Four Ways to Build Hand Washing Skills

It’s high panic time, and moms and teachers alike are freshly invigorated on the topic of hand-washing. Moms and teachers have been on the front line of this hand-washing trend. We were doing it before it was cool. And we were badgering others to do so, as well.
Small children with sticky hands? Badgered.
Grown men who think they know better? Badgered.
Stinky teenagers? Badgered.

We are not afraid.

I’ve been called the “Virus Police” by my own child. Sticks and stones, buddy.

Today I wanted to share a few things I do in my classroom that might be fun to do at home with your kids, or in school if your school is still in session!

Secret Stamp

For this surprise experiment, get out an old wooden stamp and stamp the back of your kids’ hands. You can use a washable marker if you don’t have a stamp. I did this as my students walked in my classroom last week. Don’t tell them why you’re doing it.

Throughout the day remind your kids to wash their hands well, but don’t coach.

By the afternoon, check their hands. If the stamp is still visible, they didn’t wash well enough. If the stamp has been washed off, they did a great job washing their hands! I had my students wash their hands before lunch, then come show me their hands before they were excused to the cafeteria.

For extra fun, give them a Handwashing Hero card to show off. They love any kind of reward, and these cute cards are a badge of honor everyone will admire.

I did this two days in a row with my students, and you can bet that on the second day EVERY kid was a handwashing expert. They wanted that Handwashing Hero card!

Grab a free copy of these cute cards to print at home.

Germy Bread

We do a great experiment with bread early on in the school year, and this one sticks with the kids all year. For this experiment, you’ll use four pieces of fresh white bakery bread (don’t use the bread off the shelf- those have too many preservatives and won’t show you the results you want to see).  If you're  stuck in the house for a while, bake some fresh bread for this!

Put one piece into each baggie, making sure to make a control that is not touched by hands at all. Then get creative with your other options. We did a sample for bread touched with dirty hands, washed hands, and Germ-X hands. Then just hang the bags in a window or pin to a bulletin board for a month or so. Watch what happens over time.

Interestingly, our “washed hands” sample turned out much more moldy than our “Germ-X hands” sample, which is not supposed to be the case. This told me my students were not great hand-washers. I knew I needed to double-down on my hand-washing policing.

Viruses Hate Soap

This cute and simple experiment is a great visual for kids. You’ll need a bowl of water, dish soap, and ground pepper.

Germs Under Light

Our fantastic school nurse teaches the kids about hand washing by using a special solution and a black light. They spread the solutions around on their hands, like lotion. It is invisible, just like germs! However, if you look under a black light you can see all kinds of gunk on your hands. This gets the kids really revved up. They feel like they have x-ray vision.

They can look at their hands before washing, then do a good scrubbing, then take another peek. There are always spots they missed. We give them another chance to wash their hands after a little bonus instruction, and then they put their hands under the black light again. They’re always amazed to see the improvements.

Our nurse uses Glitter Bug, which you can find online in large quantities if you're buying for a school. I found a similar product available in small quantities. If you want to try this at home, use this affiliate link to grab some on Amazon.

Thanks for reading. Enjoy your time at home, and keep washing those hands!