15618 Tierra Rejada Road, Moorpark, 529-2800.

Las Palmas Riding Club, 3566 Moorpark Road, Moorpark, 523-3485.

City of Ventura, recreation program information, 658-4726.