This is the Way We Wash Our Hands!

The children of Cohort 9 are growing!  They've progressed from wobblers to young toddlers and are starting to turn two!  This growth comes with an exciting push for independence.  These girls want to be doing things for themselves!  All the time that we've put into establishing routines for self-care activities is showing as the girls use each routine as a tool: if a child wants to do something for herself and she knows all the steps and has learned how to do all those steps, then she can do it for herself!

We wash hands many times every day - as we arrive in the morning, after each diaper change, when coming in from outside, and before each meal and snack.  Washing hands is a simple, routine way in which we take care of ourselves, and the Cohort 9ers are very proud of washing hands all by themselves!  I stand close by, and help to remind the girls of steps they might miss ("You can turn the water off before climb down from the sink.") and some of the children still need a hand with the hand soap pump bottle, but largely they have taken ownership of the whole hand-washing routine.

First, we climb up to the sink when we are ready to wash hands!

Next, we turn on the water and get our hands wet.  Usually the temperature
just right, but if it's not, we are learning how to adjust it.  Which way makes
the water warmer, and which way makes the water colder?

We get soap on our hands and then "rub, rub, rub!"  We love to see the
bubbles forming on our hands as we lather up the soap.
Sometimes we sing a song while we we wash!

Next, our hands go back under the water, and we rinse off all the soap.
We talk about how the water carries the soap and the soap carries the dirt
down the drain!

When we are done washing, we grab a towel from the basket on the left.
We dry off our hands, and put the towel in the basket on the right.

We climb down, and we're all done!

We can even practice washing our hands outside!