EDMONTON Ñ A maze designed to teach elementary students about agriculture may have spinoff effects on parents.
Sue Patrsyk of Edmonton followed her preschool son and his class through the agriculture maze at Edmonton’s Northlands Park and came away with a greater appreciation of agriculture.
“I’m a city kid,” said Patrsyk, who admitted she has limited knowledge about agriculture.
“I found it very beneficial.”
While the agriculture displays set up in a type of maze were designed for children, the goal is to let everyone know more about agriculture, said Doug Bienert, the Northlands Park director responsible for agriculture education.
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“We presume they see all the animals and they don’t,” said Bienert.
As the children walked through the maze they got a chance to pet various animals including chicks, pigs, horses, cattle, sheep and alpacas. They also watched cows being milked, learned what part of a cow that hamburger comes from, saw wool ready to be spun into yarn, squashed canola into oil and learned the difference between draft and light horses.
“When the kids have a hands-on learning experience, what they absorb is so different than reading it from a book,” said Bonni Clark, Northlands public relations co-ordinator.
This is the first year Northlands has used the maze format to teach kids about agriculture. School tours were previously held during Farmfair, the fall cattle show.
“All they saw was cows’ butts,” said Bienert.
With the new setup he hopes the children will focus on each aspect of agriculture as they walk through the maze.
Patrsyk said the program was so enjoyable she hopes her child will have another chance to go through the maze as he gets older.
“You could tell the people were well prepared to talk to the kids. I hope we get a chance to come later in the older grades.”
