If you are active on social media, you most have most likely seen some pictures portraying the (allegedly) best job in the world as a professional panda hugger!
I might not hug pandas for a living (although I do regularly hug the IJPH cat) but my job involves playing online (public health-related) games! Care to join me?
Today’s games are simpler than the ones in my previous posts in the series but fun nevertheless!
- Let’s start with a game aiming to teach the little ones how to correctly wash their hands, either using soap or hand sanitiser
This game is ok if you don’t expect too much, I guess. There are really no major differences between the two versions (soap and hand sanitiser). Even if it is supposed to be for children, I somehow doubt whether children would really find it easy to use. Having said that, with the help of an adult they can get some basic information on when, why and how to wash their hands.
- Another recent discovery of mine (albeit not a recent game) came through this website (where you can find a lot more games by the way but also a lot of broken links!). It’s called Food Detectives Fight BAC and it contains a few “sub-games” with funny titles like “filthy fingers”
As you can see in the picture above, you could print certificates at the end. Even though these games are also aimed to children, I must say I quite enjoyed trying them out! Depending on the game you are either asked to eliminate bacteria by using fire, soap or ice; play a memory card game that teaches you about bacteria and food; make decisions on when to wash your hands; or make signs and stickers that you could subsequently print out! Try it out!
And what about older people? Today I have something different for you!
- This one I did not know about, even if it is by no means new: a web-based sexual risk reduction intervention targeting HIV positive youth. It’s called +click and it has shown to have some positive results in studies published in 2009 and 2012. It is my understanding that it is not widely available but do let me know if you know more!
- Lastly, I also came across a different game for adults I did not know of: RePlay Health! Unlike what I usually show you, this is NOT a web-based game and requires some degree of social interaction! It is described as “role-playing sport where players must balance performing physical activities to score points with trying to monitor and improve their character’s health”. Apparently it takes about one hour to complete and you can find all the necessary material available to download here. Has anyone of you ever played it? If yes let me know how it was. I’m tempted to organise a session for my colleagues!
I hope you enjoyed this post! Let me know of any public health fun things you came across lately!
* If you enjoyed this post, check out the other ones in the Public Health Fun series here!
