Handing Out Germs

Pre-K through Grade 2

Grade 3 through Grade 6

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Grade Levels Grades 1 and 2

Estimated Teaching Time 40 minutes

Interdisciplinary Connections

• Sorting and organizing data (Science, Math)
• Counting (Math)
• Appreciating the importance of good hand hygiene (Science)

Objectives

Children will:

• Learn the increased risk of germ transmission when people with germy hands touch each other.
• Begin to understand the importance of good hand hygiene habits.

What Children Do

Children will interact and exchange paper squares, symbolizing germs. Then they add up how many different squares they have collected and determine the significance of what this represents.

Materials Required

• “Handing Out Germs” activity sheet (blackline master 1.5 PDF)
• Pencils, one per child
• Scissors, one pair per child
• Cassette or CD player, recorded music

Advanced Preparation

• Select an upbeat music recording. Have music player ready, with volume adjusted for room.
• Duplicate blackline master 1.5, one per child. You may want to consider using a variety of colors, if available.

Suggested Sequence

1. Pass out the activity sheets. Have each child write his or her name on all the squares and then cut the squares apart.
2. Ask each child to give you one square, with the name side down.
3. Play the recorded music and have children walk about the room. Stop the music frequently. When it stops, each child should trade a square with a classmate, and then state one thing about him or herself (such as their favorite color, food or book). This simulates germ transmission that occurs when people interact.
4. After a few minutes, have children stop and take note of how many different names they have collected.
5. Tell children that you are going to pick five squares from the ones they gave you. Draw the squares and read the names aloud. Tell the class that they should pretend that each of the people you named is getting sick.
6. Have children count the number of squares they have collected that have those names on them, and explain that these squares represent disease-causing germs. Tell all the children who have those squares to raise their hands.
7. Ask the class to count the number of people who have been “handed” an illness. Discuss what this means.

Check for Understanding

Ask the following questions:

• What would happen if each of these squares really were a disease-causing germ?
• How many children would have gotten “infected” if the five people who were getting sick had stayed home?
• How do children think we reduce the spread of disease if such germs can be dispersed so readily?
• What do our bodies do to handle germs since we don’t live in a germfree world? [Make antibodies, make whiteblood cells, build up immune system.]
• How does good hand hygiene help?
• Ask children to exchange squares again, face down. How many class members are “infected” now?

Extensions

Use the blackboard to make a chart as children supply you with the following data:

1. the number of people in the class,
2. the number of people who were “sick” before the first “germ” exchange [five],
3. the number of people who got “sick” after the first exchange, and
4. the number who got “sick” after the second exchange.

Words to Share

• Antibodies
• Germ transmission
• Hand hygiene
• Immune system
• White blood cells