Hand washing is one of the most important daily living skills a child can learn.

Hand washing prevents illness and reduces the need for medical care.

It also prevents germs from spreading and making others sick.

So if you have a child who does not hand wash, then let’s start teaching!

Step-by-Step Instructions for Hand Washing

*Make certain to check with your child’s doctor and/or your child’s care team prior to trying any of these steps.

Follow the instructions below to help your child learn how to wash hands independently.

When you come to a step that you find that your child cannot do yet, stop and teach it.

There are ideas and suggestions for each teaching step.

Remember, teaching daily living skills can be a challenge, especially for children who have a disability.

Hang in there, have patients and don’t give up!

You are doing a wonderful service simply by teaching your child to appropriately wash hands.

1. Go to the sink

Can your child go to the sink all by himself?

Your child does not have to start washing hands.

We simply want to find out if your child can physically go to the sink independently.

If you say, “(Child’s name), go to the sink,” will your child head over there?

If so, you can check this step off of the list!

Move on to the next step!

If not, figure out what the barriers are.

Does your child need some motivation to get up and go to the sink?

Does your child have physical issues that limit him from being able to move?

Perhaps your child needs you to hold up a picture of the sink when you give the instruction.

Focus on the barrier and make positive changes so that your child will follow through.

2. Roll up sleeves (if child wears long-sleeved shirts)

Depending on the season or where you live, your child may wear long-sleeved shirts.

Can your child roll up his sleeves?

If not, you may want to spend some time sitting down and practice rolling up sleeves.

If it becomes too much of an issue, you may want to make some clothing changes.

Perhaps, if weather permits and your child is comfortable, switch to wearing only short-sleeved shirts.

You can always teach your child to put a sweater on over or take the sweater off prior to washing hands.

3. Turn on the water 

Now that your child can do the first two steps and he’s at the sink, can he turn on the water?

Remember!

You’re looking to see if your child can do this all by himself, so don’t help!

If your child can do this on his own, then great!

Move on to the next step!

If not, work with your child in isolated moments to practice turning the water on and off.

You can make a game of it!

For instance, if your child loves to fill cups with water, then hand your child a cup.

It may give him the motivation to turn on the water.

4. Reach for the soap 

Depending on where you typically place the soap on the counter, you may need to make some adjustments.

Can your child reach for the soap?

Remember! Your child does not have to actually use the soap just yet.

We just want to see if he can reach for it.

5. Pump soap with one hand (or grab bar of soap if you use bar soap)

Depending on what type of soap your family uses, you may need to make adjustments to this as well.

If you use pump soap and you find that it is too hard for your child to pump the soap, then you may want to try bar soap.

Or vice versa.

Can your child simply pump the soap with one hand?

He does not have to place the opposite hand under the pump to catch the soap just yet.

If using bar soap, can your child simply grab hold of the soap?

6. Place opposite hand under the pump to catch the soap while pumping (or scrub using bar of soap)

This step may take some practice!

It can be challenging for a child with disabilities to pump the soap with one hand and catch it with the other.

Take a good hard look at what part of this step your child is struggling with.

If the soap keeps slipping out from under while your child is trying to pump, see if you can find another object to help keep the soap stable.

Perhaps the bar soap keeps slipping out of your child’s hands while maneuvering it to get the soap onto the hands.

You may want to teach your child to simply keep the soap on the soap dish and brush hands across it to get the soap.

7. Scrub hands all over

Here, we want to see if your child can really scrub his hands good with the soap.

Can your child scrub all areas of hands?

Watch to make certain that your child scrubs fingers, thumbs and backs of hands really well.

Take note of what can be focused on.

For instance, my son has a hard time remembering to include his thumbs during the wash.

So, I remind him that we want his thumbs to sparkle when he gives a thumbs up to others, which he loves to do!

Don’t get discouraged if your child has a hard time with this step.

It’s a doozy!

You can always move in and help your child scrub really well and then step back and let your child do the rest by himself.

Remember, this is the most important step!

So don’t just accept a child simply brushing his hands together and being done.

Stay vigilant and really teach this step as best as you can.

Or move in and do it for your child until he can really get the hang of it himself.

You’ll be glad that you did!

8. Sing a song to help gage the length of time for scrubbing

It’s important that your child scrubs long enough in order to properly remove germs.

Our job here is to figure out if your child can engage in a way to help do that.

One way is to teach your child to sing a 20-second song while scrubbing his hands.

Or perhaps you could teach your child to simply count to 20 while washing hands.

Teaching your child to set a timer for 20 seconds is another idea.

Take this step and figure out how you can show your child to scrub for an appropriate amount of time.

9. Rinse hands under the water 

Now that the scrubbing part is done, lets try something a little bit easier.

Can your child thoroughly rinse his hands under the running water?

10. Turn off the water 

We’re about done!

Let’s turn off the water!

Can your child turn off the water all by himself?

11. Reach/Grab for a towel 

You may need to make some adjustments here for your child to be successful.

For instance, if the towel is typically hung up, your child may not be able to reach it.

Maybe you can simply start setting the towel in a more convenient spot.

Or you could place a step stool under the towel rack.

Either way, make certain that the towel is within easy reach for your child.

12. Dry all sides and fingers of hands thoroughly 

This step can be just as tricky as scrubbing hands.

Not only do we want your child to be able to dry hands, but to dry hands thoroughly.

Leaving hands wet can cause them to become chapped and dry.

One activity that may help with this step is to practice with whipped cream.

Place whipped cream all over your child’s hands and then hand your child a towel.

Have your child practice wiping the whipped cream off until there isn’t any more.

You could also have your child use paper towel instead of a hand towel.

Paper towel is often more absorbent.

The absorbency of the paper towel may make the task less challenging.

13. Put towel back 

Now that your child’s hands are dry, it is time to find out if your child can put the towel away independently.

Can your child place the towel back on the towel rack?

If you use paper towel, can your child throw the paper towel away in the trash can?

Remember!

With independence should also come a sense of responsibility.

Your child should also learn the importance of clean up when finished.

Putting the towel back is part of having respect for the rest of the family.

You Did It!

Great!

You studied each step of hand washing in depth with your child!

Now you should know which areas your child is successful with…

And which areas your child needs help with.

Remember that each child learns differently.

You may need to make some adjustments to the routine.

You may also need to be a little more creative when trying to teach certain steps.

Either way, you should now have a better picture of what it takes to learn to hand wash.

And now that you know – you can help your child become a successful hand washer!