An elementary school in Michigan has had a very interesting school year so far, resulting in more handwashing among the students.
A group of parents noticed frequent student illnesses; one child was sick eight times last fall, more than he’d gotten sick in previous years. His mother enlisted the involvement of other parents and the school principal to encourage frequent handwashing. Thus, the Scrub Club was born.
Each class has been given a caddy with a soap dispenser, refill soap bottle, laminated poster with handwashing instructions, and nail brush for use by the students. The class to use the most soap by the end of the week wins a pizza party, plus a $20 gift card for the teacher to use for the classroom.
While it’s too early to have concrete results from the Scrub Club initiative, it seems to have had successful effects. Teachers report fewer boxes of facial tissue being used, an indication of less sickness. And nearly all students say they are now more aware of the benefits of handwashing.
One second-grade teacher performed a memorable experiment, pretending to sneeze into her hand while covering that hand with red glitter. Giving the students high-fives and pats on the back resulted in the spread of the red glitter, which the teacher explained represents the spread of germs.
We love that glitter experiment and recommend using GlitterBug products to continue emphasizing the importance of handwashing to children and adults alike!
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