A Step-by-Step Guide to Teach Children How to Wash Hands

Children love to get messy, whether it’s using sand, water, slime, or anything else that they can get their hands in. When children go to childcare or school, they tend to get sick very often. This is due to children getting messy and then putting their hands in their mouth, nose, or ears. Kids have a really hard time washing their hands. They may wash their hands, but it could be that they are not doing so effectively.

Hand-washing is quite a hard skill for a lot of children. They want to quickly get it done and go back to playing or having a delicious snack! However, parents and teachers need to teach children how to effectively wash their hands so that kids are well protected against germs.

I’ve created a program, attached below, that any parent or teacher can use to teach their child how to wash their hands. Some kids have sensory processing challenges and it can take them a longer time to learn how to wash their hands, but it can definitely be taught.

I had a client, Kyle*, who would wash his hands at home, but he would refuse to wash his hands at school, during therapy, at his grandparents house, etc. He definitely needed to be desensitized to the sounds that different washrooms have. For example, we have four different bathrooms at our therapy centre and he would be able to precisely describe the sounds in each washroom and tell the differences between the sounds. He would describe one tap to be squeakier than the other, whereas one washroom had lights too dim, one washroom had soap with a weird texture, etc., He also hates rubbing his hands together and putting them under water. It took him about six months to be able to use any washroom, in any location.

If a child has to be desensitized to sounds, you can use a video and gradually lead your way to listening to the actual object creating the sound. For example, Kyle has a hard time with the sound of a hand-dryer present in a washroom. We gradually taught him how to handle the sensory stimulus that is being presented.

With hand-washing, if a child is having difficulty with putting their hands under water, you can gradually teach the child how to complete the task. The child can start with opening the tap and listening to the sound of the water, when the sound is no longer aversive, the child can move to putting their hand under water for one second, gradually increasing the time to 30 seconds. Then, the child can be asked to rub their hands, if the child has a hard time rubbing their hands under water, parents or teachers can start again with the child having to rub their hands under water for one second and increase it to 30 seconds slowly. If the child has difficulty rubbing their hands, with no water present, this skill can be taught through copying. You can ask your child to copy what you are doing (rubbing hands together) and they will copy. If they are unable to do so, you can teach them by using a hand-over-hand technique, as shown below.

If you have any other questions or feel that your child needs even more help with washing their hands, please reach out to the email provided in the program plan, or leave a comment and I will get back to you as soon as possible!

*All names of clients have been changed to maintain confidentiality.