Home kitchen hygiene

Before you begin

• This activity works best if you combine it with a cooking activity. Why not make Perfect pizzas or give Ready, steady, cook-off a go?
• Don’t worry if you don’t have a kitchen – you could set up a mock space using some of the items you may find in a kitchen, or even objects to represent them.
• You’ll need between 30 and 50 counters to represent bacteria, which shouldn’t be any bigger than a 50 pence piece. You could use scrap paper, coins, buttons, or bits of sticky tack. Remember to leave time to clean the kitchen area – coins in particular carry loads of germs.
• Hide the counters in the kitchen area. Put them in places that germs thrive, for example, under counter top appliances, near drains, around bins, or on towels, handles, sponges, and brushes. If you think you’ll struggle to remember where they are, you could jot down the locations. Keep one or two counters so you can show everyone what they’re hunting for.
• Check that the counters aren’t hidden anywhere it’s unsafe to rummage (for example, the knife drawer or chemical cupboard). Note down these dangerous areas so you can tell everyone not to search there. You may want to put up signs to remind people not to open certain drawers or cupboard.
• Think about any other safety rules you’ll need. For example, be careful not to brush against or turn on any dials or switches, be mindful of any appliances that may still be hot from being used, watch out for open cupboards, and be aware of breakable things like glassware and crockery. Adapt the safety rules to meet your kitchen area.

Clock’s ticking

1. Everyone should split into small groups.

The size of the groups should depend on the size of your kitchen area. Each group should be able to fit comfortably in the area with plenty of space to move around.

2. The person leading the activity should tell everyone which areas are dangerous and out-of-action for this activity. They should also run through the safety rules they noted down before they began.

The person leading the activity shouldn’t tell anyone that the counters represent germs.

3. The first group should spend one minute in the kitchen area hunting for counters. They should try to remember where they found each one – the person leading the activity should keep track too.
4. After one minute, the person leading the game should count the counters. Everyone should put them back where they found them.
5. Each group should take it in turns to spend a minute collecting counters. The winning group is the one that collected the most counters.
6. Everyone should gather back together and chat about how they worked together. Perhaps some groups split up to tackle different zones of the kitchen, or used a process of elimination.
7. Everyone should chat about what the counters may represent. If no one gets it, the person leading the activity should reveal that the counters represented bacteria and were hidden in places bacteria are found.
8. Everyone should chat about how bacteria might end up multiplying in the areas they found the counters, and how they can prevent it from happening.

For more information to support the discussion, check out our guidance on food safety.

9. Everyone should work together to collect all the counters and make sure the kitchen area’s clean again. It might not work for everyone to be in the space at the same time.