Hi, I am so glad you are here to check out this fun #GermCraft for your kids. Whether you are a parent, a teacher or a school nurse, this is a cool way to keep your kids engaged and learning.
I am reading a book below that demonstrates how to use the germ during your story or song. It can also be used with my very own song “Don’t Spread Your Germs Around”. Lesson & Song
READ IT. RAISE IT! I’m reading “Wash Your Hands!” Written by Margaret McNamara, illustrated by Mike Gordon
Reading of “Don’t Spread Your Germs Around” Lyrics book by Dawn
The PDF below contains the simple instruction to create this fun little germ.
“Don’t Spread Your Germs Around” LYRICS PDF HERE AND other fun GERMS BOOKS
You can purchase your own “Wash Your Hands” book by Margaret McNamara, illustrated by Mike Gordon from Amazon(I am an affiliate and any purchases made via this link will give me a small stipend at not additional cost to you.) use this Link https://amzn.to/3dp6epz
or click on the book pic below.
The “Singing Nurse Health Lessons for Kids”found Here
Summer time is always a great time to kick back and live life a little less scripted. I have gathered four of my favorite posts here at The Singing Nurse website. Included in the posts are creative activities and crafts and grabbing teachable moments about washing hands and being safe. We hope you enjoy and include some R & R.
This posts describes turtle safety and info about hatchlings including a video, pretty awesome. It includes suggested activities about hand washing. It also shows you how to make a fun turtle craft made from an oatmeal box. A little turtle poem is here as well which is an unrecorded song at this point.
This is a complete tutorial about collecting rocks and shells with holes and stringing them to create a mobile. It is really beautiful and a nice reminder of your vacation.
This is a post about the song by the same name. The lyrics and the history about the song is included in this post. A lesson, activities, crafts and the song are available as a download. Check it out, you can also listen to it here.
If you are a teacher, a nurses or a home school family we hope you join our community of healthy minded educators. Our kids need our guidance and nurturing presence. Our lessons are fun & easy and save you time.
So here you are looking for some creative ways to show the kids how to wash their hands and The Singing Nurse wants to help. Teaching our preschoolers and young children about proper hand washing is a great start to living a happy and healthy life. When we are knowledgeable about being healthy and not spreading our germs we are being good neighbors too. I have gathered some of my own hand washing posts and would love to share other great resource from cyberspace to help you with your preparations.
Yes, Oct. 15th is set aside by the CDC as “Global Handwashing Day” It is so true that many illnesses and deaths are being prevented by good hand washing.
This is thelink to the CDC where you will find loads of info.
I love this video about hand washing in India, they make a hand washing contraption that is very creative. Try and make this with your older kids, it would make a wonderful science project.
Did you know turtles give us another reason for hand washing? Reptiles can carry the bacteria Salmonella which is the reason for practicing good hand hygiene after handling turtles. What a surprise to my husband and I when we walked up on some hungry crows digging up a turtle’s nest. We shooed the crows away and discovered a couple of turtles with a little life left in them.
There were some children playing nearby, so we invited them to discover the brand new premature hatchlings. Being respectful of the little creatures, in light of the hungry lurking crows, everyone decided they must go in the ocean. This young boy gently places two of them in the waves.
The next day while visiting the Ocean Center, we found a nice big cooler outside for hatchlings found and in danger. The Ocean Center takes them in, nurtures them and then releases them when they became strong.
The Ocean Center helps to protect the hatchlings from humans too by taping off the egg nest with a stiff $1000 fine for disturbing them.
Turtles are interesting creatures. We know they mate because they lay eggs. But did you know that the mother will lay her eggs and then leave them to fend for themselves. It is curious to me that the mother just leaves, in most of the animal kingdom mothers nurture and protect their young. I like to think that they all meet up again in the great big ocean to have their family reunion, mate with neighbor turtles and then make their own trek to the shore to lay their eggs.
