Learning All About Hygiene

Pre School Minors Hygiene Topic

Pre School Minors have been very busy discovering more about hygiene both of themselves and in their environment. This theme has been very valuable in teaching life skills and ways to keep them healthy.

They have spent some time exploring washing and dressing, good hygiene practices and school readiness skills. They did this through placing dollies in the water tray which they washed, dried and dressed. The practitioners talked the children through good hygiene practices likes using soap, washing all over and making sure they dry everywhere afterwards.

The children really loved washing the dollies so the practitioners decided to extend this activity to washing plates and bowls. The children had great fun using the sponges to clean the plates and bowls. Practitioners talked about how this is way we keep ourselves healthy by washing away all the germs left on our plates after we have eaten. This was a great way to teach independence and to give the children an opportunity to act out some imaginative play.

The children have also been learning about good hand washing technique. As always within the early years, this was done through play opportunities. A tuft tray was set up with water, hand soap and hand washing flash cards. The children were encouraged to copy the flash cards and wash their hands in the same way with the water in the tray. This was good fun as it was seen as a water play session by the children but had all the benefits of hand washing techniques.

The children have also been learning about the importance of good dental hygiene. This has been done by using toothbrushes and toothpaste to brush the giant pair of teeth. They had to brush properly to remove all of the marks on the teeth. Practitioner Andrea made the children some natural playdough and laminated some large mouth play mats. The children made lots of teeth and arranged these on their mats. They counted how many teeth they had on their mats and in their actual mouth.

This has been a brilliant topic for the children to learn more about their own bodies and to develop independence skills.