FOR THE KIDS : Entertainer Izzi Juggles Jokes With Tall Tales : The lively performer brings his magical act for young audiences to the new Forum Theatre at Civic Arts Plaza.

Izzi Tooinsky can juggle almost anything--torches, knives, hatchets--even whatever he might find in the audience.

But he’s a lot more than a juggler. He spins stories and jokes around with kids. In fact, diversity is his thing.

“It’s OK to be different,” he usually tells his young audiences. He should know. He is only 5 foot, 2 inches.

“Look at me. I’m different,” he tells them. “I’m a little guy. I’m going bald. My mom, she was nothing like Barbi.”

Tooinsky will be doing his thing, or things, Saturday in a 2:30 p.m. performance at the Forum Theatre in Thousand Oaks’ new Civic Arts Plaza. Tickets are $7 and $9.

The show is the first of the season for the Ventura County Children’s Festival. Director Brian Bemel has been bringing family entertainment to the county for nine years. Tooinsky’s show in the Forum Theatre is one of the first performances in the intimate setting, which seats up to 400.

“I never quite know what I’m going to do,” Tooinsky said about the upcoming show during an interview from his home near Lake Tahoe. “I have to feel the pulse of the audience. But there is certain to be a lot of audience participation.”

He might recruit a kid to beat a drum periodically for emphasis during one of his magical, mystical, sometimes ridiculously silly tales. Ask him his story and he might say he was lost in a dark Albanian forest as an infant and taken in by hamsters.

The Albania part is true anyway. He was born there, leaving with his family when he was 5. He spent most of his youth in the Los Angeles area. He picked up juggling from his grandfather who had been a traveling performer.

Tooinsky took his own act to Venice Beach, where he became a street performer for many years. “I saw I could carry on an ancient tradition,” he said. Since then, he has performed worldwide.

Now 38 and the father of two, Tooinsky’s comic storytelling style has been compared to everyone from Robin Williams and Cheech Marin to Hans Christian Andersen. Ask him, and he’ll say he’s a cross between Isaac Bashevis Singer and Jimi Hendrix. His theme of diversity is one, he says, that can be applied to adults as well as kids.

“It’s a lifelong lesson. It’s OK to be different. That’s what I was saying to myself all the time, and I realized I was not alone.”

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Disney recording artist Craig Taubman is the season’s opener for the Conejo Valley Children’s Concert Series. Taubman, who plays some supercharged rock ‘n’ roll with his four-piece band, will also be performing at the Forum Theatre.

His shows are at 5 and 7 p.m. Thursday. Advance tickets are $6.50; $7.50 at the door. For ticket information, call 493-4348.

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Ventura County Gull Wings Children’s Museum in Oxnard is celebrating its fifth birthday Saturday with some fun kid stuff. The circus theme will include a wild animal show at 10:30 a.m., along with clowns, balloon animals, face painting, puppet shows, storytelling, karaoke singing and birthday cake.

The museum, at 418 W. 4th St., will be open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission that day will be $1 for adults and children (children under 2 years are free).

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Science whiz Tom Baker can make weather, well, dazzling. He performs experiments that actually create weather, like a mini-tornado. He’ll be doing his weather thing Sunday, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., at the Barnes & Noble bookstore in Ventura, 4360 E. Main St. Baker has written two books on science experiments.

Details

* WHAT: Performance by juggler-storyteller-comedian Izzi Tooinsky.

* WHERE: Forum Theatre, Civic Arts Plaza, 2100 Thousand Oaks Blvd., Thousand Oaks.

* WHEN: Saturday, 2:30 p.m.

* COST: $7 and $9. Tickets also available at Kideos in Ventura, Parenting Store in Thousand Oaks and Serendipity Toys in Ojai.

* FYI: To charge by phone, call 650-5900 or 374-9222.

* ETC.: Call 646-6997.