None the less I wanted to share with you some safety measures about turtles. Turtles and other reptiles can carry the Salmonella Bacteria which can cause diarrhea, stomach problems, fever and fatal illness in some cases. Because of the risk to especially young children there has been a ban on the sale of turtles less than 4 inches.
The CDC has some great info on preventing Salmonella. The CDC’s main points are.
Below are some fun activities to do with your children to reinforce learning about turtle safety and good hand washing.
I came across a couple of fun books about turtles while on vacation in Florida. I found them at the Ocean Center where they have loads of ocean creature books. The books are also available on Amazon.
The one below is about two sister hatchlings that make it to the ocean and then return years later to lay their eggs.
This one is about a mother sharing the turtle experience with her daughter and creating a journal. Watching, waiting and learning about the sea turtles. It has lots of great pictures.
I took a short video of the hatchlings we found but it paled against this video I found on YouTube. It shows the nest of turtles ready to make their run for the ocean with human on lookers cheering them on.
Remove the paper from your oatmeal box. Cut off the bottom of the oatmeal box making it about 3-4 inches high.
Cut some legs, a tail and a head. Make sure to make the insertion part a little longer so you can push it into the turtle body later.
Paint all the parts, let dry. Add a few turtle shell designs on the body of the turtle in a lighter color. Let all parts dry completely.
Cut slits around the turtle body for the legs, head and tail. Insert parts and glue eyes to head.
Optional: make a hole in the side for a short string, place suction cup hanger on the window and hang your turtle.
Option for older children: it would be fun to cut a design in the turtle shell and use different colored tissue paper to cover the openings so when you hang it in the window the light will illuminate it making it look like stained glass.
Hand washing activity: Explain the importance of hand washing after handling animals especially turtles because of the bacteria they may carry called Salmonella. You can give everyone a tub to wash in while singing “Rubba Dub Dub” (kids love water play) or you can go two by two to the sink singing as you go. Individual hand washing lesson with song available here.
Check out another fun activity from our friends at Nanobugs. Salmonella coloring page
Click on this link, open the link, find Salmonella on the page and click to read info. Nanobugs has lots of fun info on other virus’ and bacteria and good hand hygiene info as well. Great educational resource!
Below are part of the lyrics to one of my songs yet to be recorded, maybe you can attach the words to your child’s drawing of a turtle sitting on a rock or an old tire.
Little Turtle I can tell, you like sunshine on your shell
You sun all day and you sleep at night, little turtle you’re all right
Little animals we like you, little animals special too
Little animals live with man, little animals in God’s hand.
Dawn Ginese
Hope you enjoy this turtle hand washing theme with your young children today. Do you have any turtle songs or activities about hand washing you can share with us? Comment below!
We all like to learn new ways and interesting activities for hand washing. Simple projects for young children and preschoolers can make washing hands fun. I hope you enjoy these sites that promote go hand hygiene and offer lots of free stuff too.
How cool is this organization, they contract hotels to donate soaps that the hotel usually throws out. They recycle, test and repackage it and give it to Non Governmental Organizations (NGO’s) that are teaching good hand hygiene around the world which saves lives. Sweet! http://www.globalsoap.org/
“About 2.2 million children5 under the age of 5 die each year from diarrheal diseases and pneumonia, the top two killers of young children around the world.2 Handwashing is not only simple and inexpensive, but remarkably, handwashing with soap can dramatically cut the number of young children who get sick. Handwashing with soap could protect about 1 out of every 3 young children who get sick with diarrhea3 and almost 1 out of 6 young children with respiratory infections like pneumonia4. Although people around the world clean their hands with water, very few use soap to wash their hands. Washing hands with soap removes germs much more effectively5.”
When the CDC says you should wash your hands, click here.
KidsHealth is a great site with more info about germs andhandwashing. It also has an audio feature so you can let the kids listen. This site is a great resource for parents and teachers as well.
I really like this poster from a Massachusetts governmental website. Handwashing poster
School is in full swing now and we wanted to pass along some fun health lessons and activities for young kids. Whether you are teaching your preschooler about hand washing or needing a little reinforcement with young children about germs, this post is for you. Subscribe too>>>>>
Kian is proud of his germ creation.
