Keep the Bugs at Bay
Young children get sick more often because their immune systems are still developing, and many are not yet fully immunised. They also spend a lot of time interacting closely with each other and are still learning good hygiene habits. Early Learning Services are key places where tamariki socialise, making them ideal environments for building strong hygiene practices and preventing the spread of communicable diseases such as colds, skin infections, and tummy bugs.
Te Whāriki
Holistic development – Kotahitanga: Holistic learning can be encouraged through recognising how illness affects our wider wellbeing and the wellbeing of those around us, exploring science concepts and establishing routines around handwashing.
Relationships –Ngā hononga: Learning about hygiene and disease prevention through responsive and reciprocal relationships with people, places, and things in the early learning service through routines, activities and discussions.
Handy Actions are ideas, activities and initiatives that your Early Learning Service could implement relating to the topic of Keep the Bugs at Bay. You could use the list as inspiration or as a checklist to assess what your ELS is currently doing towards 'Keep the Bugs at Bay' and decide what other ideas could be implemented. Choose actions that suit your service, your community, and where you are at. You don’t need to do everything; these are ideas.
He Pou Oranga Tangata Whenua
Here are some examples of how the pathways of wellbeing can be interwoven into this Block:
Encouraging self-help skills and taking ownership of their wellbeing enhances the mana and self-determination (rangatiratanga) of tamariki as well as developing and growing their skills, knowledge and attitudes (pūkengatanga).
Recognising that key concepts such as tapu and noa underpin many hygiene practices,as a way of preserving tangata whenua knowledge (kaitiakitanga).
Practicing good hygiene is also a way to show respect and kindness to others (manaakitanga) and demonstrate a unity and solidarity (kotahitanga) to stopping the spread of disease.
Supporting information and evidence
Creating healthy environments, following good hygiene routines, and honouring tikanga Māori concepts like tapu and noa all help reduce illness. Supporting tamariki, whānau, and staff to understand how diseases spread—and how to stop them—strengthens wellbeing across the whole community.
Key Messages
Cough or sneeze into your elbow, and ensure tamariki and kaiako wash and dry hands thoroughly:
- before eating or drinking
- after using the toilet
- after touching animals
- after coughing, sneezing, or blowing their nose
- after playing outside
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Follow Ministry for Primary Industries’ food safety guidelines during food preparation.
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Stay home when sick, especially with vomiting or diarrhoea.
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Encourage immunisation for tamariki and staff — it provides strong protection against serious diseases.
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Clean wounds and keep sores and cuts covered.
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Keep fingernails clean and trimmed.
Facts
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Communicable diseases in Aotearoa disproportionately affect very young children, older people, and Māori and Pacific communities.
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Immunisation is highly effective for preventing many communicable diseases in young tamariki, and supportive conversations between staff, parents, and children can encourage immunisation uptake.
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Serious skin and respiratory infections are major, preventable causes of hospitalisation for under‑fives.
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Compared with Australia, the UK, and Canada, NZ has substantially higher child hospitalisation rates for both skin and respiratory infections. Each year in New Zealand:
7 in 1000 children are hospitalised with skin infections
27 in 1000 children are hospitalised with respiratory infections
