During Science Week, pupils in 3rd & 4th class looked at the importance of washing our hands thoroughly with soap. We have continued good hygiene habits since Covid by washing our hands before we eat at break and lunch but this experiment reminded us how this can help prevent the spread of germs. We took a loaf of fresh bread and some pupils got a slice each, rubbed it between the palms of their hands and then put into a sandwich bag. Pupils didn’t know in advance why they were doing this.

Each child was then asked to wash their hands thoroughly with soap at which stage other pupils began to make very good predictions and inferences about what was happening. After giving their hands a good wash, each pupil got another slice of bread and rubbed the slice of bread between their palms again and placed it into another labelled sandwich bag. We monitored the bags over a week and pupils could see the mould growing and were fascinated at how much more mould grew on the slice of bread rubbed between dirty hands and in particular the colours, blue, green and even pink!

Pupils were much more conscious about thorough hand washing with soap before eating after seeing the results! Take a look at some of the photos below from this experiment.

Pupils also made a model of how our heart works to pump blood around our bodies. We used straws to connect the bottles which represented the chambers of the heart and when the first bottle was squeezed, the coloured water travelled up the straw and into the second bottle and onto the third bottle.