After carrying out our own experiment on how germs and bacteria can thrive on our skin, we furthered our learning by finding out about the famous Scottish microbiologist, Alexander Fleming and his accidental discovery of penicillin. The children were curious to know how this came about and what antibiotics were, how they are used and this led to an interesting talk on our general health and the medicines doctors use.

Having already discovered that we could not completely rid ourselves of bacteria from our hands, we learned that not all bacteria is bad and that we naturally have this living on our skin and in in our bodies to do the important job of keeping us healthy.

We decided to carry out a further experiment on hygiene by using 3 slices of bread. One slice was untouched by hand and was our ‘control’ in the experiment. Another was handled by children who had not washed their hands for a while, the third piece was touched by children who had just washed their hands before handling it.

We sealed all 3 slices of bread in plastic bags, labelled them and pinned them to the wall so we could observe any changes that occur over the following days and weeks.