Fun Hand-Washing Games

20-Second Guessing

• The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends washing hands for a minimum of 20 seconds to kill all germs. Because 20 seconds can be a random and undefined time for a child, create a guessing game to demonstrate the time. Turn the water on and encourage your youngster to wash for what she thinks is 20 seconds. She might count or just wing it to take a guess. While she washes, time her, and, when she finishes, tell her how long she washed. She may be surprised to learn that she washed for much less than or longer than 20 seconds. The CDC recommends that kids choose a song and sing it during every hand wash to make sure they hit the 20-second mark.

Finger Sudsing

• Getting into those nooks and crannies of the hands can be challenging for anyone, especially kids. As you teach effective hand-washing, play a game that focuses attention on fingers to make sure your little one spends enough time washing his digits. Encourage him to sing the song ̶0;Where is Thumbkin̶1; as he washes each finger and thumb. People often overlook the areas between fingers, under fingernails and near cuticles when washing hands, the CDC reports.

Who Washed?

• Make a maze that looks like a game board with the situations when hand-washing is necessary, including before eating, after using the bathroom, after sneezing or coughing into a hand, after coming in from outside, after touching an animal, after touching garbage and after using a tissue for nose-blowing. If you have two kids, use star stickers for one child and happy face stickers for the other and give out stickers every time someone remembers to wash his hands after one of the situations on the maze. At the end of the day, look at the maze and the stickers to see who made it through the day remembering to wash his hands consistently.

Floating Fun

• Kids usually enjoy water play. To encourage spending time at the sink washing hands, purchase some toy ducks or boats that float. Run the water for hand-washing and fill the sink with sudsy water. Add three or four toys to the water and allow them to float while your child washes her hands. When she finishes washing, encourage her to fish all the toys out of the water and promise that she can play with them again the next time she washes her hands.