How do germs get inside of your body?

Everyone sneezes—even some animals do! What’s the best way to cover your sneezes to stop germs from spreading? Any ideas?

If you don’t have a tissue nearby, sneeze into your elbow like this! Cover up your nose and your mouth. Do this when you cough too!

One way to remember this is to pretend you are a vampire lifting your cape. Put your arm over your nose and mouth like this!

You could also pretend you are an elephant swinging your trunk. Swing your arm across your face before sneezing or coughing.

You should wash your hands for at least 20 seconds. That’s a long time! What could you do to make those 20 seconds more fun?

One idea is to hum a song for 20 seconds! When you’re done with the song, you can stop washing! Here are some 20-second songs!

When people wash their hands, they often miss some spots. What parts of the hands might some people forget to wash?

Let’s find out! The green areas on this man’s hands show where germs are. He didn’t wash his hands yet, so there are lots of germs!

Now he’s washed his hands, but only for a few seconds (not 20). Notice what parts of his hands still have "green germs” on them!

Now he’s washed his hands for a full 20 seconds. All the green is gone! His hands are germ-free.

So remember to wash the areas by your fingertips and thumbs! Those are the places where most people forget to wash!

Biting your nails can bring germs from your hands into your body. How could someone remind themselves to not bite their nails?

They could try putting one or two stickers on their nails, or dipping their fingers in something that tastes gross like sour lemon juice!

There are other ways germs can get in too. Try not to touch your eyes, nose, or mouth at all (or chew on pencils or other things).

Here’s an experiment: someone touched a piece of bread before washing their hands, and a different piece after washing them...

Here’s what happened after a few weeks—there are two pieces he touched and one he didn’t touch. Notice which one grew mold!

Someone took another piece of bread too and wiped it on a computer! Here’s how much mold it grew after a few weeks!

Voting for this episode is now closed. Would you like to vote on the most recent poll?

We pulled three questions from our jar. Which question do you want to explore?