How Are Germs Spread?

*This is a sponsored post. I was compensated for sharing this information from PURELL (in conjunction with the Mom It Forward Blogger Network).

It’s August! Which means that school is just around the corner! It is an exciting time filled with new beginnings, new school supplies, and new friends. But it is also a time when germs reemerge and get passed around from one child to another. We decided to illustrate how germs are spread in a fun and engaging way that will hopefully help our boys to remember to practice healthy hand hygiene!

Here’s what you’ll need: a bottle of Purell, gitter, and a few willing participants.

Squirt some Purell on your child’s hands.

Pour some glitter on top of the Purell.

Have your child rub his/her hands together until there is glitter all over.

Have that child go around the room, shaking hands with friends/other siblings and touching a few surfaces.

After every child has been included and multiple surfaces have been touched, have the children look at their hands and around the room to see if they can find glitter.

Tell your children that germs are kind of like the glitter on your hands…except germs are invisible. Every time we touch another person or a surface, our germs get passed around. Some of these germs can make us really sick. Then have your child wash his/her hands with soap and water and see what happened to the glitter. There might still be a little bit left, but the majority of the glitter gets washed away.

Read Germs Are Not for Sharing: This is a great book for teaching young kids about the importance of proper hand hygiene.

One thing to mention to your kids after trying this demonstration and reading this book is that washing your hands with soap and water is always the best way to clean your hands and get rid of germs. But sometimes we don’t have quick access to soap and water, so using an alcohol-based hand sanitizer (like Purell) helps to kill the germs on our hands and keep us from getting sick!

Back to School with Purell

Have you been keeping up with the Purell 30-Day Challenge?

In a study conducted by the makers of PURELL Hand Sanitizer, absenteeism caused by illness was 51 percent lower in classrooms that used PURELL Hand Sanitizer regularly and implemented a hand hygiene educational program, versus classrooms that did not.

Since not all classrooms have easy access to soap and water, pick up an extra PURELL Advanced Hand Sanitizer pump for your child’s classroom while you’re shopping for back-to-school supplies – their teacher will thank you!

There is still time to join the 30-Day Challenge! Be sure to visit the Purell Advanced 30 Day Challenge website, Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest to get started!

*Once again, this is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of PURELL (in conjunction with the Mom It Forward Blogger Network). I was compensated for sharing this post.