tippy tops!

Perhaps the second most popular thing with the ladies at the mom’s clubs are the tippy tops. These are hand washing contraptions made out of two liter plastic bottles that I teach the moms, teachers, and kids how to make. I explain why it is dangerous to burn plastics (the usual fate for these ubiquitous bottles) and how important it is for us to wash our hands after we go to the bathroom and before we eat or prepare food. Not exactly a novel idea to most of us, but man, you should see the grub on these kids. Looks like they ran out of soap a few months back. Tippy tops are a good solution to two problems: what to do with these empty plastic soda bottles, and how to keep my kids from getting sick all the time. They’re easy to make, and every demonstration turns into a frenzied competition amongst the kids of who can get their hands the squeakiest and cleanest.

Here’s how you make one!

Rinse out a two liter bottle and cut off the bottom at the line in the plastic (about two or three inches up from the bottom). Poke a hole on each side of the bottle an inch from the cut you just made. You’ll use these holes to put a string through, which will hang the bottle upside down. Make a string out of whatever is around (the label from the plastic bottle works great if you can get it off in one piece. If not, cut up a plastic grocery bag in a spiral –a lesson for another day-, or use a piece of real string if you’re feeling conventional). Tie the string through the holes in the bottle to serve as a handle so you can hang it. Fill the tippy top half way or so with water (upside down, with the cap on). Put the bottom piece back on top where you cut it off, but inverted, to serve as a soap dish (it’ll fit right in there). Put a piece of soap in the dish and hang it up at a good height for hand washing. Twist the cap just enough to let a small stream of water out, and have at it! It’s amazing how little water you need to wash your hands with one of these. I tell the kids to wash their hands with soap for at least ten to fifteen seconds to get them good and clean (there’s a song to go with it, but I’ll spare you that part), and I talk about the importance of conserving water, too.

Families hang a tippy top by the bathroom and one by the kitchen so it’s easy to wash their hands when they need to. I guess most of our blog readers back home probably have kitchens and bathrooms inside their houses, and they probably have sinks and even soap in there, too, come to think, but maybe you can find a good use for one of these –by the garage or outside your garden shed maybe. Even if you don’t need one, they’re fun to make, it’s a good way to recycle a plastic bottle, they help conserve water, and it’s always a good thing to see kids excited about washing their hands.