Think about all the things you do with your hands every day. You play with toys, you open doors and take care of your pet.

Sharing is good, but during cold and flu season, it’s easy to share something nobody wants – icky germs that might make you sick.

Scrub, scrub, scrub! It takes 20 seconds of washing your hands with warm, soapy water to do a good job of cleaning your hands! Do you know how long 20 seconds is? It’s about how long it takes to sing Row, Row, Row Your Boat!

To stay clean, you need to wash your hands often! Wash with soap and water before you eat, before you help with cooking, before you set the table, after you come in from playing outside, and after you use the bathroom.

There are five steps to washing your hands. Do you know what they are? Let’s practice!

1. Turn on the taps and wet your hands with warm running water.
2. Put a little bit of soap in the palm of one hand.
3. Rub your hands together for 20 seconds. Make lots of bubble! Scrub between your fingers, under your fingernails and the backs of your hands.
4. Rinse your hands well with clean running water.
5. Dry your hands using a clean towel.

Even after your hands are washed, keep them away from your face. You can get sick if germs on your hands touch your eyes, nose or mouth.

And when you have to cough and sneeze, cough or sneeze into your arm, not your hands. If you use a tissue, put it in the garbage as soon you can and wash your hands.