This week is International Clean Hands Week. There is no better time to review the importance of good hand washing habits with your kids. Here are a few tips and activities to help reinforce healthy hand hygiene for children of all abilities.
Review with your kids which activities require hand washing before and/or after. If you have some old magazines, creating a hand washing activities collage is a fun and useful project. Help your child find pictures of things such as eating or preparing food, playing outside, petting animals, or even images of bathrooms from cleaning agent ads. Cut and glue the images with your child and hang your collage near a sink or frequently visited area.
Another great art project for Clean Hands Week is finger painting. Making hand prints is a fun way to tie into the theme of taking care of our hands and a valued keepsake for parents, but the most important part of this activity is clean up time. Let your child get good and messy. The paint provides an excellent visual for children so they realize how dirty their hands can get. Explain that where ever there is paint is a place where germs can hide, too, and even though you can’t see germs it’s important to wash them away just like the paint. The time it takes to clean off finger paint is also a good reference for how long hands should be washed every time.
To help ensure your child is thoroughly washing his hands, sing a favorite song or say a nursery rhyme that’s about the length of singing the alphabet. Begin singing or reciting after they’ve lathered their hands and help them remember to keep their hands under the water until the song or rhyme is over, making sure all the germs go down the drain.
Other important habits that help keep hands clean and bodies healthy include sneezing and coughing into elbows instead of palms and keeping fingers away from noses, eyes, and mouths. You can practice the elbow sneeze/cough with your child by pretending to be an elephant with a cold or a vampire pulling his cape around his face when he has to sneeze or cough, whichever you think your child will delight in more. To help your child keep his hands away from his face, keep tissues handy and consider letting him keep a fidget toy close by to otherwise occupy his fingers.
For more information on International Clean Hands Week, the importance of hand washing, and several resources including a hand washing songs CD and an Infection Prevention home tool kit, visit Infection Prevention Partnerships featuring Henry the Hand.
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