By Elesha George
Scissors, a few pieces of napkins and some rubber bands can go a long way for playtime but, as has been evident by Zona Barthley and her grandchildren, they can also be used to educate children about Covid-19.
Auntie Zona, the Girl Guides leader for All Saints, thought it would be helpful to use a musical jingle created by the Brownies and Tweenies of the group and make masks with her grandchildren and neighbours.
“I said to them that we don’t have any material but we are going to use napkins and rubber bands,” she said.
The children, aged three to 11, used glue to attach the rubber bands onto the folded napkins. It’s not foolproof but Auntie Zona said she thought it was a good idea to use napkins to make the masks so that children could remain active when the masks tear. It is also great because they get to practice making even more masks.
“They were so into it that now everybody wants to make their own. One of them said ‘I have to make one for my mommy’.”
Recognising the importance of preventative measures against Covid-19, the woman told Observer that “this thing is going around and we don’t want to catch it; we want to be prepared”.
Meanwhile, the jingle is encouraging everyone to wash their hands with soap and water, cough and sneeze in their elbows and blow their noses with tissue because “we don’t want corona here”.