Have you seen flocks of pigeons feeding on rice or bread near the void deck? These have become a common sight around Singapore. The number of bird population has grown out of control because of the feeding and this poses health risks not only to the children, but also the residents. On their way to the preschool, children noticed that there are white and green stains found on the floor around the premise. As children are inquisitive, they ask questions about the stains. Town Council and National Environment Agency (NEA) have been roped in to look into the issue, but it could not be solved as the feeding persisted.
This prompted us to do this project for our Start Small Dream Big (SSDB). There is an urgent need to educate the residents to stop them from feeding the birds. We launched the project on 24 July, children donned bird masks, headgears and sang a medley of songs.
To find out more information on the common birds found in Singapore, our preschool collaborated with the park rangers from National Parks Board (NParks). Teachers efficiently used the resources provided by NParks and held an interview with the rangers via Zoom. Children were made aware that feeding the birds is not loving them, but destroying their abilities to forage for food and thus harming them in the long run.
To instil the message Love Me Don’t Feed Me, teachers facilitated the children to design postcards and distributed to the residents above our preschool.
The Nursery and Playgroup children personally dropped their postcards into the residents’ letterboxes whilst small groups of Kindergarten 1 and 2 children spread the message as they handed their postcards to some residents in the block.
