This term we’ve had quite a few of our classmates away sick and extra snot is something many of us have had to deal with. So we thought we’d take a closer look.

Snot is really a liquid-like substance called mucus. Mucus is an essential part of a healthy body. It lubricates (keeps wet) our airways, our lungs, our eyeballs, our stomach and intestines. Yes, if you’ve recently had a poo, it’s mucus that helped it slip out! Without really knowing, the average person swallows more than a litre of mucus a day.

Mucus that lives in our nose and mouth has a really important job. It catches all the dust and pollen and germs that we breathe in. The mucus or snot then comes back out through the nose or mouth or it’s swallowed and is broken down by the acid that lives in our stomach. You could say snot puts out the body’s trash. 

It’s important to remember that when snot is sneezed or coughed out, it is full of germs. So covering up when coughing or sneezing, using tissues and properly washing your hands helps keep our classmates happy and healthy. 

When we get sick, mucus gets thicker and more plentiful. Often your snot will turn yellow or green. This is caused by your body switching on its immune system and sending white blood cells to fight the germs. During the battle, white blood cells will die and get caught up in your snot. When they die, they turn a yellow to green colour. So while you think it’s gross to have green snot when you are sick, it’s a sure sign your body is working hard to fight against the germs making you sick.

To celebrate snot we cooked up some fake snot. Half a cup of hot water mixed with about 7 teaspoons of gelatine and a quarter cup of glucose syrup should get you some realistic results!