Children need to learn the key concepts of proper hygiene to ensure good health. The first concept is the positive and negative emotions that affect physical health, such as feeling pride in being neat and clean or feeling frustration in using hygiene tools. The second concept is personal hygiene practices such as hand washing. The third concept is the fact that germs that can lead to common diseases such as the flu or a cold. Teachers and parents can use various techniques to help kids remember these lessons.
Step 1
Make hygiene lessons fun. At home, turn up the music and put toys in the tub when kids are taking a bath. There are plenty of fun bath products, too, such as bubble bath and colored soap.
For larger groups, a fun activity will help the kids will remember hygiene lessons, according to Health Smart Virginia. For example, the "Rush to Brush" lesson teaches kids why not brushing teeth harms the teeth. In this activity, kids stand on one side of a room, and 20 objects such as squish balls are placed around the room. Tell kids that the other side of the room is a mouth full of teeth and they are toothbrushes working together to clean plaque after a meal. Kids need to find the balls and put them in baskets. Repeat twice more adding 20 balls each time. This activity can also be done at home with marshmallows or pennies placed in a bowl, either in a room or on the dining room table.
Step 2
Teach kids healthy habits to prevent getting sick via germs. To teach proper hand-washing technique at home, make sure kids wet hands with warm water and use enough soap to make a good lather. They need to scrub hands for 20 seconds. Have the children say the alphabet or sing "Happy Birthday." Also, you can tell them that they can wash the germs off now or eat them later.
For large groups, you can use a Glo Germ handwashing lesson to teach about germ transmission and the fact that frequent handwashing can help prevent illness, recommends Health Smart Virginia. Kids rub the Glo Germ onto hands like lotion and then wash hands. The hands look clean, but when they are put under an ultraviolet, kids will discover remaining "germs." Prevention of contagious diseases includes teaching kids the five key times to wash hands, which are before eating, after sneezing or coughing, after playing outside, after using the bathroom and after playing with animals.
Step 3
Use crafts to teach children about grooming products such as soap, shampoo, toothbrush and toothpaste. The Slippery Soap paper craft, for example, emphasizes soap with a character kids may recognize from the show "Blue's Clues." You need a piece of paper, crayons, glue and scissors. Draw a bar of soap, let the child color it, glue on a mouth, arms and eyes. After making the craft, discuss the grooming product and how it is used. At home, make sure you supervise young children when they use the real item.
Step 4
Use puppets to teach children about the emotions that go along with proper hygiene, such as fear of taking a bath or pride in nicely brushed hair. You can use your children's toys as role models at home or make sock puppets. A more formal curriculum for groups relies on the popular series of lessons with "Al's Pals" to engage children in appropriate activities that advocate healthy decision-making.
Things You'll Need
- Puppets
- Squish balls
- Craft supplies
- Ultraviolet light
