Thank you to Cheryl for sharing this unit with me. Please sign my guestbook.
Dental Ideas:
Making Toothpaste
Materials
- * 4 tsp. baking soda
*1 tsp. salt
*1 tsp flavoring(vanilla, almond or peppermint Extract) Add enough water to make a foamy paste. Put in containers.
*toothbrush
*floss
*air-tight containers
You could discuss the difference between baby teeth and permanent teeth. Discuss how it feels to lose a tooth. Other children might be able to tell you about caring for their teeth, you can emphasize:
- * teeth should be brushed in the morning and before bed
*teeth should be brushed after meals when you can
*flossing is important, too
*sweet and sticky foods need to be rinsed or brushed off as soon as possible.
Can the children tell you the kinds of foods that are good for their teeth?
What are good breakfast foods? What are good snacks?
A great book is "The Tooth Book by Dr. Seuss
Toothbrush and the Germ-One player is the germ; another the toothbrush. The remaining players form a circle, facing centre, hands joined, with the germ on the outside of the circle and the toothbrush in the centre. At a signal, the toothbrush is chased by the germ. The players let the toothbrush run in and out of the circle, by raising their clsped hands. They lower their hands to prevent the germ from entering the circle. When the toothbrush is caught, both players join the circle and the new toothbrush and germ are appointed. Add more excitement by having 2 germs and 2 toothbrushes, or 2 germs and 1 toothbrush, etc....
Art- Toothbrush painting
Use a toothbrush to make scrap marks on paper or use nail to splatter paint.
Teeth Cleaning- Hard boil an egg ahead of time. Bring in some dark soda. Place the egg in the soda for a day. Then the next day we talk about why we should keep our teeth clean and how we can keep them clean. Take the egg out, & it is discolored, yellow, looks like plaque. Take a tooth brush with a little tooth paste, & brush it off. It will come off.
Make a healthy mouth using red paper for the lips, and white paper for the teeth shapes. Children can practice "brushing" these mouths using paper brushes. They can "feed" the mouth healthy foods by gluing on pictures of healthy foods.
Books: The Tooth Fairy (Troll) available also as a big book; The Berenstain Bears go to theDentist (and the Doctor)
Tom Tooth by Holly McDonough-Abunassar Copyright 1996 Child Care Provider Magazine
This is the story of Tom Tooth, a rather ordinary tooth that you could find living in the mouth of most any child. This Tom Tooth lives in the mouth of a child named Sam.
Tom is one of the happiest teeth in Sam's mouth. Tom has a place right up front. He is the first to bite into the delicious food that Sam eats. Tom bites down hard and sends it back to the molars for chewing. And when it comes time to smile - well, Tom straightens up and puts on his best sparkle and shine for everyone to admire. He feels so proud when he hears people tell Sam, "What a beautiful smile you have."
One day, Tom heard a frightful sound. It's a sound that no healthy tooth likes to hear. Tom heard Sam tell her mommy "no" when she asked her to brush her teeth. He almost couldn't believe it when he heard that same "no" after Daddy said, "time to brush," even when daddy said please. The next morning when mom got out the toothbrush, "no" was all Sam said. This continued for several days.
By the end of the week, Tom was worried. He began to feel a little sluggish. He had to work harder than usual when biting down on a crunchy apple. And when Sam smiled, Tom could barely put on a sparkle, let alone a shine.
Then, when Tom didn't think matters could get any worse, they did. Two visitors arrived. "What's your name?" asked Tom. "I'm Dee," said one. "And I'm Kay," said the other. "Sam invited us to live here with you when she stopped brushing her teeth." "But you can't," said Tom. "There's no room." "Don't worry," said Dee. "We'll just work our way in between you teeth," muttered Kay. It was getting mighty cramped in Sam's mouth.
