🚿 Washing and water

Tiny bits of food stick to your teeth after you eat, and if they stay there too long, they turn into a sticky film that can make holes in your teeth called cavities. Brushing scrubs that sticky film away before it can do any damage, which is why doing it twice a day keeps your teeth strong. Toothpaste also has a special ingredient called fluoride that makes the outside of your teeth harder and better at fighting off cavities.

Your hands touch all sorts of things all day long, doors, toys, dirt, and tiny invisible germs stick to your skin without you ever seeing them. Washing with soap and water lifts those germs right off your skin and rinses them down the drain before they can make you sick. Soap works extra well because it grabs onto germs and oil the same way a magnet grabs metal, pulling them away from your hands.

Water travels a long way before it reaches your tap, starting at a river, lake, or deep underground well, then flowing through huge pipes buried under streets and yards. Along the way it usually stops at a special building that cleans it and makes sure it is safe to drink, before pumps push it the rest of the way to your house. When you turn the tap handle, you are simply opening a tiny door that lets that travelling water rush out.

Even when your hands look clean, your whole body picks up sweat, dust, and tiny bits of skin all day long, especially after playing hard or getting messy. A bath or shower washes all of that away with warm water and soap, leaving your skin fresh and helping stop itchiness or smells. Bath time can also be calm and cosy, which is one reason it often happens right before bed.

You wet your hands, add soap, rub them together, then rinse with water and dry them on a towel.

You put a little toothpaste on your brush, then move it gently over every tooth, up and down.

You sit in warm water, and soap washes away the dirt from your skin so you come out fresh and clean.

When you rub soap with water, tiny bubbles pop up between your fingers. Soap traps a bit of air inside each little bubble.