Wash Away Germs: Keeping Clean and Healthy

About This Resource

A complete Grade 1 science pack on germs and hygiene: what germs are, how they spread, the five steps of handwashing, when to wash your hands, covering coughs and sneezes, and daily healthy habits. Includes a lesson plan, worksheet, quiz, homework, A5 flashcards, a rubric, detailed slides with speaker notes, Word files and answer keys.

Overview

Children learn that germs are tiny living things that are too small to see and that some germs can make us sick. A glitter or pepper demonstration shows how germs spread from hand to hand. Children put the five handwashing steps in order, decide when to wash their hands, practise catching a sneeze in a tissue or elbow, and sort healthy and unhealthy habits.

Resource Details

Subject: Science
Topic: Germs and Keeping Clean
Category: Human Body
File Type: PDF
File Size: 373.1 KB
Published: 30 Oct 2026
Downloads: 0

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Grade 1 (ages 6–7) 40 minutes Health and hygiene sequencing sorting observation science vocabulary

Learning Objectives

Explain that germs are tiny living things that can make us sick.
Wash hands correctly using the five steps, for about 20 seconds.
Name times when we must wash our hands and other habits that stop germs spreading.

How to Use This Resource

Do the glitter demonstration from the activity ideas before the lesson, then teach the key words with the flashcards.
Teach the handwashing steps with the slides and practise at a sink if you can. Then use worksheet activities 1 to 6.
Use the quiz to check learning and send the handwashing chart homework home.

Classroom Activity Ideas

Glitter germs: put a little glitter on one child's hands and ask them to shake hands around a circle. Then see how hard it is to wash off with water only, and with soap.
Pepper and soap: sprinkle pepper on water in a bowl. A child dips a soapy finger in and the pepper (the germs) rushes away.
Sneeze catcher: practise sneezing into an elbow or a tissue, then throwing the tissue away.

Differentiation

Support: use the picture cards for the handwashing steps and let children act them out. Challenge: children make a poster that teaches younger children when to wash their hands.

Assessment

Worksheet activities 1 to 5 and the quiz check vocabulary, the handwashing steps and healthy habits. Use the rubric for the poster in activity 6.

Teacher Tips

Twenty seconds feels long to young children. Singing the alphabet song once while scrubbing is about the right length.

What's Included

12-page printable PDF lesson pack: teacher lesson plan with timings, materials and differentiation
Key vocabulary list (7 words with meanings and examples)
Student worksheet (6 activities)
Quiz / assessment (4 parts)
Homework practice page
Printable flashcards: 7 A5 picture cards (separate PDF)
Assessment rubric (4 levels)
Lesson slides (editable PowerPoint)
Editable Word version of all student pages
Complete answer key (also as a separate PDF)

Additional Files

Lesson Slides (PowerPoint, editable) (PPTX)
Editable Student Pages + Lesson Plan (Word) (DOCX)
Flashcards (PDF, A5, one card per page) (PDF)
Answer Key (PDF) (PDF)

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