Baby Shark hand washing video helps teach children how to do it properly

Educational jingle has already been viewed more than 5m times

Viral children’s phenomenon Baby Shark has released a new rendition of the song that teaches children how to wash their hands properly amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The Baby Shark song, an educational jingle created by the YouTube channel Pinkfong, first went viral in 2018 for its catchy lyrics.

Now, a year after the original tune, which has been viewed more than 4.9bn times, broke the Top 40 of the Billboard Top 100, its creators have released Wash Your Hands With Baby Shark.

The new video, which was uploaded to YouTube on 21 March, encourages children to “wash your hands, doo doo doo doo doo, wash your hands” and “grab some soap, doo, doo, doo, doo, doo”.

In addition to teaching kids how to thoroughly wash their hands - the best way to prevent transmission of the new coronavirus, according to the CDC - the video also suggests covering your sneeze and coughing into your elbow.

“Safe at last, doo, doo, doo, doo, doo,” the sharks sing during the video, which has already been viewed more than 5m times. “Let’s stay healthy.”

Along with the instructional video, the creators of baby shark have launched the #BabySharkHandWashChallenge, a dance challenge that encourages parents to upload videos of their children washing their hands to the song.

On Instagram, 168 posts have been uploaded with the hashtag.