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The Importance of Hand Washing

We would like to celebrate work completed by students during Character Week 2020. If you would like to, please send any photos or copies of your work to community@jhncc.org

Handwashing has been a central component of personal hygiene and a religious and cultural custom for many years. However, the link between handwashing and health was first made less than two centuries ago.

Handwashing is essential in making sure that we are killing unwanted bacteria and living the healthiest life that we can! Statistics suggest that only 5% of us wash our hands thoroughly after we have been to the toilet. It also states that only 31 % of men and 67% of women wash their hands after visiting the toilet every time.

In your head make a list of everything that you touched since you woke up today. If you didn’t wash your hands properly this morning then you could be eating (alongside your lunch) a whole colony of bacteria ridden diseases such as E.coli, campylobacter, flu and cold viruses and the norovirus. This is of even greater concern currently due to the coronavirus.

A simple rinse and shake will hardly remove any bacteria! If you leave your hands wet, they are more vulnerable to picking up more bacteria from anything you then touch.

You should wash your hands after going to the toilet and before you eat. You should use soap and rub it in to your entire hand for a whole 30 seconds, before rinsing and drying under a dryer.

Reflect… if God has given me this body how should I treat it?

Reflect… How does washing my hands show that I respect my body?

This Bible quote comes from 1 Corinthians 6

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Task 2: Youtube “How to clean your smartphone safely BBCand watch the below video. Answer these questions…

    • Why should your clean your mobile?
    • What should you NOT do when cleaning a smartphone?
    • How could you clean your smartphone safely?

Task 3: Create an informative poster or video to demonstrate one of the following objectives of this session…

  • Why handwashing is important
  • How easily germs spread
  • How to wash your hands
  • How to clean your phone

Before you begin make sure you pick the message or messages you want to spread and consider how you will do this effectively.

Make sure your work is engaging and informative. You may include a catchy slogan, interesting facts, a quiz etc., anything you can think of to spread your message.

Why not display the poster at home to remind your family?

If you would like to share it, please send a copy of your work to community@jhncc.org, we would love to see it.

Task 1: Conduct your own experiment. This task requires permission from an adult at home, black pepper, soap, a bowl and water. Remember to email pictures you don’t mind sharing to community@jhncc.org

  • First fill a bowl with water
  • Then add some black pepper so it covers a large amount of the surface
  • Without washing your hand, dip your finger into the water. What is your finger like when you pull it out of the water?
  • Now cover one finger in soup and dip it back in the water. What happened and how was it different to the unwashed finger dip?

Ask yourself: What does this experiment demonstrate?�

If it didn’t work you can watch the experiment on Youtube, just search “COVID germ experiment for kids”. Share this experiment with your family.

You can see a similar experiment if you Youtube “Germ experiment with bread”