The viral hand-washing video is so easy to do and children will be amazed.
As week one of social distancing comes to a close (kind of, it doesn't really feel like the weekend is happening, does it?) we find ourselves reflecting on the things that worked this week. The World Health Organization still maintain that proper hand washing is the best way to control the spread of the Covid-19 virus. Our house is full of dry and achy hands from the sheer volume of hand-washing that has been happening daily.
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Covid-19 is affecting parents from all walks of life and that includes celebrities. We are big fans of Tom Fletcher and his wife Giovanna Fletcher. Like all families they are housebound and adhering to social distancing recommendations with their three little ones.
Just this week Tom Fletcher shared a brilliant video on his popular Instagram page. The simple experiment demonstrates the importance of hand washing in a way that little minds can grasp. Using a bowl of water, a sprinkle of pepper and some hand soap Tom shows his children the reason why we need to use soap when washing our hands.
For the purpose of this experiment the pepper takes on the role of the "germs". Tom fills a little bowl with water and adds a handful of black pepper to the mix (we've seen people use regular white pepper too). He then encourages his daughter to place her finger in to the bowl of water to see what happens. She removes her finger and naturally some pepper has found it's way on to it. Tom declares
"look Summer, there's germs on your finger".
He then spreads a little bit of soap on his daughters finger and asks her to place her finger in to the bowl once again. The moment her soapy finger enters the water we can see the "germs" move away from the finger immediately. In Tom's words
"See how the germs all ran away?"
The experiment has gone viral but it might just be something you could add to next week's plans. It is an amazing way to teach young children about the importance of hand-washing during this very surreal time in our lives. With all of the scary statistics and news bulletins it's nice to find a fun and exciting way to spread awareness, and not germs.