The teachers at Montessori Playhouse consistently remind our children that hand-washing is essential. Before meals, classroom activities or especially after sneezing – there are just some of the instances when we instruct our students to wash their hands. We also provide sanitizer in the classroom.

There are important differences between washing hands with soap and water and cleaning them with hand sanitizer. For example, alcohol-based hand sanitizers don’t kill ALL types of germs, such as a stomach bug called norovirus, some parasites and clostridium difficile, which causes severe diarrhoea. Hand sanitizers also may not remove harmful chemicals, such as pesticides and heavy metals like lead. At the moment, our school is using natural, non-alcohol sanitizer that is child-friendly.

Handwashing reduces the amounts of all types of germs, pesticides, and metals on hands. We hope to instil this very important habit in their early years.