Free printable hand washing poster and guide for children

Use this free printable hand washing poster to remind your children to wash their hands to help keep germs away.

 

 

Free printable hand washing poster and guide for children

Here’s a simple hand washing guide children can follow, to help them wash their hands properly.

It’s important that we teach children how to wash their hands properly, whether we’re concerned about spreading flu germs, keeping sick bugs away, or to halt the spread of coronavirus in schools and at home.

You can download a free hand washing poster for your classroom or bathroom and use the printable hand wash chart to remind children when they need to wash their hands.

 

 

 

Teaching children to wash their hands

The World Health Organisation recommends using soap and hot water to wash our hands.

You can use liquid soap or a bar of soap – whichever your children are most likely to use.

Take a minute to remind your children how to properly wash their hands, with a demonstration.

:: Show them how much soap to use and how to lather up

:: Remind them to use warm / hot water

:: Demonstrate how to wash ALL of your hands: front, back, between the fingers and around your wrist

:: Rinse off the soap for long enough. Twenty seconds is recommended – that’s about two rounds of ‘Happy Birthday To You’!

You can change the words if you like:

I am washing my hands

I am washing my hands

With soap and hot water

I am washing my hands

(sung to the tune of Happy Birthday)

 

 

How often should children wash their hands?

In addition to washing our hands thoroughly, we need to wash them at the right times. 

Think of your home or classroom as your base. Every time you come back to your base, after mixing with other people, you want to wash your hands. This helps prevent the entry of germs into your home or classroom.

You might like to establish a routine of washing your hands after each transition, like this:

:: When your children arrive: hang up your coat, stash your bag, wash your hands

:: After your children have used the toilet

:: After playtime / recess

:: Before they eat snacks or a meal

:: When they get home from school or an outing

You can print a handy reminder poster below.

 

 

Make hand washing fun

We can make hand washing a bit more interesting by using fun soaps. Try these ideas for homemade soaps:

Animal soaps

Confetti soap

Rainbow soap

LEGO soap

Dinosaur soap

 

Coronavirus information for children

For more information on how to talk to your children about the coronavirus, use this guide.