Good Grooming

INTRODUCTION:

Regardless of clothing style, people need to be clean and neat. Good manners out way the style of dress. Daily bathing, shampooing and the use of deodorant never go out of style. Personal grooming not only affects the way others see you, it also has an impact on how you feel about yourself.

A person’s first impression of you has a lot to do with your grooming habits. If you don’t smell good, or have dirty teeth, greasy hair or dirty cloths, you may lose out on interaction with others. One might assume that if you do not take care of yourself, you may not take pride in your school work or do your best on a team. Your resume may tell all that you have accomplished, but if your appearance and cleanliness don’t say the same, you could be putting yourself at a disadvantage. Poor grooming can be saying to others that you have a poor self-esteem.

WHAT TO DO:

Grooming Timeline- Ahead of time, print out the grooming timeline cards and collect or purchase the grooming items listed. If you have a large group, you will want to have more than one set of grooming items. Tell the group that you are going to play game to learn more about tools and products that we use for good grooming habits. Give each group a bag containing the grooming items on the list. Make sure that you have at least one item per person in the group. Ask the group to line up based on when they think their grooming product was invented. For older groups, you can make this activity more challenging by not allowing them to talk. Once the group is satisfied with their “human timeline,” you can give each person their corresponding grooming card and have them read it to the group.

Hand Washing 101- one of the most basic things we do that is good grooming is to keep our hands clean. There are several ways to teach hand washing. Choose one or two volunteers and pull them aside from the group. Sprinkle their hands with

glogerm (if you don’t have glogerm, spray their hands lightly with cooking spray, then sprinkle glitter on them). Explain that the glogerm or glitter represents “germs.”

Instruct the volunteers to shake hands with two people, then ask those people to shake hands with someone else, until everyone has shaken hands at least once (for a more dramatic effect, let them shake hands longer). Now, ask the group what happened. If you used glogerm, take the group into a dark room and pass the UV light over their hands. If you used glitter, just have them look at each other’s hands. Everyone should have glogerm or glitter on their hands. Ask them why the “germs” spread so easily. Now allow the 4-Hers to wash their hands, and take another look to see if any glogerm or glitter remains. Review proper hand washing techniques (wash with warm water, use soap, and wash for at least 20 seconds). Ask them to properly wash their hands with warm water and soap. Repeat the process until no glogerm or glitter remains.

Now, ask the group why is proper hand washing so important?

What would happen if the “germs” were real and you didn’t properly wash your hands?

TALK IT OVER

Sharing-

  • What was the hardest part of this activity?
  • What did you enjoy the most?

Processing-

  • What should you do daily in order to be properly groomed?
  • Have you ever been around someone who did not have good manners? How did it make you feel?
  • Why is it just as important to be a gracious winner as a gracious looser?

Generalizing-

  • Does it matter if you take the time to bath, brush your teeth, and wear clean clothes? Why, or why not?
  • What should you do daily in order to be properly groomed?
  • Why is it important to have good manners?
  • How do you think manners will help you in the future?

Applying-

  • How can you use what you have learned today to gain new friends, do better in school or to get a job?
  • What types of situations in life require you to demonstrate good manners?

RESOURCES

You can purchase Glogerm for the hand washing activity at: Additional hand washing activities can be found on this website under “educational activities.”

Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Institution