Scrub-a-dub-dub Time!

I bet you didn’t know that October 15^th is Global Hand Washing Day! But not surprisingly, kids don’t always think about washing their hands. As any parent or teacher can tell you, singing Happy Birthday to You twice through is only a good trick to hold their interest the first time. New state handwashing mandates for American daycares, schools, and summer camps call for children to wash their hands as often as once every hour of the day. So, with the start of school right around the corner, it got me thinking about how we could make hand washing for our kids fun.

GloGerm™ has been used to teach handwashing since 1968. Let children rub a quarter-sized drop of GloGerm oil on their hands and then—after wiping off the excess with a paper towel—have them wash their hands as they normally would. Then use a UV light in a dark room to show exactly where their hands are still dirty.

Homemade “Treat Soap” is a great idea from KidsActivities.com. It involves a small car, dinosaur, or other toys you encase in soap, which encourages children to wash more so they can get to the “treat” inside. Studies have shown that there is no added benefit for people outside the medical profession using soaps containing antibacterial ingredients compared with using plain soaps. So why not add a little more fun and “ownership” of the handwashing process for children by letting them make their own?
You can also make handwashing fun with poster games (like Bingo) to post around your handwashing station, The CDC offers anyone free, printable posters to help raise awareness about handwashing for children. I mean, who doesn’t love Bingo?

What ideas to you have to help make handwashing fun for our kids?

Up and up!