Germ Experiment — Where Do Germs Grow in Your House??!

Set up for the Germ Experiment

Germ Experiment: When I saw this germ experiment, I knew we had to add this into our unit on First Aid. After all keeping ourselves healthy is as important as patching up the injuries, right?!

The experiment called for gelatin, sugar and petri dishes. We didn’t have petri dishes so used paper cups and covered them immediately with glad wrap in lieu of a cover.

  • Boil 1/2 cup of water
  • Add 2 tsp of sugar and 2 tsp of unflavored gelatin
  • Stir until dissolved. Spoon into the cups (I had about 1 cm or 1/4 inch of gelatin in each cup.)
  • Cover immediately with Glad wrap to keep it clean and as uncontaminated as possible.
  • Chill for 24 hours

The next day: Label each cup. Then go around the house with cotton swabs and choose areas to collect germs.  Take a swab of the area. Rub the swab gently on the top of the gelatin. We chose to swab the following: the toilet, a door knob, nothing (as a control), a plant, the kitchen sink, the inside of LD’s mouth.

Germ Experiment Gathering samples

Set it aside in a dark, warm place for 5 or 6 days.  I stuck mine under the sink in the guest bathroom.

The results really, really surprised me!  So, of all the things we did what do you think had the most germ growth?

  • the toilet,
  • a door knob,
  • nothing (as a control),
  • a plant,
  • the kitchen sink,
  • the inside of LD’s mouth

LD and ED thought the toilet would have the most germs.
DD thought the inside of the mouth would have the most germs.
Dad and I have seen shows and thought the kitchen sink would have the most germs.

And the winner was…

Germ Experiment Results
the plant!! (center pic) Followed by the
sink (top left) and door knob (top right)
and the mouth, toilet and nothing coming in 4th, 5th and 6th places.
Remember: DO NOT remove the cover after your mold has grown!
Since this post is extremely popular, I thought I’d make you a pdf of the Germ Experiment to download and print out (free):
Germs-WhereDoTheyGrow
Germ Experiment - Instructions and Free Printable
If you try this out, we’d love to hear from you over at our Homeschool Den Facebook Page! ~Liesl and the Kids

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24 Responses

  1. Gabriela says:

    Very cool!
    I’ve been looking for a science experiment that: doesn’t make too much waste, shows something that is actually important to see for real life purposes, doesn’t call for hard-to-get materials, and is easy to use with the scientific method. This is the one. Thanks!

  2. Gabriela says:

    Very cool!
    I’ve been looking for a science experiment that: doesn’t make too much waste, shows something that is actually important to see for real life purposes, doesn’t call for hard-to-get materials, and is easy to use with the scientific method. This is the one. Thanks!

  3. I would have guessed the toilet. This is a really cool experiment. We must do this!! Thank you for sharing.

  4. I would have guessed the toilet. This is a really cool experiment. We must do this!! Thank you for sharing.

  5. Liesl says:

    I’m so glad to hear some people like this! I was so excited to share this post because the results were so interesting! Thanks for stopping by!

  6. Liesl says:

    I’m so glad to hear some people like this! I was so excited to share this post because the results were so interesting! Thanks for stopping by!

  7. I pinned your page!
    Love the germ experiment.
    Visiting from WUHS. 🙂

  8. I pinned your page!
    Love the germ experiment.
    Visiting from WUHS. 🙂

  9. happycampers says:

    Great article but one VERY IMPORTANT part is missing. After you take your samples and spread them on your petri dish, you need to either seal shut the lid, or if using cups put them in a zip lock bag AND DO NOT OPEN THEM EVER! You grew some awesome cultures, but you have no idea what they are. It is potentially dangerous to breathe in or handle unknown cultures. I would have never thought of this until I read that on a homeschool science supply website.

    Thank you for providing the culture growth medium recipe…we will use it!

  10. happycampers says:

    Great article but one VERY IMPORTANT part is missing. After you take your samples and spread them on your petri dish, you need to either seal shut the lid, or if using cups put them in a zip lock bag AND DO NOT OPEN THEM EVER! You grew some awesome cultures, but you have no idea what they are. It is potentially dangerous to breathe in or handle unknown cultures. I would have never thought of this until I read that on a homeschool science supply website.

    Thank you for providing the culture growth medium recipe…we will use it!

  11. We’re totally going to try this. I think I’ll use my smallest mason jars. I’ll sanitize them first with either boiling water or a dishwasher cycle, just like if I were making jam. Then I’ll use the plastic screwtop lids for them.

  12. We’re totally going to try this. I think I’ll use my smallest mason jars. I’ll sanitize them first with either boiling water or a dishwasher cycle, just like if I were making jam. Then I’ll use the plastic screwtop lids for them.

  13. Liesl Den says:

    That’s a great point about keeping the dishes covered. I didn’t think to mention that in this post. You do need to keep the mold covered and dispose of the cultures properly.

    Thanks for all your comments everyone!

  14. Liesl Den says:

    That’s a great point about keeping the dishes covered. I didn’t think to mention that in this post. You do need to keep the mold covered and dispose of the cultures properly.

    Thanks for all your comments everyone!

  15. Sally says:

    Thank you so much for sharing. My 8 year old did this for her school science experiment and it became a whole family affair to see who had the most germs growing on them!

    • homeschooldenadmin says:

      That’s great! Last year someone else did this for a science fair project. Their project worked out & they seemed to have had fun with it too. It’s been so long since we did this experiment, I should have the kids do it again. My youngest probably doesn’t remember doing it! 🙂

  16. Alimat says:

    Looking for something for my 3 to 5 years old preschool. this will really work well, very educative and interesting way to end school before the spring break. Thanks for this. Good job. I will see if i can ask them to bring their teddys from home and see how many germs on them.

  1. August 23, 2012

    […] Your House for GERMS August 23rd, 2012 | Posted by Kat in Ideas | Kids This idea comes from parents.com and it is crazy awesome. I am somewhat of a “germ aware” person and find myself often […]

  2. August 23, 2012

    […] Your House for GERMS August 23rd, 2012 | Posted by Kat in Ideas | Kids This idea comes from parents.com and it is crazy awesome. I am somewhat of a “germ aware” person and find myself often […]

  3. February 11, 2014

    […] Germ Experiment: Where do Germs Grow in Your House? […]

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    […] Germ Experiment: Where do Germs Grow in Your House? […]

  5. February 24, 2014

    […] Then, there’s the DIY version of the “what’s the dirtiest spot you can find” experiment from our high school biology days. Have kids make predictions about where the yuckiest spots in the house are, and make some homemade petri dish germ beds after swabbing said hot spots. Find the detailed how-to at Parents.com. […]

  6. February 24, 2014

    […] Then, there’s the DIY version of the “what’s the dirtiest spot you can find” experiment from our high school biology days. Have kids make predictions about where the yuckiest spots in the house are, and make some homemade petri dish germ beds after swabbing said hot spots. Find the detailed how-to at Parents.com. […]

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