8 Germs, Germs, Go Away!
Isabella Miles and Priyana Reddy
Germs, Germs, Go Away!
The Importance of Proper Hand Washing
Overview
- This activity is designed with young children in mind, specifically children in kindergarten and first grade. The purpose of this activity is to translate the complex idea of microbes and disease transmission to a simple visual activity that children can easily understand. The activity is interactive, simple, and will take no longer than 5-10 minutes.
- Keywords: Health, Covid-Safety, Hygiene, Safety
- Materials needed: dish soap, milk or water, a clean bowl or plate, black pepper or food dye, and your hands (LINK)
Introduction
Why is it so important to wash your hands now? What is COVID-19 and why do we need to stay safe?
It is because germs can live on our hands and on surfaces we touch, like your crayons, desk, and even your toys! But what are germs? They are the bad guys; they are very small creatures that you can’t see that are responsible for getting you sick. COVID-19 is one of the many types of these germs and we need to fight it so we can stay healthy!
In order to fight these bad guys off, we need to wash our hands for at least 30 seconds under warm water with soap. How do we know soap and water work if we can’t even see the germs? This activity you’re about to do will show you why soap is so important in rinsing away those bad germs and keeping you safe!
Activity
Materials needed: dish soap, milk or water, a clean bowl, black pepper or food dye, and your hands (LINK)
Set Up:
1.) Grab a plate of bowl and fill it about a quarter inch high with any kind of milk
2.) Sprinkle a thin layer of pepper on top of the milk
The experiment: Now for the fun!
3.) Dip your finger into the pepper without any soap on your finger.
Questions to ask yourself:
- What do you think it going to happen? Will the milk turn a different color? Will something happen to the pepper? Will nothing happen? Write down what you think is going to happen!
4.) Now add a little dab of soap to your finger tip and dip into the mixture
Check in: Now that we know nothing happens when we have nothing on our fingers, what do you think will happen with soap on our fingers? Write it down and try it out! After you try it out watch the video below!
Final thoughts: Did you get the same results as I did? Did you expect those results?
In this activity the pepper plays the role of the germs, and when you have soap on your finger, the germs run away! I know you can’t see the germs in real life, but when you use soap and warm water for 30 seconds, all the germs will come running off of your hands! Now we understand why it is so important for us to practice washing our hands with soap!
Additional Background for Parents
We understand how hard it can be to illustrate the complex idea of microbes and diseases to children. Especially in times like these, as a parent, you must ingrain the habits of proper hand washing, which can be difficult to explain to young children. In this activity you and your child can have some fun while learning an important lesson! We recommend that you preface this activity with a brief conversation with your child to assess their understanding of why we need to wash our hands; we recommend this so you can understand where their gap in knowledge lies and how to proceed. We also suggest to keep the idea of hygiene and germs prevalent throughout the activity so they do not lose sight of the overall lesson. In addition, ask follow up questions to see if they learned and understood the lesson. Here are some example questions:
- Do you understand why we use soap when washing our hands? How do you know this? What did you observe during the activity that showed you that soap works?
- We know we can’t see the germs, but in this activity what played the role of the germs?
- How do we wash our hands?