Hand Washing Activity

Last week when we were discussing all the rules of the classroom, one of the big ones was washing your hands as soon as you get in the room in the morning. This is a very important rule, to start the day with clean hands, but one that too often gets forgotten. I decided to make a little chart to get the kids more excited about washing their hands. I made a sign that says, "Did you wash your hands this morning?"

I used my Cricut to cut it out all fancy, just for fun. Then I found bubble paper at Jo-Ann's. I couldn't believe my luck! It was exactly what I was hoping to find! I again used my Cricut to cut out the words "Yes" and "No." I put YES on one piece and NO on the other. (I ended up cutting the paper so it would fit in my laminator.) I also found round tags at Jo-Ann's, and although I had envisioned using little hand prints, I thought these looked like bubbles so I bought them. They came in a pack of 20. I wrote the children's names on them in shades of blue. I even made myself a bubble because I need to wash, too! Then I laminated those. This was important because they will be handled often and near the sink. In the future I think I will laminate the circles first and use a Sharpie to write the child's name. Then when I need to switch the names for a new class, I'll just scribble over them with a dry erase marker and erase them! I hung everything on the wall next to the sink. The bubbles have blue poster putty on the back so they are easy to move around.

So far it's working great. The kids are excited to wash in the morning and move their bubbles to the YES side. (I just have to remember to move them all back to NO at the end of the day.) They even remind others as they come in the door in the morning. It's cute.
We also did a little fingerpainting project to go along with handwashing. It was more of a sensory activity than an art project, though. I brought in some dishwashing soap from home (yes, handwashing soap would have been more appropriate, but the kids didn't notice) and got out primary paint colors.

The kids could pick two colors and squirt small globs of paint onto their paper.

These are the germs. Then I put some soap on their fingers.

They rubbed it together a bit and then started "killing the germs!"

It was extra smooth and the kids enjoyed it. They also commented on how easy it was to wash the paint off their hands when they were done! Ah, the power of soap.
UPDATE 11/21/2013: First of all, the hand washing chart is great! Not only do the kids remember to wash their hands every morning, but they learned how to read each other's names! Secondly, I won the contest I linked up to. (see below) Yay!!

Linking up to:

Hosted by A Cupcake For the Teacher, Miss Kindergarten, and A Modern Teacher.