Fight Bad Germs
If you are like me, if I have said it once, I have said it, well… a lot- “Don’t put your fingers in your mouth!” “Please don’t touch that.” “Honey, wash your hands.” In this unit, you will review 9 common habits that can reduce or prevent your and your child’s chances of getting sick. Learn to fight bad germs in this practical hygiene unit for all ages.
The resources below feature an educational slideshow, “9 Tricks to Keep From Getting Sick,” a short video produced by the guys from MythBusters about how germs spread, a hands-on germ lab, and some literary material on the four types of germs. These resources along with book recommendations will provide enough information to fuel a fun and educational discussion about germs and what we can do to stop them from attacking our immune systems. To download all of our hygiene resources, be sure to check out our Keep Clean Hygiene resources!
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Start this unit with some books...
Just like every other unit study we pursue, books are the glue that hold the whole thing together. There are several books to choose from that will help your students learn to fight bad germs. However, we like these: Germs make me sick, Virus vs. Bacteria, and A Germ’s Journey.
9 Tricks to Keep From Getting Sick Slideshow
I created this slideshow as a common guide for adolescence to follow in an effort to help keep them from getting sick and fight bad germs. It can be difficult to teach younger children (especially) the importance of basic hygiene practices. This slideshow can help in teaching your child healthy habits to keep germs that can make us sick from spreading! Stay healthy and wash your hands!
Black Pepper Germs Lab - Germs Run from Soap
The Black Pepper Germs Lab is one of the those labs that you love… mainly because it can be done with basic household items you have at your fingertips. All you need is a bowl of water, black pepper, and liquid soap. It is a great visual to use when teaching students how to fight bad germs.
First, you will sprinkle black pepper all over the top of the water. The black pepper represents germs. Notice how the black pepper spreads out. Germs on our hands can easily spread as we touch objects and our face. We can see the black pepper, but we can not see the bad germs on our hands.
The best way to get rid of them is to wash our hands with soap.
Now that the black pepper is covering the top layer of the water, this is the perfect time to add a drip of liquid soap. Watch! It happens fast. The black pepper, I mean, germs, scatter. The soap repels the bad germs.
This is a great opportunity to reiterate that just as the black pepper germs ran away from the soap, so will the bad germs on our hands run away when we use soap to wash them! Fun lab to try at home. Happy learning!
Pretend Germs Investigation Lab
The Pretend Germs Investigation lab is always a winner with larger groups. Yes, it will work with you and yours, but the more people who can participate the better. All you need is hand sanitizer and glitter.
Put a squirt of hand sanitizer with a few shakes of glitter onto a student’s hand. The student should rub their hands together so that the glitter is dispersed onto both of his hands. The glitter represents germs. You may want to “contaminate” more than one person depending on the size of your group. After you have contaminated a 1/4 of your group, encourage them to shake hands with each other or give their friends a high five. Analyze how many students have glitter germs now. How easy was it for the germs to spread? Happy learning!
What's a Germ? by Science NetLinks
Science NetLinks does a thorough job at explaining the four types of germs: bacteria, fungi, viruses, and protozoa. They are not all bad for us. Most won’t hurt us and some are good for us. Read and find out more. Happy learning!
4-Square "Germ" Graphic Organizer
This graphic organizer is meant to be used with the link provided by Science NetLinks above. The article focuses on the four main types of germs. Encourage your student to read the article and then using the graphic organizer, describe what each type of germ is and how it is different from the other forms. We often have this idea that all germs are bad for us, but that is not the case. Learn about how some germs are good for us. This is a great activity to promote reading comprehension.
How a Virus Spreads - MythBusters
This video showcases an experiment carried out by the Mythbusters team. It focuses on how a virus spreads. Watching the experiment unfold during a pretend dinner party is comical and science involved. Enjoy!
How Germs Spread YouTube Video
This is a short but informational video. It hits on 3 main things you can do to fight bad germs: Keep your immune system strong, wash your hands, and keep others from getting sick. Happy learning!
Food for thought...
Looking for a more permanent science curriculum? Even though we pursue various science units that encompass labs and such, we also use a science textbook each year. Some might say that our science units supplement our textbook, while others would say the opposite to be true. The labs, experiments, graphic organizers, videos, and other activities bring the textbook information to life.
We use Abeka Science textbooks. I love that they incorporate God and His sovereignty into their curriculum. When I taught in the public school system, I noticed that many of my students were lacking in vocabulary. This made it difficult for them to understand the why behind many of our investigations. Unfortunately, they were deficient in their background knowledge. Our science time would be lacking too if it weren’t for the rich vocabulary and science language that we find in our science textbook and readers. If you are interested in shopping for a full-time science curriculum or even just a textbook to guide you, click on the following link! Happy homeschooling!
Keep Clean Hygiene
Toddler and Preschool Unit
If you have an early learner, you may find the KEEP CLEAN HYGIENE UNIT does the trick! This unit will help teach your younger students all about general hygiene. Click here to check out our FREE KEEP CLEAN HYGIENE UNIT! Happy learning!
Check out these other FREE resources!
No matter where your concerns or worries lie, God does not call us to fear, but to have confidence that He has overcome all.
