How to make a tippy tap
A tippy tap allows for hands to be washed without touching the stand and therefore stopping the spread of dirt and germs that can be found on a normal tap.
Material needed
• Plastic 5L container with a handle and a cap (example: water bottle or milk bottle)
• Bar of soap
• Long rope
• Short rope
• Big nail
• Screw driver
• Candle and matches/ Lighter
• 4 Long wooden sticks (2 meters)
• 2 Short wooden sticks (1 meter)
• Plier
• Stones/ gravel
• Pen
• cloth
Instructions
- Attach a piece of string of 1-meter length to one of the short sticks.
- Making holes: Mark the location for the hole on the container, around 12 cm below the cap with a pen
- Heat the nail: Hold the nail with a pair of pliers, and heat the nail with a lighter or candle. If you do not have pliers, use a piece of cloth to hold the nail
- Make holes with the hot nail, make a hole in the marked container and a second hole in the cap
- Insert the rope: Put the rope, which is attached to the short stick, through the hole in the cap.
- Make a knot in the rope which cannot pass through the hole.
- Screw the cap back on the container. The stick is now connected to the container with the rope.
- Using a screwdriver/pen, make a hole through the soap by slowly rotating and pushing the screwdriver/pen through the soap
- Put the second piece of rope through the hole in the soap, and tie a piece of wood to it.
- Fill the container with water, up to the level of the hole
- Construct a frame out of the four long sticks, by pushing them into the ground in a tepee shape, and tying together at the top with string.
- Put the stones/gravel on the ground underneath the frame to stop puddles forming
- Put the shorter stick through the handle of the container, and put the stick between the poles horizontally across the two tepee shapes you’ve formed with the longer sticks. Adjust the length of the rope on the container cap to about 15cm above the ground
- Tie the rope with the soap to the short stick that has been laid horizontally
Using the tippy tap
• Push the stick down with your foot. This tips the container, which makes water run out of the hole.
• Wet your hands and release the stick.
• Apply soap to your hands.
• Push the stick down again and clean your hands.