← Back to course
Home Helpers 3 to 5 / Week 04 / Monday
1/6
Week 04 · Kitchen Helper

Monday

Clean hands, clean food
// Clean hands, careful measuring, a packed lunch and a wiped counter
⏱ about 15 min

Monday: Clean hands, clean food

Chris the Coyote pokes his nose into the den. "Big week, Bennie. The kitchen is yours!" Then he trots off.

Bennie the Bear ties on an apron. "A kitchen helper starts clean," he says. Lucy the Ladybug lands on the counter with a bag of apples.

"Clean hands first," Lucy says. "Then clean apples. Then we can get to work." Bennie turns on the warm water.

Bennie measures rice into a bowl. Lucy packs a lunch box with an apple, carrots and crackers.

Why clean comes first

Hands touch doorknobs, pets, shoes and floors. Tiny germs ride along, too small to see.

Food goes into mouths. So every kitchen job starts the same way: wash your hands well.

Fruit and vegetables come from fields and trucks and store shelves. They need a wash too.

Hand washing in six steps

  1. Turn on warm or cool water and wet both hands.
  2. Add soap and rub your palms together.
  3. Scrub the backs, between the fingers and under the nails.
  4. Keep scrubbing while you hum Happy Birthday twice, about 20 seconds.
  5. Rinse until all the soap is gone.
  6. Dry with a clean towel and turn off the tap.
Try it
Go wash your hands right now, all six steps.
Hum Happy Birthday twice. Did it feel long? Good. That is at least 20 seconds of scrubbing.
Safety first
Warm or cool water is fine, but never hot. A grown-up sets the tap if it runs hot.
PUT THE HAND WASHING STEPS IN ORDER.
  • ?Scrub backs, fingers and nails
  • ?Wet both hands with warm or cool water
  • ?Dry with a clean towel
  • ?Add soap and rub
  • ?Rinse all the soap away
WHY THIS EXERCISESoap needs wet hands to work, and rinsing carries the germs away.

Washing produce

Produce is fresh fruit and vegetables. Apples, carrots, grapes and cucumbers all get a rinse.

Hold the fruit under cool running water. Rub it all over with your clean hands.

Carrots can take a soft scrub brush. Grapes go in a colander under cool running water.

Pat everything dry with a clean towel. Set it in a clean bowl.

  • No soap on food. Water and rubbing do the job.
  • Wash produce right before it is used, not days ahead.
  • A grown-up does any cutting or peeling. You do the washing.
CLEAN KITCHEN CHOICES
  • Read the question.
  • Tap your answer.
What is the very first job in the kitchen?
How do you wash an apple?
The carrots need peeling. Who does that?
StatementTrue or false?
You should scrub for at least 20 seconds, like Happy Birthday twice.?
Hot water is best for washing hands.?
Grapes get rinsed under running water.?
Produce should be washed a week ahead.?
WHY THIS EXERCISEWarm or cool water is fine, but hot water can burn. Wash produce right before you use it.
Bennie turned on the water. Was it warm or hot?
WHY THIS EXERCISEHot water can hurt skin. Warm or cool water both work.

Clean start, Kitchen Helper! Tomorrow Bennie brings out the measuring cups.