Cleaning and hygiene: what is the difference?
Cleaning means taking away dirt, dust and stains. Hygiene means the habits that keep germs away from your body and food. A shiny floor can still be unhygienic if people do not wash hands. A clean habit protects you and the people around you.
Germs are tiny living things such as bacteria and viruses. We cannot see them without a microscope. Some make us ill.
Hygiene habits every day
- Wash hands with soap for at least 20 seconds: before eating, after the toilet, after coughing, after touching animals or waste.
- Bathe daily and wear clean clothes.
- Brush teeth twice a day.
- Keep nails short. Dirt hides under long nails.
- Cover your cough with your elbow or a tissue.
- Drink clean water and eat covered, fresh food.
Handwashing steps: wet, soap, rub palms, rub the back of each hand, rub between fingers, rub thumbs and nails, rinse, dry with a clean towel.
How to clean a classroom or home
Follow three rules.
- Top to bottom. Dust fans, shelves and boards first. Dust falls down, so floors come last.
- Dry to wet. Sweep or dry-dust first. Then wipe or mop. Mopping first turns dust into mud.
- Clean to dirty. Start with the cleanest area (desks) and finish with the dirtiest (toilet, bins).
Use a separate cloth for the toilet and for the kitchen. Wear gloves for strong cleaners. Never mix cleaning liquids.
Waste, team work and safety
Sort waste into wet (food, peels), dry (paper, plastic) and harmful (batteries, broken glass). Close the bins and empty them every day. In class, share jobs: one sweeps, one dusts, one wipes, one takes the waste out. Fix a roster so everybody gets a turn.
Keep cleaning liquids away from small children. Wet floors are slippery, so put up a sign.
Try it
Home experiment. Put a little black pepper on a plate of water. Touch the water with a dry finger: pepper sticks. Put a drop of soap on your finger and touch again: the pepper runs away. Soap breaks up the greasy dirt that carries germs.
In the 3D: drag the time slider first with soap off, then on. Predict how many germs are left before you look.
Key formulas and definitions
- Hygiene = Clean body + Clean food + Clean surroundings
- Handwashing = Soap + Scrub 20 s + Rinse + Dry
- Room cleaning order = Top to bottom, dry to wet, clean to dirty
Worked examples
1. List the right order to clean a room: mop the floor, dust the shelf, sweep the floor.
Dust the shelf first (top). Then sweep (dry). Then mop (wet). Top to bottom and dry to wet.
2. Ravi washes with soap for 5 seconds and says it is enough. Is he right?
No. Soap needs about 20 seconds of rubbing to lift the dirt and germs from every side. In the 3D, 5 seconds still left many germs.
3. A class of 36 students has 6 cleaning groups. How many students are in each group? Name 4 jobs.
36 divided by 6 is 6 students per group. Jobs: sweeping, dusting, wiping the desks, taking out the waste.
Common mistakes
- Rinsing hands quickly without soap. Water alone removes only some germs.
- Mopping before sweeping. Dust turns to mud and spreads.
- Using one cloth for the toilet and the desks. This spreads germs.
- Wiping hands on dirty clothes after washing. Use a clean towel or let them air-dry.