Cooperative Extension Fact Sheets

Early Childhood Educators  #2
 

Hand Washing

The CDC (Centers For Disease Control) has stated that hand washing is "the single most important means of preventing the spread of infection.", yet in spite of all the studies about the benefits of hand washing, improper or infrequent hand washing continues to be a major factor in the spread of disease in day care settings.  Many common ailments, like colds, flu, gastric upsets and ear infections are passed hand-to-hand.  Nearly 40 million Americans get sick from hand-transmitted germs annually.  Proper and frequent hand-washing is the cornerstone of disease prevention.

To soap or not to soap…what is the difference?  Hands washed without soap show almost no change in the number of micro-organisms on the skin.  As for the kind of soap it would be best to use, studies have shown that antibacterial soaps remove 97% of bacteria on hands, while regular soaps remove 95%.  The difference is slight, but it is the practice of hand washing and not the product used that makes the ultimate difference in controlling the spread of disease.  Hand washing frequency and method are the key factors.

Poor hand washing habits are established early in life, so it is up to parents and early childhood educators/caregivers to begin to establish good hand washing patterns in young children.

When to wash hands:

·        After using the toilet

·        After being outdoors

·        After playing with pets

·        After coughing, sneezing or blowing noses

·        Before preparing or serving food

·        Adults - also after caring for a sick child, after cleaning up spills or after other cleaning activities

How to wash hands:

·        Wet hands with warm, running water.

·        Add soap and rub hands together to make a soapy lather.  Wash well for at least 15-20 seconds; wash fronts and backs of hands and wrists, between fingers and under fingernails.

·        Rinse hands well under warm, running water making sure that the water runs back into the sink and not down the arms toward the elbow.

·        Dry hands on  one's own clean towel or paper towel.

·        Turn off the faucet using a paper towel, not clean hands.  Throw paper towel away.

Some ideas from KID CARE to encourage children to wash their hands:

·        Hold older infant or toddler over the sink (with a mirror to watch both of you) and play a wash-up game. Make hand washing a pleasant association with time spent with caregiver.  (M.Morrow)

·        Rub Vaseline (or cooking oil) all over child's hands.  Sprinkle pepper (or cinnamon if using oil) over the hands.  This represents germs.  Have them wash with just cold water;  then cold water with soap; then finally warm water and soap.  They will see the           difference in effectiveness of the methods. (LizKids; E.Zosel)

·        Cut a raw potato in half and have child rub one of the halves with his/her dirty hands.  After the child has washed hands well, rub the other half of the potato over clean hands.  The first half will turn really black within 10 minutes and the other will stay fairly white other than the usual light brown color of cut potatoes. (LizKids)

·        Mix Ivory flakes with water to make a dough.  Wrap the dough around a safe sized soft toy and form it into an egg shape.  Children cannot get to the toy unless they wash often. (Barb; T.McGuire)

·        Sing hand washing songs to the tune of familiar songs like Row, Row Your Boat.

·        Take pictures of children washing their hands. Mount them on poster board, add simple hand washing slogans, laminate them and hang them around the washing area.

·        Enlist older children to help the younger children learn to wash hands.

·        Have children wash their hands for as long as it takes to sing the Happy Birthday song. (Barber)

·        Contact Child Health Alert / P.O. Box 610228 / Newton Highlands, MA 02161 / (781) 239-1762 for  coloring packets and posters

·        Check the lesson plans Germs, Those Sneaky Pests, by Danette Willeford - Bedford Hills Elementary School, Bedford Hills, NY.  They are written for Kindergarten, but could be adapted for younger children.  They are a part of  Science Grasp 1997