Green Germ Activity
Things you will need to complete this hand washing, germ lesson.
♥ Germ print out ♥ Green tissue paper ♥ Glue ♥ Green marker or bingo marker
1. Print out the germ picture from “The Singing Nurse Health Lessons for Kids”.
2. Shred up green tissue paper. (let the kids help, they will like doing this)
3. Place a pool of glue on a paper plate.
4. Crumple up a small piece of green tissue paper, dip it in glue and place it on the picture, continue until germ is covered. You can instruct the kids to not cover the eyes and mouth but don’t worry if they do, the kids or you can always draw it back on or give them pieces of black construction paper to make a face. (hand over hand for disabled children)
5. Take a green marker or bingo marker and put dots all over your germ. We were not happy with the light green tissue paper we used so we enhanced it with a darker green marker.
This is 1 of 10 hands on activities included as part of “Lesson 1-Rubba Dub Dub-Hand Washing” from “The Singing Nurse-Health Lessons for Kids”. “Lesson 4-Don’t Spread Your Germs Around-Flu Prevention” combines well with lesson 1. Who would of thought learning about germs, hand washing and preventing kids from spreading their germs could be such great fun.
Added fun:
1. Print out Resource page R-3, (green little germs) there are 16 germs on the sheet.
2. Cut them out
3. Tape to window, whiteboard or chalkboard
4. Make up a song and get rid of 1 germ(minus 1), count backwards learn about subtraction and reverse it to learn addition by adding 1.
7 little germ!
7 little germs, up on a wall
One wants to jump down and crawl
On our nose and on our lips on our chin and on our hips
He wants to make us sick! …. and we say no! go away!
So one ran away and six were left(move 1 germ away)
6 little germs, up on a wall… etc.
Use your imagination, if you have a simple keyboard with beats or pre-programmed melody, it will make it easier to make up a song. You can also use a standard like “5 little monkey’s jumping on the bed” and change the words. People who work with small children are great at this.
I hope you enjoyed my post today, more fun learning brought to you by The Singing Nurse.
We had a little fun the other day and ended up washing our hands afterwards of course. My little friend may not get his hands as dirty as other kids but still enjoys a good bubbly hand washing. Try this hand washing activity with your little people. You might have a few really outdoorsy type kids who come into the classroom with fingernails in need of a good cleaning. Apply this activity so no one is singled out in the hand washing department.
This can be a group activity where kids pair up. You will know your kids whether they can work together or if each child should work alone.
Items you will need:
Having all items ready will help your activity to go smoothly, or as smooth as it can go with preschooler and young children.
*cover-up/aprons *paints *paint brushes *paper *a few paper towels ready for each child to use *a small container of soapy water for each child (sharing 1 tub of soapy water would be a very germy situation)
1. Child 1 paints one hand of child 2 and has him make a hand print on a piece of paper.
2. Child 1 wipes excess paint off hand of child 2.
3. Child 1 paints the other hand of child 2 and makes a print on same piece of paper.
4. Child 1 wipes excess paint off hand of child 2 again, set picture aside to dry.
5. Children trade places where child 2 helps child 1 now- do 1-4 again.
6. Teacher places a pre-prepared container of soapy water in front of each child.
7. Everyone has a grand time washing and playing in the soapy water, it will probably be tinted in whatever color paint the child was using. Make this a teachable moment as all the children will be in their little tubs of soapy water and you can review good hand washing techniques. 1. wash fronts and backs 2. in between fingers 3. wrist and fingernails etc. (Added fun: play the “Rubba Dub Dub, or Don’t Spread Your Germs Around” songs as the children wash their hands)
This would also be a good time to have a group discussion and review other times we need to wash our hands. 1. when we come in from playing outdoors 2. before we eat 3. after playing with pets 4. after blowing our nose 5. after coughing or sneezing in our hands 6. before we play in the rice table etc.
8. Have partners go in pairs to wash hands at the sink with adult supervision to complete the process, dry hands with paper towel and toss it in the trash.
