Location: indoor or outdoor

Materials: water table or bin, soap, hand towels

While we probably don't want kids to play while they are supposed to be washing their hands, giving them a chance to play and practice at washing their hands can be a good way to encourage good habits.

Set up a hand washing play at your water table. Allow kids to put soap on their hands, scrub it around, and then rinse it off in the water. If you encourage kids to sing a song or count while they scrub the soap around, do that with them while they are playing.

Here is an example of a song you can sing during hand washing (sung to the tune of Row, Row, Row Your Boat):

Wash, wash, wash your hands

Wash them every day

When we run the soap around

We wash the germs away