Introduce the concept of how children's hands often have germs on them. Discuss the causes of how this could happen including touching things in places like the bathroom or outside and activities such as sneezing, coughing and playing on the floor. Also, discuss the effects of keeping hands dirty and the fact that germs make us sick and can make others sick, too, which can lead to pandemics. Set up a hand-washing station and carefully address each part of proper hand washing. Show the toddlers how to scrub their hands with soap with warm, running water. Carefully demonstrate how to rinse all the suds off and dry the hands with a clean towel. Give each toddler a chance to show you how they wash their hands. Remind them to scrub their hands for 20 seconds or for two verses of the "Happy Birthday" song.
Help your toddlers learn the important lesson of only putting food items in their mouths by teaching them a safety lesson on poison awareness. Show them pictures of medicine, rat poison, cigarettes and other hazardous substances that they might see in a relative's home or business. Stress to your toddlers that they should never put anything in their mouth that they find laying about. They should ask a grown-up if they see something unusual. Mark each photograph with a large red circle and slash through it to show them a common symbol of poison. Collect any household or classroom cleaners in a box and mark them in front of your toddlers as a poisonous items that could make them sick. Tell them that even clear substances that look like water could indeed be poisonous and to always ask a grown-up if they see something left out.
Teach your toddler how to react if they smell smoke. Fire always produces smoke, which makes smoke very dangerous. Lead your toddlers in crawling to the door as a way to react if they smell smoke in the room. Show them how to feel the door to check for fire on the other side. Pretend you have a hot door and crawl to the window. Show pictures of what firefighters look like when they wear all their gear to fight a fire. Tell them that firefighters work hard to keep people safe, and children can trust firefighters to help them. Play a "stop-drop-roll" game with your toddlers to demonstrate what to do if they catch on fire. Cut out strips of red construction paper. Place tape on the inside top part of each strip to attach on a child's clothing. Place another piece on the outside bottom of each strip that will stick to the floor when they roll. Attach several red pieces to a child, and let them roll around until all the pieces fall off. Show them that their rolling helps put the fire out.