Germs can spread — Science, 4–6 years
Tiny germs can move from people and surfaces to other people, and simple habits can reduce their spread.
Germs can move
Germs are tiny living things or particles that can sometimes make us ill. They can travel in droplets from a cough, on hands, or from one touched surface to another. We cannot usually see them, so clean-looking hands or tables are not proof that no germs are there.
Why wash your hands?
Hands touch faces, food, toys and door handles many times each day. Washing with soap and running water helps lift germs from the skin so they can be rinsed away. This does not make every illness impossible, but it lowers one common way germs travel between people and places.
Following the glitter germs
Put a little washable glitter on one person’s hand as a model for germs. Step 1: shake hands; glitter moves to another hand. Step 2: touch a toy; some glitter lands on it. Step 3: touch your face; more can move there. Step 4: wash with soap and water; much of the glitter comes off. The model shows how contact can spread things, though real germs are invisible.
Clean is not the same as germ-free
It is reasonable to think a clean-looking table has no germs, because dirt is often easy to see and cleaning removes dirt. But germs can be too small to see and may remain after a quick wipe. This is why washing hands and following safe food habits matter even when everything looks tidy.
Small habits protect people
Handwashing is useful after using the toilet, before eating and after blowing your nose. Covering a cough or sneeze with a tissue or your elbow also limits droplets, and staying home when ill can protect others. These actions do not blame anyone; they are ways to care for a shared space.
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