Year 3’s current focus in P4L is Health and Safety and last week had them contemplating the importance of personal hygiene and keeping well. 

The children donned their metaphorical lab coats and goggles to conduct an experiment into whether it made a difference to use soap rather than just water when we wash our hands. They carefully observed how some ground pepper (representing germs) on the surface of a bowl of coloured water (representing hands) fled to the edge of the bowl when a drop of soap was added.

The conclusion of our scientists was unanimous – using soap matters! Bacteria and other germs cling on to the naturally-occurring oils on our skin and are washed away with those oils when they come into contact with, and are repelled by, detergent. 

Oil and detergent, we learned, don’t make a great team! Fortunately, the children in Year 3 do, and here are team 3J holding up their spotlessly clean hands for inspection!