Qatar Foundation’s Qur'anic Botanic Garden Holds ‘Fun & Learn’ Program

Qur’anic Botanic Garden (QBG), a member of Qatar Foundation (QF), has begun the second round of its ‘Fun & Learn’ educational program for primary school students at Oxygen Park in Education City.

The QBG program is set to welcome more than 40 students from various schools across the country to Oxygen Park every Thursday. In addition, as part of the initiative, QBG will host weekly site visits to the QF plant nursery for pre-school and primary schools. The aim of the program, which will run until the end of March 2018, is to teach participants about plants and the environment.

Fatima Al Khulaifi, Manager, QBG, said: “The ‘Fun & Learn’ initiative is organized by the Qur’anic Botanic Garden in collaboration with the Ministry of Education and Higher Education. The program combines science with a series of fun activities in order to create a healthy educational environment outside of school that will help students explore their natural surroundings and improve their research skills. The initiative also promotes extra-curricular activities and increases young people’s awareness of the importance of plant conservation within the State of Qatar to foster sustainable development and inspire student responsibility.”

The QBG program aims to teach students about plant lifecycles, the importance of plants, the definition of environmental preservation, and the significance of sustainability overall. QBG has designed five interactive stations, including: the ‘Vertical Agriculture’ activity, which allows students to practice non-traditional planting methods using recycled irrigation pipes; ‘Green Dolls’, where students reuse old planting pots to create garden decorations; ‘Fruit Box’, which teaches students about the plants and fruits of QBG; ‘Treasure Hunt’, where students can learn about Oxygen Park’s plants, elements, and different components of the Qur’anic Botanic Garden, as well as ‘Puzzles and Maze’, which teaches participants about plant life.

During the 2016-2017 academic year, QBG worked with more than 30 schools and kindergartens in the ‘Fun & Learn’ program. The initiative was also able to engage with more than 1,200 students at the sessions provided in Oxygen Park and through school visits to the QF plant nursery.

QBG seeks to promote student and community participation and to raise public awareness of the importance of agriculture in Qatar to support QF’s commitment to sustainable development and environmental responsibility.