Hands On - Hands Off

Drug Free Lesson for PreK and Kindergarten

To start the lesson, we talked about what Red Ribbon Week stands for and why we celebrate this special event. We discuss ways to keep our body healthy. We also talk about the importance of having drug free bodies. Since most young students aren't sure what drugs and alcohol are, we talk about how drugs and alcohol are like poison to the body. It can make you sick and can hurt you. 

I showed this short film about poison so that students could understand what "poison" meant incase there were still any doubts or confusion. I liked the way this video talked about how some things look safe or look like other things and that it's always important to ask first! I would highly recommend this video. The kids loved it and were singing the chorus at the end with the characters. 

Hands On/Hands Off Oral Assessment

To assess students' knowledge of what is safe and what is necessary to ask first before touching, I played a game called "Hands On! - Hands Off!" The red hand represented the color of a stop sign; therefore, that was our "Hands Off (or Stop and Ask First) Bucket." The green hand represented the color of a green traffic light which stood for "Hands On (or GO ahead and touch it - It's safe!)" Something that was a REAL EYE OPENER for me was that most kids thought the itch cream was toothpaste and they thought the sunscreen block was lipstick - This was confirmation to me that this lesson was utmost important for my little ones since some things are bottled or packaged the same way and they thought it was "safe". 

 Speaking of "Hands Off" and Being Healthy…

Since Halloween is right around the corner and we were talking about keeping our "Hands Off" of things, I chose to introduce the "Booger Ghost" to my young kids and we talked about keeping our hands out of our nose and hands off of our "boogers". I chose to read, "I am a Booger… Treat Me with Respect." Oh yeah… it's a real book and it's real gross, but it was also REAL NECESSARY (if you know what I mean)!

The kids were seriously all about this book and listened to it intensely! I hope this will stop some of the "booger issues" we are having in our classrooms since some of our students have been getting sick due to the change in weather and winter months approaching. 

Yes… it's totally gross, but if you want to throw this in just for fun, they sell this candy at Target during Halloween and this could go in your "Hands Off" Bucket!