Something was happening to Sam, too. Her mouth wasn't feeling as healthy as usual. It felt kind of slimy and icky. Tom heard Dee and Kay plotting to dig a hole in one of the teeth. "No way!" warned Tom. "Sam will clean you out before you even start that cavity!" But he worried that Sam had forgotten him.
Finally Sam's mother took her to the dentist for a checkup. The dentist had a talk with Sam about the importance of brushing, cleaning and keeping healthy teeth. Sam ran right home and went straight to the bathroom to grab her toothbrush.
Whew - just in time! Tom was so happy to get a bath. The more Sam brushed, the stronger Tom felt. By the time Sam was done, the only unhappy ones were Dee and Kay. And with that, they left.
The molars were happy, because Tom could bite and chomp. Tom was happy because he could sparkle and shine. But Sam was happiest of all, because her mouth felt healthy and clean.
Are Your Teeth Clean and White
Sung to "Do Your Ears Hang Low!"
Are your teeth clean and white?
Do you brush them every night?
Do you brush them in the morning?
Do you brush them right?
Do you brush them side to side?
Are your teeth clean and white?
Do you floss them good
To remove the bits of food?
Do you floss them every day?
Like you know you should?
Do you take good care of
The teeth that are there?
Do you floss them good?
An activity you can use to teach flossing is:
Have one row of children sit down and another row of childre kneeling. To
demonstrate the correct flossing methods, unroll about ten feet of butcher paper and twist it to represent dental floss. Choose two children from the
group to hold onto each end of the giant dental floss. The children need to
loop the butcher paper around each child representing a tooth. Then they will
slowly pull the butcher paper back and forth between the two people who are
sitting or kneeling next to each other. This is like flossing between the
teeth. Have them floss the inside surfaces in the spaces between each tooth
before going on to the next "tooth". An optional bit of fun is to let several
of the children pretend to be plaque or food that is caught between the teeth.
As the floss is pulled through, the child who is the food particle or the
plaque will dislodge and move out with the floss.
Dr. Danny Sung to: "Are you sleeping?"
Dr. Danny
Always tells me,
Brush your teeth
Brush your teeth.
Brush them in the morning
And again at bedtime.
Brush your teeth
Brush your teeth.
I've been Brushing with my Toothbrush Sung to: "I've Been working on the
railroad"
I've Been brushing with my toothbrush,
Brushing everyday.
I've been Brushing with my toothbrush,
It's how I fight decay.
All my teeth are gonna sparkle,
How proud I will be.
Every time I want to smile, my
Teeth will Shine for me!
Always brush your teeth,
Every Single day.
Keep those cavities away!
Use your brush and paste,
Just the way you should,
Keep your smile a looking good!
Got My Toothpaste Sung to: "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star"
Got my toothpaste, got my brush,
I won't hurry, I won't rush.
Making sure my teeth are clean,
Front and back and in between.
When I brush for quite a while,
I will have a happy smile!
I HAVE A LOOSE TOOTH
A wiggly jiggly loose tooth
I have a loose tooth
A-hanging by a thread.
So I pulled my loose tooth
My wiggly jiggly loose tooth
Put it 'neath my pillow
And then I went to bed.
The fairy took my loose tooth
My wiggly jiggly loose tooth
And now I have a nickel
And a hole inside my head.
BRUSH, BRUSH BRUSH YOUR TEETH Sung to: "Row, Row Row your Boat"
Brush, brush, brush your teeth.
At least two times a day.
Cleaning, cleaning, cleaning, cleaning,
Fighting tooth decay.
Floss, floss,floss your teeth.
Every single day.
Gently, gently, gently,gently,
Whisking Plaque away.
Rinse, rinse, rinse your teeth
Every single day.
Swishing, swishing, swishing, swishing,
Fighting tooth decay.
"Charlie is a Happy Tooth". I find I do use this
song every year and then show a smiling tooth cut out that we call
"Charlie". Then we brainstorm things that we can do to keep our teeth
healthy and happy like Charlie tooth.
"Charlie is a happy tooth, happy tooth, happy tooth.
