To keep your kids healthy for many school years to come, it is important to develop healthy habits. Smart healthy habits for good hygiene form best when kids are young. Here are tricks to help them master hand washing, sneezing, tooth brushing and more.

Show and Tell.

Many young children are visual learners, so make sure you demonstrate the healthy routines you want them to learn. Participate as often as you can. Kids love to imitate parents.

Use Books and Stories.

Make sure kids know why good hygiene is important. There are many storybooks and online activities. Find some on how to wash hands, take a bath, brush teeth and anything else that can keep them healthy. There are smart phone apps that help teach about hygiene and track their efforts.

Positive Reinforcement.

Keep a chart and reward your kids with start stickers every time they properly demonstrate good hygiene. Incentivize them by offering a reward when they collect a certain number of stickers.

Make it a Song.

It is recommended that hand washing should last at least 20 seconds. Many people find that teaching their kids to wash their hands while singing ” Happy Birthday” twice works well. Tooth brushing should last at least two minutes. Find a song that is this length to play while your kids are brushing or use a bathroom timer.

Make it Fun.

There are a lot of ways you can make hygiene fun for kids. Buy them soaps, tooth pastes, tooth brushes with their favorite characters, flavor or fragrance. Try fund activities like making horn noises while blowing their nose, doing dances while brushing their teeth or hand washing. Use Shampoo to create wacky fun hairdos.

Stick to Routines.

Kids thrive on routines. By setting a strict morning, nighttime and bath routines, good hygiene will eventually become an automatic response.