When he's not at school or doing chores at home, Bonsall Elementary School fourth-grader Kevin Andersen likes playing handball, building things with Legos and producing episodes of his award-winning animal documentary series, "Kevin's Critters."

Kevin, 9, has been producing short animal documentaries since he was 6. He hosts the series and handles nearly every aspect of the production process, including filming, scheduling interviews, planning site visits, editing and music selection.

One of his two completed episodes, "Kevin's Critters: Dolphin Adventure," has already won several awards, including Best Student Film at the Oceanside International Film Festival in October.

He finished his second documentary, "Chinchilla on the Loose," early this year and has begun production on a third, called "Hold on to your Horses."

Kevin's documentary about dolphins and what they can be trained to do includes footage and expert commentary from officials at SeaWorld and the U.S. Navy Marine Mammal Program. Andersen produced the film with help from his mother, Aunjelique Andersen, who worked until recently in television production at the Outdoor Channel.

Kevin's documentary earned three bronze Telly awards, a Communicator award and a Best Family Project award at the second annual Temecula Youth Media Arts Festival last year, but that didn't mean he was counting on winning an award at the Oceanside film festival.

"I figured I don't win the raffle, so I'm probably not going to win an award," Kevin said with a shrug.

Kevin's mother said the 10-minute documentary took a year to finish, mostly because Kevin had to learn to use equipment and production techniques at each step in the process. She said she helped Kevin significantly with the dolphin documentary, especially when it came to editing footage.

"I was like, 'This is how you do it. Now sit in my seat and do it,'" she said. "It was a slow process because he was just learning. He kind of gets a little frustrated, but once he gets it he gets it."

Kevin said much of the film and editing equipment belonged to his mother.

"I let him use all the equipment," Aunjelique Andersen said. "It's his, too. I bought it primarily for myself for my freelance work, but now he needs it, so we both use it. It's a $3,000 camera, so I told him he had to be careful with it. But if you never touch that kind of equipment you can't learn how to use it."

Kevin said he has wanted to make television episodes since he was 4. He took a weekend class to learn the basics before he started working on projects with his mom.

Aunjelique Andersen said that after taking the class her son was "gung-ho" to make films,

"It was always, 'Hey, Mom, can we do this? Can we do this? Can we do this?'" she said. "And I was like, 'Yes, sweetheart, we can.'"

Kevin said he came up with the Kevin's Critters series idea because he loves animals. He said he hopes it will motivate people to protect animals and their habitats.

Eventually, though, he plans to move onto other types of films, he said.

"I asked him, 'How long are you going to be doing this?' And he said, 'As long as I'm cute,'" Aunjelique Andersen said, laughing."He's just funny because he's always thinking ahead."

Kevin said that when he's finished with a career in filmmaking he'd like to pursue his other passion: building models from Legos.

At one time, Kevin had considered it as a career path.

"One time he told me he wants to build sculptures at Legoland," Aunjelique Andersen said of her son's career plans. "I'm like, 'If that's what you want, kiddo, that's fine with me.'

"He may work in television; he may be an engineer. Who knows? (My husband and I) are just encouraging everything he does."

Contact staff writer Morgan Cook at 760-740-3516.