Inevitably the time comes when it seems everyone is getting sick – everywhere you go there are runny noses and coughing fits. It’s during this time that we remind ourselves, and our little ones, to wash our hands often so we don’t get sick ourselves! We repeat the important steps: wash with warm water for at least 20 seconds, get inbetween your fingers and under your nails, and don’t forget to use soap! Little ones might sometimes have a hard time remembering to do something, and often it’s because they don’t understand the reason behind it. Caitie believes if we can show little ones why we do something, like wash our hands with soap, they will be much more likely to remember to do it, and to enjoy doing it! Hurray for happy, clean hands!
This simple experiment shows little ones just how amazing soap is and how necessary it is when we wash our hands. Without it, our hands aren’t really getting clean at all! It’s a really fun activity you can set up in a few minutes using things you already have at home. And your kiddos will never forget the soap while washing their hands again!
Things You Need
- A baking dish or deep-dish plate
- Water
- Soap
- Pepper
- Hand towel
Steps
Carefully pour some water into your dish.
Shake the pepper into the water until there is a layer of pepper floating on the surface.
Now we are going to carefully dip one of our fingers into the water and see what happens. Before you do this, ask your little one what they think will happen! Then dip and find out!
Oh no! You’ll find the pepper sticks to your finger and makes it all dirty! The pepper is a lot like germs that we might have on our hands – we want to make sure we clean them away. Let’s see what happens when we do the same thing but this time with a bit of soap on our finger.
Before you try again with soap, ask your little one what they think will happen this time! Then place a little bit of soap on one of your fingers, and dip that finger into the pepper.
Whoa! Take a look at what happened! All the pepper moved away from the soap! Soap repels and cleans germs, just like it pushed away all the pepper! When we clean with soap, we are sure to get rid of the germs and make our hands clean.
Now little ones can see for themselves the importance of soap and feel motivated to properly clean their hands… using soap!
Watch Caitie try this experiment in the episode Staying Clean & Healthy, plus more fun activities to inspire hygiene in kiddos!
Don’t forget to follow us on Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, and Facebook!
Original content © 2023 Super Simple. Not to be reprinted without express written permission. Terms of Service.
