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A lesson in germs

Feb 6th, 2009 by

We are all sick with a cold and sore throat, spending most of yesterday and today resting on the sofa, listening to this peaceful music and reading together. Coincidentally, this month’s Spider and Click are all about germs and being sick.   We’ve been reading all about bacteria, allergens, playing doctor, and of course the ever fascinating “magnificent mucus” (the girls keep snickering about the phrase “snot rocket” in the article about sneezing).

I thought this might be a good opportunity to reinforce good handwashing technique.  A long while back, I had read of this lesson in on of our kid magazines, and Little Hen wanted to try it out.  You will need:

Cinnamon

Apply cinnamon all over your child’s hands (about 2 tsp).  The cinmamon will represent bacteria. 

Now, let child wash hands in warm running water with soap until all the cinnamon is gone.  It will take at least 30 seconds, which is the minimum time a child should spend washing his/her hands. 

Little Hen said she would think of “invisible cinnamon” every time she washes up.  I think it provided a pretty great visual aid for the necessity of good handwashing, plus, my bathroom smells like lovely cinnamon now.

Wishing you good health today and through your weekend!

Posted in Books and Reading, Learning, Mothering tool kit

9 Responses to “A lesson in germs”

  1. Andrea says:
    February 6, 2009 at 4:16 pm

    What a great tip! I am going to go try that with my daughter right now.

  2. Carmen says:
    February 16, 2009 at 1:31 pm

    I love this! I have 3 boys and I think this will really stick in their minds.

  3. Ann at mommysecrets says:
    February 16, 2009 at 8:32 pm

    I love this idea – I’m going to link to it on my blog for moms.

  4. Cami says:
    February 16, 2009 at 11:39 pm

    This is such a great idea! I’ve never heard of using cinnamon to represent germs before, very clever. This will be a good experiment for the whole family, thanks for sharing!

  5. Jeremy says:
    February 17, 2009 at 6:39 am

    Thanks for the idea. I’ll use it at my preschool.

  6. Briana Branchflower says:
    February 17, 2009 at 12:52 pm

    HI Angela,
    Briana from Friday School here. Found your site from your FCCP email. Love this lesson, off to get my cinnamon! What a great idea.

  7. Mozi Esme's Mommy says:
    February 25, 2009 at 9:43 pm

    What an excellent idea!

  8. Wash Your Hands!! · Lesson Plans @ CraftGossip says:
    April 15, 2009 at 11:28 am

    [...] realize that germs were passed on papers, pencils, desks and anything else they touched.    An Exaltation of Larks has a great idea for teaching kids about germs and the importance of washing hands with a little [...]

  9. kathy says:
    March 31, 2010 at 12:31 pm

    Great idea especially for little kids… my toddlers are definately not great at washing hands even though they do not like having them dirty at all…

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