The Power of Hand-washing

When coming in contact with germs, it really only takes touching your face, mouth, and/or nose to become infected. This happens very easily, however, it can be difficult to explain to our kids the importance of washing our hands to prevent this. TMC decided that running an experiment about the power of washing our hands so they could see the results in real time. Want to recreate this at home? Here's what you'll need to do:

Needs:

• Ziploc bag

• White bread

• Hand sanitizer

• Hand soap

Questions:

• What do you think we need to wash our hands to kill germs?

• Does hand sanitizer work?

Hypothesis:

• Hand sanitizer is as effective as washing hands.

Procedure:

1. With unwashed hands, touch a piece of bread and place it in a bag.

2. Next, use hand sanitizer then touch bread and place it in a bag.

3. Finally, wash your hands for 20 seconds and touch the bread. Place it in a bag.

4. Over the next few days, record the bacteria growth.