What if I told you that there are friends and foes in a world that our human eyes can’t perceive? Wouldn’t that be cool? Use this “Types of Microbes” poster to introduce your kids to the friends and alert them to the not-so-good microscopic guys of this world.
Microbes are tiny critters that are only visible under a microscope. They are so abundant that we have more microbes on our skin and inside our bodies than we do human cells! It is thus important to learn about microbes and how they affect our daily lives. This poster comes with labeled diagrams of four different types of microbes: viruses, bacteria, fungi, and parasites.
You can use this poster to acquaint your kids with microbes, and then delve deeper into this tiny realm. For example, most kids would know that viruses cause COVID, but do they know that viruses are widely used in medical research? Isn’t it cool that Escherichia coli bacteria produce vitamins B1, B2, and K while they live in our intestines, vitamins that our bodies use? Baker’s yeast and mushrooms fall under the category of fungi, yet they are vastly different in size and structure. Yeast is also a model organism in studies related to cell biology, and scientists draw similarities between yeast and higher organisms in their research. The poster also cautions your kid about parasites, microbes that can cause serious illness. The first step to beating diseases is knowing the culprits , which in this case are the parasites.
Today’s kids can be tomorrow’s scientists. A lot of stones remain to be turned, as more and more microbes continue to be discovered. An early introduction will reveal to the future generations how microbes are a force in our world, for good and bad.
