BINTULU: Students of the CES 3201 Industry Expansion and Networking course, Bachelor of Bioindustry Science with Honours, Universiti Putra Malaysia Bintulu Campus (UPMKB) together with the Permata Kasih Nursery and the Mama Compassionate Nursery organized a "Pre-Kids' Explore: Arts and Science of Agriculture" program at Taman Tumbina here on 7 January.

The program was also organized in collaboration with Bintulu Development Authority (BDA), Malaysian Soil Science Association (MSSS) and UPMKB Bioindustry Club.

The program, which was conducted by 34 members of the committee comprising students and students of UPMKB with the guidance of program advisor Dr Wan Asrina Wan Yahaya, attracted the participation of 18 nursery students aged five to six years old. Also present were teachers from both nurseries as well as parents of the participants.

Pre-Kids' Explore: Arts and Science of Agriculture is a community service program that targets the participation of preschoolers through out-of-classroom learning and exposure to agricultural science and environmental well-being.

This program is also a training platform for students who take CES3201 courses as development agents or speakers (ToTs) in the sharing of knowledge and skills in the field of agricultural sciences that have been learned over the years.

The half-day program is divided into three activities, namely 'Walk with Nature', 'One Kid, One Crop' and 'Art with Nature'.

The first slot starts with a Walk with Nature activity. This activity was carried out by involving a description of the botanicals of the plants around the garden and its uses such as landscaping and as food.

Participants were also given guidance on the conservation and preservation of plants in public premises so as not to be damaged to maintain the greenery of the environment and the cleanliness of the air.

The second slot continued with the One Kid, One Crop activity, where participants with the help of program committee members worked together to produce a hydroponic cultivation system using recycled materials and vegetable cultivation.

This activity indirectly exposed the participants to the concept of 3R (Reduce, Reuse, Recycle) to reduce the amount of waste and its manipulation in agricultural science.

The latter activity, Art with Nature, was carried out with the aim of stimulating the creativity of preschoolers to produce drawings based on the concept of marine life using dried or fallen plants around the garden.

Overall, it is hoped that this program will foster interest and provide exposure to preschoolers on agricultural science and the well-being of nature.

Organizing agricultural programs among preschoolers has become a common occurrence in developed countries such as the United States, United Kingdom, Japan, and France, to provide exposure on agricultural science with food production, food wastage problems, and environmental pollution. The members of the program committee are very pleased with the cooperation given by the nursery, the parents of the participants, and the agencies that have made this program a success.

Date of Input: 16/02/2023 | Updated: 16/02/2023 | lanz