Script for the Foods and Nutrition Handwashing Session with Clarke County First
Graders:
(Using the BAC puppet, begin the session with BAC telling the students:)
I’m germy, green and very mean.
I like to hide where I can’t be seen.
On your backpack, your shoes, your pencils and toys,
I can hide there and wait; I don’t make any noise.
When you forget to wash your hands
I can come out of hiding and take my stand.
I can get in your mouth; I can get in your food.
I can make you throw up; I can make you poop!
I can make you cough; I can make you wheeze!
I can make you have chills, I can make you quite ill.
I’m BAC….Bacteria.
(Then put the BAC puppet down and pick up the handwashing poster that will be mounted on foam
board.)
How can you keep mean, harmful bacteria from making you sick?
One of the best ways is to wash your hands! Good handwashing helps to keep us from getting sick and
from making others sick by spreading our germs.
The bulldog is here to remind us to “Wash Your Paws, Georgia!”
There are six steps to washing your “paws” the right way.
Go through them with me. (Have each child put out their paws and practice each step as you go over
them.)
First, we wet our paws with warm, running water. (Pretend to turn on the water and wet your paws
under it.)
Second, we apply the soap. (Pretend to get soap out of a pump dispenser and rub it all over your paws.)
Third, we rub our paws together and clean all over them, even between our fingers, for at least 20
seconds.
Fourth, remember to clean around and under your fingernails. (Let them pretend practice washing
hands and cleaning nails while singing this song TWICE to the tune of Row, Row, Row Your Boat - this
should be sung at a speed that takes 20 seconds) :
Wash, wash, wash your paws.
Wet them; add the soap.
Rub them, scrub them, rinse them well.
Germs will have no hope.
The fifth step is to rinse the germs down the drain.
The sixth step is to dry your paws. It is best to use a paper towel or a hot air hand dryer. At home, it’s
okay to use a cloth towel, but it should be clean and changed often.
So now that we know how to wash our “paws”, when should we wash our “paws”?
Our paws or hands should be washed often, whenever we do something that could get germs on our
hands. We should be really careful to wash out hands after we cough or sneeze, after we go to the
bathroom, after we touch our pets and play outside and ALWAYS before we touch our food. This helps
to keep harmful germs from getting in our food and into our bodies where they can make us sick.
(If there is time, repeat what they have learned, either by having them tell you the steps while they all
put their hands out and pretend wash their “paws” or have them sing the song with you again while
they go through the pretend steps again.)
(Bring the BAC puppet back out and have him say:)
Wow, you kids can really clean!
That keeps me from being so mean.
When you use soap and make some bubbles,
I can’t cause you that much trouble!
Soap and water make me leave
So….Wash Your Paws and keep them clean!
Developed by:
Judy A. Harrison, Ph.D.
Professor and Extension Foods Specialist
Dept. of Foods and Nutrition
University of Georgia
December 2014