Ahoy, Readers!
Walk into any classroom, and you will frequently hear teachers saying "use soap and water and wash our hands" before before eating, after coming back from being outside, and after toileting. We teach our children that we need to wash our hands to rid of the germs on our hands that could make us sick or be transfer to our friends and make them sick.
For young children, the concept of germs is challenging to fully comprehend as germs are invisible to the naked eye; for young children, sensory learning is the most effective form of learning as young children need to see, feel, touch, smell, hear etc. to fully comprehend a theoretical concepts.
To teach such a theoretical concept about hand washing and germs, our Hoboken Uptown Dolphin's teacher, Ms. Krysta used the power of Aloe Vera Gel and Craft Glitter to connect the theoretical concept of hand washing and germ elimination into something that her Dolphins class could see and touch.
During Health & Nutrition Week, Ms. Krysta made a cup of "Gel Germs" using Aloe Vera Gel and Large Craft Glitter (where the Craft Glitter represented germs) and encouraged our friends to touch and play with the gel solution.
After seeing the Craft Glitter cling on to their hands, our friends were encouraged to shake hands with other friends, flip through books, and play with our toys. As our friends began exploring the room, they noticed that some Craft Glitter were being transferred from their hands to their friends hands, books and the rest of the classroom.
Then, Ms. Krysta asked our friends to use paper to try to wipe down their hands, what was the result? Many Craft Glitter Germs came off, but many also remained on their hands. Then, Ms. Krysta asked our friends to wash their hands with soap and water, and voila! All of the Craft Glitter Germs came off their hands!
Subsequently, our Dolphins friends went around the classroom and used wet paper towels to wipe down the Craft Glitter from their toys and books, to gain better understand of why it is important to clean our toys and environments to keep it clean and germ free!
Try this fun activity at home when you have a moment at home to reinforce the importance of hand-washing!