Giant Microbes: Making Bacteria, Diseases and Blood Cells a Little More Fun

I received my first Giant Microbe plushie when I was in the hospital. My friends knew I had a great sense of humor but having a limb amputated it a little more serious that an everyday, run of the mill accident. At that point in time there was no plushie equivalent for septicemia so I ended up with a close cousin, StreptococcusPyogenes that is common called "the flesh eating bacteria". They weren't sure how I would react to being given a plushie version of a deadly virus but I thought it was one of the coolest things you could get. Two years later I still laugh and smile when I see my little red monster on my desk. Two years later my friends openly admit they were a little apprehensive to hand me the gift bag with them. "We figured you were stuck in a bed so we moved the wheelchair so you couldn't hurt us".

Giant Microbes are more than just plushies. They have a lot of social value. Imagine learning that you have a sexually transmitted disease but lack the spine to tell your partner. You can get the pink Pox, blue Clap, yellow Herpes or even the gray and goth looking HPV plushie, pop it in a bag and hand it to your significant other. OK, maybe that isn't something to joke about. There are some very interesting looking plushies in the series; my personal favorites are Heartworm, Diarrhea and a very comical Chicken Pox. The website and online store can be found at www.giantmicrobes.com and the prices on them are extremely reasonable.

Outside of the 'cute' appeal of them, they can be highly educational. They can be used to show kids the different types of bacteria, how you come in contact with them and what you can do to avoid them. If you are going to purchase these to teach kids, I highly suggest getting the Health set that includes six plushies ranging from the common cold to a stomach ache, cough, ear ache and flu. The website and online store make it easy to browse by section so you can start looking by disease or ailment. While it has taken a while for them to catch on, their popularity is growing every day .. sort of like the microbes themselves.