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Children from the pre-kinder and kindergarten program at Story House Forest Hill have been expanding on their knowledge around personal hygiene and understanding of the current situation around the COVID-19 pandemic – but in a fun way!
The Victorian Department of Education have encouraged early learning settings to use the “Gerry the Germ” program which uses games and discussion topics to teach children what germs are, why they can’t be seen, that hand-washing is the only way to get them off and how proper hand-washing is done.
Gerry the Germ is the subject of a children’s story by David Levine (and son, Benji) whose research focuses on ways to overcome barriers to improving health, especially in underprivileged nations. Mr. Levine is the head of Hygiene Heroes, a program he’s led with UC Berkeley students since 2014 which includes interactive stories, games and songs, and characters like Gerry the Germ; his goal is to change health-related behaviours around the world.
Interestingly, even in resource-poor areas, Mr. Levine’s team has found that adopting routines for hand-washing with soap really do work. This reinforces the great efforts our educators do each and every day to establish and maintain routines for the children around hand-washing and sanitising to keep themselves and the community safe. Do you have handwashing routines at home?
The children are putting in a great effort making sure that Gerry is nowhere to be seen. Take a look at the video to see the group in action as they learn to be a ‘Soapy Hero’!
For more information on how to enrol at Story House Forest Hill, please contact Belinda Selini at (03) 9894 0747 or contact us online.
