FOR THE KIDS : Learning About Life Down on the Farm : Weekly sessions at ranch near Moorpark familiarize children with barnyard animals and even give them a few chores to do.

The kids in Krissie Breck’s Farmer Kids Club might think that there isn’t much to know about a chicken. They haven’t met Charlotte.

Charlotte loves to have her feathers nuzzled. If children pet her neck, they’ll feel a bumpy pouch that chickens have for storing food. But most remarkable about Charlotte, an Araucanas breed of chicken, is that she lays green eggs. Really.

Charlotte is just one of the animals kids get to know on a first-name basis in the club, a once-a-week series of sessions at Tierra Rejada Ranch near Moorpark.

Breck began offering the sessions in the summer to give kids a real taste of life on a real farm. She is starting up the series again beginning March 2. Kids 5 to 12 years old will meet at the ranch from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. Thursdays for five weeks. The cost is $25.

Living on the fringe of a metropolitan area, Ventura County kids just don’t have much contact with animals or a grasp of where food actually comes from, Breck said.

“They don’t know if a chicken will bite them,” she said. “Here they also learn what the responsibilities are of taking care of animals.”

Breck runs the Party Animals Farm at the ranch, where she does birthday parties for kids and pony rides. The barnyard, with its chickens, rabbits, ducks, sheep, pigs, goats, mules, horses and ponies, is nestled in a picturesque rural setting on the ranch, which is best known for its pick-your-own produce fields.

By far, the most famous of her animal collection is Magic the Wonderhorse, a palomino quarter horse that she has trained to do 50 tricks, including twirling a rope with her mouth and scraping her foot to do simple addition and subtraction.

If Magic is remarkable, so is Breck. Only 20, she grew up caring for animals--cats, sheep and even a pet fox. She spent four years living on a cattle farm in Alaska where she fed animals and mended fences.

“I begged for a horse from the time I was 10,” she said. She got Magic at a swap meet. “She was a muddy, bedraggled filly. I didn’t buy her to be a trick horse.” Even her riding instructor didn’t think that Magic was much of a horse.

Although she had never trained a horse before, Breck began patiently to teach Magic tricks by using treats. Eventually she had the horse dancing the hokeypokey and smiling.

Breck said the shyness that had troubled her as a child disappeared as she and Magic became an act. They joined a circus in Florida, and later a zoo in Maine. Then she moved with Magic to the Tierra Rejada Ranch and began attending Moorpark College.

She still does shows with Magic at the ranch, at schools and for parties. The horse usually has the run of the farm area at the ranch, so children in the Farmer Kids Club will see her, but they probably won’t see her performing in her custom-made tuxedo.

They will see other horses, and the farm has seven ponies. Kids will learn how to feed, groom and prepare a horse for riding. They’ll get a ride too. They’ll meet all the barnyard residents and learn about them--what they eat, where they sleep. They’ll also do real farm tasks, such as watering and feeding the animals, as well as cleaning up after them.

Breck, who has a gentle, soft-spoken manner, will show them how to prepare a small garden, fertilize it with recycled compost and plant seeds. Over the weeks, they’ll watch the seeds grow. They’ll do farm-related crafts, such as drawing the animals and creating “seed art.”

“I like the kids to make discoveries for themselves--that’s the way they learn best,” Breck said.

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Kids who have read the Ramona Quimby books will have a chance this weekend to see the Serendipity Theatre Company’s presentation based on the series by Beverly Cleary.

For those who don’t know, Ramona is the outspoken, rambunctious third-grader who makes life miserable for her older sister and is a challenge for her parents.

Show times are 2 p.m. Saturday and Sunday in the Forum Theatre. Tickets are $12 for adults and $6 for children. To order tickets by phone, call 583-8700.

Details

* WHAT: Farmer Kids Club.

* WHERE: Party Animals Farm at Tierra Rejada Ranch, 3370 Moorpark Road, Moorpark.

* WHEN: Five-week series runs 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. Thursdays, March 2 to 30.

* COST: $25 per child.

* CALL: 523-2957 to reserve a spot.