As an SLP who worked as a microbiology laboratory assistant in college I can’t help but feel annoyed when kids scrub their hands for less than a second! With all my preschool patients getting sick left-and-right lately I decided to try this Handwashing timer.
Pros
- Relatively inexpensive (I got mine for $9.29).
- A visual to help kids scrub for a full 20 seconds!
- They’re durable.
- Not distracting without music.
- The “beep” lets me know whether kids have used it even with the bathroom door closed!
Cons
- Keeping the kids scrubbing for a full 20 seconds is still like pulling teeth (just slightly less).
- I wish the timer had some kind of music as well as the lights, but that would be distracting in a classroom and if the music was to annoying or loud I wouldn’t like it, either.
- The reviews have complaints about it breaking when it gets wet – I stuck mine on the wall so any water will drip off the front instead of into the electronics. Other reviewers have taught their kids to use their elbows to turn it on, but with since so many of my kids have difficulty with coordination I decided not to pick that battle.
- None of these cons are enough to make me take away a star!
I even added little timers to my cute handwashing visual schedule from the CDC website.