COEUR d'ALENE — Curious kids dug their hands into a bin of raw corn, giggling and chattering as they enjoyed the tactile experience Wednesday at the Kootenai County Fairgrounds.

"I learned that there are many parts of how you grow corn and how there are many things that you can make with it," said Ramsey Magnet School of Science fifth-grader Vivian Werner. "If you take away growing corn for a year or so, there's a lot of things that you can't have. It's interesting. It's also very cool you can use raw corn for many things."

Across the fairgrounds in the animals barn, students engaged with live goats and tried their hands at milking.

"I've never milked anything," Ramsey fifth-grader Margarita McCormick said with a chuckle. "It was weird. It was squishy and weird."

Weird, but educational.

"You have to clean your hands before you do it, otherwise the milk could get infected," she said. "Honestly, it's not that bad."

More than 1,700 fifth-graders from area school districts and home schools are participating in the hands-on Farm to Table field trip at the fairgrounds this week. They're learning about the role agriculture plays in daily life and how the United States has one of the most abundant, safe and affordable food supplies in the world.

Stations include beef, dairy, sheep, vegetables, soils, water, bees and more.

The fairgrounds has hosted this farm-related educational affair since 2015 with the exception of 2020. It has blossomed from a one-day event to three days of agricultural exploration.

"It's a great age to do this. We can keep their attention and they come home with great information that sticks with them for a lifetime," fair general manager Alexcia Jordan said. "It's literally everything for how you get your food from the farm to the table."

One more group will go through the Farm to Table stations today.

"It's just so fun," Jordan said. "At every station, they are learning something. They walk out and you can hear the chatter as they move from station to station on what they just learned."