A Lesson in Washing

Today marked a special first in the lives of my young children. Today was our first combined homeschool day with their cousins. Once a week (so goes the plan) we get all of our kids together for their homeschool lessons. This is the day we do science experiments and book reviews and dramatization and things that are just more fun with more kids. I feel so blessed to live close enough to my sister, and to finally have all of our kids in homeschool (at the same time), to be able to do this for my children and hers.

One of the highlights today was Erik's hand washing experiment. I encourage you to do it with your children sometime, especially if they are insistent on using cold water (and cold water only) to wash their little fingers.

First Erik instructed his two volunteers to cover their hands in shortening to represent the naturally occurring oils on their hands. Next, he sprinkled nutmeg over their hands to represent germs and had them rub their hands together until they were full of brown speckles.

Step three was the girls washing their hands - Emma in cold water; Alena in warm water with soap.

The last step was to wipe their hands off onto a clean, dry paper towel. The results (and contrast) were obvious. An interesting observation was that "germs" that were on Emma's towel could easily be wiped off onto Alena's clean hands. Hence it is important that all family members learn to wash their hands properly and towels are laundered often (the environmentalist in me cannot justify the excessive, wastefulness of using paper towels every time one washes their hands - save the planet!). Three cheers for science! Now, go wash your hands.