TOTS, POPS BUBBLE OVER WITH ENTHUSIASM\First-hand look at science.

Byline: Enrique Rivero Daily News Staff Writer

Blue-gray eyes wide in wonder, 3-year-old David Coons discovered Saturday how different prisms, lenses and filters can bend, shift and change light in the most amazing ways.

Trying one tool after another from a table in a Simi Covenant Preschool classroom, David saw how his father, Ron, his classmates and his teachers looked under a variety of distorting lenses. And he was astonished that combining blue and yellow gives you a whole new color.

"Gween, it makes it gween," he said as he peered at his father through the colored lenses. "You get a different color when you mix them all together!"

The experiment was part of the school's eighth annual father-child science fair, which gives fathers an opportunity to spend time with their children working on a host of fascinating projects together, one-on-one and without staff supervision, said school co-director Martha Cope.

"It's not limited to just dads, but since we're a half-day preschool, many dads don't get an opportunity to spend time with their children in school," Cope said. "So this gives them the opportunity to do something that's enjoyable for both the parent and child."

Though most were with their fathers, a few youngsters turned up with their mothers, grandparents or uncles, she said.

The fair covered the gamut of the sciences, from the biology to physics. All were hands-on experiments that were easy to perform and designed for quick results.

The youngsters studied different textures, played with light-manipulating instruments, shot balloon-powered rockets, and went fishing with magnets. They experimented with sound by rubbing wet sponges on strings connected to various size cups; studied floatation by tossing pine cones, wood blocks and other objects into water-filled buckets; and made volcanoes by dampening their hands, coating them in baking soda, sticking them in vinegar and watching the concoction which everyone called "Gack" start to fizz.

All the experiments were designed by the school's staff and are commonly used in the classroom, Cope said.

The experiments also were designed in part to help develop the youngsters' other skills, such as their verbal skills, Cope said. For instance, she asked one girl who had just stuck her hand in a box of bristles in a "touch and feel" experiment to describe how it felt. After a moment's pause, the youngster came up with the word "scrumpy."

Ron Coons said he enjoyed watching his son learn new things at the fair and it helped make the day special for them.

"We've been looking forward to it ever since we got the fliers, we've been counting the days," Coons said. "We got up early and had a special breakfast - it's just a special day."

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Photo (1--color) Ron Coons helps his son, David, with an exhibit at the science fair. (2--color) David takes over blowing up the bubble at Simi Covenant Preschool. (3--color) The fair, in its eighth year, is geared to allow parents quality time in the classroom with their children. (4) Roger Furgang traces an outline of his daughter, Alix, 3, at the fair. Joe Binoya/Special to the Daily News