Hand Washing Ideas for Kids

Helpful Hand Washing Tips for Your Kids to Try

Keeping hands clean through the use of proper hand hygiene is the most important step you can take to avoid illness and spreading germs to others.  However, without using proper hand hygiene, your hands will not be clean and germ-free.

The most common mistake with hand washing, especially for kids, is spending too little time scrubbing the hands.  So take your time and be sure to scrub your hands for a full 20 seconds.

If your child is having a hard time counting to 20 while washing hands, here are some helpful ideas:

• Recite the Pledge of Allegiance.  Try saying the Pledge of Allegiance.  It will engage your child’s mind as well as hands and the 20 seconds will fly by.
• Sing “Happy Birthday” twice through while washing. Perhaps the Pledge of Allegiance is too hard to remember or too advanced for some washers.  Instead, kids can try singing Happy Birthday twice through.
• Recite the ABC’s while washing hands.  From time-to-time, have your child substitute the ABC’s for one of his or her hand washing activities.  That way, they can practice good hand hygiene, as well as the alphabet.

Hopefully these suggestions will help make hand washing more fun and give you ideas on how to spice up the hand washing routine for your children or students.