FOR THE KIDS / REAGAN LIBRARY TOUR : Back to the Past : Since its opening a year ago, more than 300 student groups have toured the facility near Simi Valley.

What does Ronald Reagan crave when his stomach growls? Not oysters on the half-shell. Not even filet mignon. Try macaroni and cheese and meatloaf.

Of course his favorite dessert is jellybeans, and maybe a wedge of carrot cake. And his favorite comic strip? Not “Doonesbury,” but “Peanuts.”

These are just a few of the tidbits about the 40th U. S. President that youngsters glean when they visit the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library near Simi Valley. Since it opened a year ago atop a wind-swept hill, the library has attracted more than 300 student groups.

You might have thought the library was just that, a bookish place where kids get bored. Not so. The museum portion of the library is a place where even elementary schoolchildren can get to know Reagan better.

If nothing else, they’ll recognize his picture from now on. The museum is loaded with pictures of Reagan and Nancy Reagan, some of them wall-size. You see them horseback riding, hugging children, chatting with heads of government.

The museum tour is generally self-guided, but when schoolchildren take it, they get a two-hour guided tour led by docents who gear the information to their level, concentrating more on Reagan’s personal traits and his youth.

They get a glimpse of what the parlor might have looked like in Reagan’s modest family home in Dixon, Ill. On the table is a copy of “Warlords of Mars” by Edgar Rice Burroughs, one of Reagan’s favorite books as a youngster.

“We try to say to them, ‘Here is a man who came from humble beginnings,’ ” docent Edith Sprinkle said. “He had no indoor plumbing or water. But he became a movie star and went on to become President, and you can do it too.”

Students learn his nickname since birth: “Dutch.” He’s 6-foot-1. His first job at 14 was digging ditches 10 hours a day, six days a week for 35 cents an hour. His hearing was impaired during his acting days when another actor fired a pistol near his head.

Youngsters can see the varsity letter sweater that Reagan earned as a football player at Eureka College. The posters advertising his movies are all displayed, even “Bedtime for Bonzo.”

Children also get a sense of his affinity for horses and ranching. His ornate saddles and cowboy boots are there, as is his collection of Western sculptures.

Since no one is allowed into the replica of the Oval Office, children as well as adults have to settle for a look from the doorway. They always point out the jellybean jar, which actually wasn’t in the oval office. So many people kept asking about it that curators added it to the replica, docent Rosemary Licata said.

But the replica is authentic in nearly every other way. The glass behind the ornately carved desk is blurred because it is bulletproof, just as in the original, she said.

Nancy Reagan has her own gallery in the museum where her “Just Say No” and “Foster Grandparents” programs are displayed. Youngsters can read letters from other children to the former First Lady. They can see the blue suit that she wore for the 1985 inauguration and a dinner gown.

“Kids are always interested in how tiny she is,” Sprinkle said.

Curiously, a biography of Reagan, given to teachers before the tour, omits his two children, Maureen and Michael, with former wife Jane Wyman before his marriage to Nancy Davis on March 4, 1952. Only Patricia and Ronald are noted as his offspring.

Nancy Reagan’s childhood is depicted in pictures and a white dress she wore as an infant.

Nearly all of the museum items are encased, including a sampling of some of the thousands of gifts the Reagans received in the White House. Youngsters will like the walrus from the Canadian government.

For those with more morbid tastes, the assassination attempt is covered in a short video where earphones are worn and Reagan himself can be heard describing the incident.

Children can see a 20-minute video on Reagan, as well as other videos in the museum. Outside the library is a 10-foot piece of the Berlin Wall.

But the first thing they’ll see at the entrance to the library is the fire-engine red Ford station wagon that Nancy Reagan used to shop, car-pool, and even haul a couple of goats once, the inscription says.

The museum gift shop has several items of interest to children, some even costing less than $2. There are pencils with eagles on them for 25 cents, Reagan magnets, badges, political buttons, rulers, place mats--even jellybeans.

WHERE AND WHEN

The Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, situated on Presidential Drive off Olsen/Madera roads near Simi Valley, is open Mondays through Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Sundays, noon to 5 p.m. Admission is $3 for adults, $1 for seniors, and no charge for children 15 and under. For information, call 522-8444.