9. Optional: After the children return to their seats give each child a little dab of hand lotion to rub on their hands.
Give lots of praise for a job well done.
If you enjoyed this activity you may like “The Singing Nurse Health Lessons for Kids”, which is full of fun activities, games and artsy projects. The lessons are simple to follow and save you lots of preparation time besides all the catchy songs that teach healthy living.
Have a wonderful school year, please subscribe via our feedburner so you won’t miss a health post tip, recycling project or an outdoorsy craft activity.
UPDATE: We are out now but willing to do a special order for you. 🙂
Just wanted you to know that my New Health Promotion Pins are available while they last. Ever want to remind a friend to “Don’t Spread Your Germs Around”, but were afraid to offending them. Hand them this little adorable Singing Nurse Pin and they will smile and thank you for the reminder. Purchase in bulk and share them at school, at work, with fellow nurses or anywhere you see someone spreading their germs around.
Use my Contact link for more info. Put TSN Pins in the subject
Kids love games and challenges, attention and bonding and unknown to them we can craftily teach them what they need to learn. Here is a simple game to play with kids to help foster good hand washing or hand sanitizing practices, preventing the spread of germs that make us sick and creating an atmosphere of learning and laughter.
Safety pin game:
Remember the games you’ve played at baby showers, this was one of my favorite, it really keeps you on your toes.
1. Collect 5 small safety pins for each person who will be participating.
2. Attach the pins on outer clothing, you can connect the pins to each other if you like.
3. Set the rules for playing. Make rules simple for younger children. The older children 5-8 yr olds will enjoy this game the most. Play this game as you go out shopping.
A. Remind the children that when they touch things and then touch their mouth, nose or eyes, this is when germs get into their bodies.
B. The object of the games is to not touch your mouth, nose or eyes with your bare hands, it is OK to use a clean tissue to scratch an itch or wipe a runny nose, just no bare hands.
C. When you see a participant touch their mouth, nose or eyes, that person must give one of their pins to you. You call out-You touched your _____, give me your pin & sanitize. Mom-your job will be to help with the sanitizer after the child touches his forbidden mouth, nose or eyes, a little dab will do ya. Later when you make a potty stop everyone can give their hands a good washing, another teachable moment.
D. The one with the most pins at the end of the shopping trip gets to pick the special activity or treat that you will all enjoy together.
Sooo, items you will need: safety pins, tissues (let each child put a couple in his pocket) and hand sanitizer.
I like carrying one of the Purell hand sanitizers which has a niffy easy to get to plastic holder that straps to your shoulder strap or a ring on your handbag. The little bottle is easy to refill with your favorite sanitizer.
Hand sanitizer helps prevent germs.
Other activities you may enjoy to re-enforce learning. Sing a hand washing song.
Name surfaces that may have germs, have an older child write the list as you shop.
Read more posts about hand washing and germ prevention:
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Let us know if you enjoyed this post, we would love to hear from you. Let us know if you and your children enjoyed the germ prevention bonding game. Comment below.
The three post above are also available in PDF form. By signing up you can receive free fun activity sheets for kids and information on free PDF’s when they arrive. We’d love to connect with you.
1) Hand Washing
2) Dental Hygiene
3) Dentist Visit
4) Flu Prevention
5) Lyme Disease Prevention
6) Audiologist Visit
7) You are Special
8) Body Parts/Kindness
9) TSN Resource
Each lesson will be accompanied with a song performed and sung by The Singing Nurse! Your kids will love the catchy tunes and sing themselves to a healthier life.
I am reading a book below that demonstrates how to use the germ during your story or song. It can also be used with my very own song “Don’t Spread Your Germs Around”. Lesson & Song
complete tutorial about collecting rocks and shells with holes and stringing them to create a mobile. It is really beautiful and a nice reminder of your vacation.
This is a post about the song by the same name. The lyrics and the history about the song is included in this post. A lesson, activities, crafts and the song are available as a download. Check it out, you can also 
