University of Wisconsin–Madison
Bacteria & Me book title

Bacteria and Me

A microbiology coloring book adventure!

Written by Tiffany Harris and illustrated by Aedan Gardill. Funded by the Marie Christie Kohler Fellowship.

Download the full coloring book!

Download the Bacteria and Me coloring book here! (make sure to print double-sided)

This book and its pages are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. That means that you are free to download the material, copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format, as well as remix, transform, and build upon the material.

Creative Commons License
Bacteria & Me Book Cover

Translated editions of Bacteria and Me

Physical copies of Bacteria and Me for purchase

You can purchase a physical copy of the coloring book from Amazon as well!

Download individual pages from the coloring book!

Activity pages from the coloring book to download

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What do you think? Download the activity coloring page here!

Creative Commons License

What do you think? Download the activity coloring page here!

Creative Commons License

What do you think? Download the activity coloring page here!

Creative Commons License

What do you think? Download the activity coloring page here!

Creative Commons License

What do you think? Download the activity coloring page here!

Creative Commons License

Submitted coloring pages!

Want to share the coloring you did with a page from the book? Email a picture to AedanGardill@gmail.com and we’ll try to post them here!

Bacteria hand swab activity from Science Expeditions

The initial release of Bacteria and Me was celebrated at the 2022 Science Expeditions event held at the University of Wisconsin – Madison.

Part of the event included an activity where participants put two fingers on the “A” side of the petri dish, and then after washing their hands put two of their fingers on the “B” side of the petri dish.  The petri dishes were incubated so we can see the cultures of bacteria!

So what does all this bacteria growing on the plate mean? If you did a good job washing your hands the number of bacteria should decrease from the A side to the B side. But maybe you see an increase in bacteria from A to B. What does that mean? Most likely after you washed your hands you touched something that was not clean. Maybe a door handle, or sink faucet, or even the paper towel dispenser. Maybe there’s only a little bacteria growing on the petri plate, this could mean two things. It may be that whatever bacteria are there are not able to grow on the bacteria food, also known as agar, we provided in the petri plate. So what if there are still bacteria growing even after washing your hands? Washing your hands will never remove ALL the bacteria, and that’s a good thing. You want to have some bacteria on your hands to protect your skin from invasion by bad bacteria. Ultimately the best way to wash your hands is to use soap and water and scrub for at least 20 seconds. Don’t forget your fingernails, wrists, and between your fingers. Try to keep your hands moisturized as dry and cracked skin is more likely to get infected with bacteria.

Meet the authors!

Aedan Gardill is a current physics PhD graduate student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he is studying nanoscale metrology using defects found in diamond in Shimon Kolkowitz’s lab. In addition to physics, Aedan studied art during his bachelor’s degree and enjoys making two-dimensional art, such as drawing, painting, and printmaking, that combines science and art. In his spare time, he likes reading science fiction novels, gardening, and learning new hobbies like embroidery.

Aedan Gardill headshot
Tiffany Harris headshot

Tiffany Harris is a graduate student in the Microbiology Doctoral Training Program at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Her work is in the study of Neisseria gonorrhoeae which causes gonorrhea in humans. She is in Joseph Dillard’s lab in the Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology. In her spare time, she enjoys reading on microbiology topics, thrift shopping, and crafting (home décor, jewelry, sewing).

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Contact us!

You can email us as AedanGardill@gmail.com