These are free, full-page hand-washing posters for preschool and early-elementary classrooms, childcare centers, and home bathrooms. There are 11 to choose from here, each built to print at a decent size and hang at a sink, a bathroom door, or a hallway wall — not just to sit on a worksheet.
What’s on these posters
Start with the sequence itself. This one lays out the basic wash routine in six numbered steps, from water and soap through the backs of the hands and wrists:
If you’re building out a full daily schedule around good habits like this one, our ( Daily School Scheduling Template Free ) is a free companion for planning the rest of the day.
This poster covers a different angle — not how to wash, but when. It’s built around six everyday moments: getting home, before eating, after the bathroom, after sneezing or coughing, after touching pets, and after playing outside:
You may like: Rainbow Coloring Pages For Kids—Free Printables. for a fun, low-key activity on the same “taking care of yourself” theme.
This one is a seven-step version with a friendly character at the sink and small icons along the bottom (mealtime, coughing, the bathroom, pets, and the toothbrush) for kids who respond better to pictures than a step list alone:
If your group would rather color a hand-washing scene than just look at one, see ( FREE HAND WASHING COLORING PAGES FOR PRESCHOOLERS ) for a printable activity version of this same topic.
For an older group, this nine-step breakdown gets more specific — wetting, soaping, palms, between the fingers, thumbs, nails, wrists, rinsing, and drying with a clean towel. It’s the CDC’s method in more detail, and it’s worth pointing out that all of this should take about 20 seconds start to finish, not a quick rinse:
A companion poster covers the bathroom routine in four steps — sit, wipe, flush, then wash hands — which is a good one to post at bathroom-door height right next to the hand-washing poster, since the two habits go together:
( Free Printable Coloring Pages For Girls ) is another quiet-time option worth keeping in the same folder as your bathroom posters, for whenever a child finishes early.
For classrooms that keep hand sanitizer at the door for moments a sink isn’t handy, this three-step poster explains its use (apply to the palm, rub between fingers, cover all surfaces until dry) — worth noting that sanitizer is a backup, not a replacement, for washing with soap and water when kids can get to a sink:
Two posters round out a broader daily-routine board — bath time, brushing hair, and homework on one:
and good morning, tooth brushing, reading, and breakfast on the other, useful for a “my day” display beyond hand hygiene alone:
The last two take a wider view of staying healthy during cold and flu season — covering a cough, wearing a mask if you’re sick, avoiding close contact with someone unwell, and washing hands often:
and one simple graphic that just says the reminder plainly:
How to use them
Click or tap any poster to open it at full size, then print it the same way you’d print any photo — most come out clearest on a standard 8.5×11 sheet at “fit to page” rather than “actual size,” since a few of these are tall portraits. For anywhere near water, laminate the page or slip it into a plastic sleeve or dry-erase pocket; sink splashes will otherwise curl a bare paper sheet within a week. Hang the poster at the child’s eye level, not the adult’s — a poster taped above a preschooler’s line of sight might as well not be there.
If you’re setting up a full bathroom station, pick one wash-steps poster and one toilet-routine poster rather than all eleven at once; a wall crowded with posters gets ignored the same way a cluttered desk does. Rotate a different one in every few weeks if attention starts to fade — young kids notice a “new” poster the same week they’ve stopped noticing the old one. Teachers running a hygiene unit can also print the smaller sets at half-page size and use them as talking points during circle time before hanging the full poster afterward.
Need individual hand-washing graphics instead — for a worksheet, a slide, or a newsletter rather than a wall poster? Our Free Download Hand Washing Clip Art set has the same topics broken into single images sized for that kind of use.
Skills these posters support
A wall poster works differently than a worksheet: it’s a passive, repeated reminder rather than a one-time activity, which is exactly what builds a habit in young kids. Over time, a well-placed poster helps children recall the order of steps without an adult prompting every time, connects hand-washing to the moments that call for it, and gives non-readers a picture cue to follow at a sink they can’t reach a light switch over.
FAQ
What size should I print these posters?
A standard letter-size sheet (8.5 by 11 inches) works for most of these and fits inside a typical laminating pouch. If you have access to a larger printer or a print shop, blowing one up to A3 or poster-board size for a busy hallway is fine too — just expect some softening of fine detail at that size.
Do I need to laminate them?
It’s not required, but strongly recommended for anything posted near a sink. A plain paper poster near running water and wet hands typically lasts a few days; a laminated one or one in a dry-erase sleeve lasts a school year.
Are these posters accurate for kids that young?
Yes — the wash-steps posters follow the standard guidance of washing with soap and water for about 20 seconds, which is the timeframe recommended by the CDC. Nothing here goes beyond that basic, well-established guidance.
