How To Make Hand Wash More Fun For Kids

Germs are all around us. Unpredictable weather and consuming food without washing hands makes your little one fall sick. Kids place their hands on their mouth and face unknowingly and give a passage for the germs to enter them. Well, now is the great time to teach them about washing their hands!

If hand washing sounds boring, it can be made more fun for the kids! Scolding  is not the only way to teach them a habit but hand washing can be made more easy and fun with these simple hacks.

The easier, the better: Most of the time, kids are not able to reach the sink and rinse their hands. They lose interest if they struggle to open the tap every time. A step stool comes handy at such a time. Step stool helps toddlers reach the sink and take their first step towards making hand washing a habit.

If you say NO to step stool, here’s another idea: A Faucet Extender! It allows  water to reach the kids without having to use the step stool. A faucet extender is a better alternative as it saves you the hassle of placing the stool every time your kid wishes to use the sink.

Kids learn from their parents. Kids observe you and try to imitate your behaviour on many occasions. So make sure that you make handwashing as a habit before you teach your kids about it. Kids learn better by observing you rather than hearing from you. So make sure that you give plenty of examples yourself!

Draw a Hand Washing chart! Make a time table and bribe your kid with his favourite toy/food if he follows his time table regularly. You can check out this idea of handwashing chart and feel free to add your own creativity to make it more fun for your little one.

Make them understand the importance of washing hands and killing germs through visuals such as books. One example is ‘A Germ’s Journey’ where the germ is characterized as a human and helps understand the immune system to young kids. Colorful books have a big impact on kids and make it easy for them to grasp the concept. Another set of books telling stories about germs are: ‘Germs make me sick’, ‘Germs are not for sharing’ etc.

Make it more fun with a cute hand wash holder that catches their eye! Locate a ‘Rubber Ducky’ or ‘Cookie Monster’ and watch it do the trick. Cute block soaps shaped like some cartoon, lego or just bright flowers can also work!

Make them hum their favourite rhymes while hand washing. This will help them scrub their hands for about 20 seconds which is necessary to kill germs. You can take a print of the rhyme “The Hand Washing song” and stick it on the wall above the sink. This will keep on reminding them to wash their hands slowly and properly.

You have learnt all the fun ways of handwashing and now you have the power to make your little one stick to the hand washing routine. You are a winner if you wash your hands as clean hands are a passage to a healthy heart.

#babycare #babyhygiene