Charlie is a happy tooth.
He wants to stay that way!
Keep your teeth healthy too, healthy too, healthy too
Keep your teeth healthy too.
Just like Charlie Tooth!"
A Tooth Tale by Mary Jane Butner
Ten baby teeth chomping food so fine,
One fell out-then there were nine.
Nine baby teeth said,"Chewing is great!"
One fell out-then there were eight.
Eight baby teeth said,"We belong to Kevin."
Kevin bit an apple-then there were seven.
Seven baby teeth munching pretzel sticks,
One fell out-then there were six.
Six baby teeth gulping cottage cheese with chives,
One fell out-then there were five.
Five baby teeth cried,"We want to eat some more!"
One fell out-then there were four.
Four baby teeth said,"Is that a carrot stick we see?"
They bit into that carrot-then there were three.
One fell out-then there were two.
Two baby teeth gnawed a hot cross bun,
One fell out -then there was one.
One baby tooth exclaimed,"I can hardly chew this crumb."
One fell out-then there were none.
BUT all the time those baby teeth were falling one by one,
Some new teeth were growing in.And now my tooth's tale's done.
Dentist
If I were a dentist,
I know what I would do. (Point to self.)
I'd tell all the children, "Brush your teeth." (Imitate brushing teeth.)
"Keep a smile like new." (Make a big smile and point to lips.)
And if a tiny hole should show,
I'd say, "Climb into my chair."
I'd make my little drill go buzzzzzzzzzz, (Make circle with fingers.)
And put a filling there! (Point to teeth.)
Bean Teeth
Materials: Red construction paper, navy beans, glue, black felt marker
Preparation: Draw lip shapes on red construction paper with a black felt
>marker.
Draw a horizontal line across the middle of each shape. Cut lip shapes out
if
children are not yet ready for scissors. Have children spread glue on the
lines in the middle of their lip shapes. Then let them press navy beans on
the
glue to represent teeth. This activity can be used to reinforce the names
of
body parts
(lip and teeth) and as an art project during Dental Week.
This is song sung by Raffi:
>Brush Your Teeth
Brush your teeth (chchchh, chchchchchhh)<-- those are brushing sounds
repeat
When you wake up in the morning and its quarter to 2, everyone's asleep and
there's nothing else to do...you brush you teeth (chchchh, chchchchchhh)
When you wake up in the morning it's a quarter to one, and you want to have
a
little fun....you brush your teeth (chchchch, chchchchchch)
When you wake up in the morning it's a quarter to two, and you're lookin
around for somethin to do....you brush your teeth (brushing sound)
When you wake up in the morning it's a quarter to three, and your mind is
humming twiddledeedee....you brush your teeth (brushing sound)
When you wake up in the morning it's a quarter to four, and you think you
hear a knock at your door....you brush your teeth (brushing sound)
When you wake up in the morning it's a quarter to five, and you just can't
wait to come alive .....you brush your teeth (brushing sound)....you brush
your teeth (brushing sound) ....your brush your teeth (getting
progressively
quieter, until brush your teeth comes out in a whisper)
Activities/Art
Art: Yellow construction paper teeth, white paint ("toothpaste" - I scented >mine with mint extract) and toothbrushes. Have chidren brush the yellow teeth with the white paint. I framed the completed 'smiles with red construction paper lips!
Art II: Group collage: magazine pictures of smiles. (Not whole faces, just mouths - any kind - human or animal!)
Sensory: Cut the bottoms off of large plastic soda bottles and turn them upside down - they look like teeth! I secured a dozen or so together. Spray them with shaving creme and give the kids toothbrushes to brush the teeth clean.
Science: Scrounge some small white ceramic tiles (from construction sites, tile stores, parents who are remodeling etc). Provide children with a variety of food products to smear on the tiles such as: jelly, ketchup, syrup,peanut butter etc, have children brush the teeth with toothbrushes and real toothpaste. Which tiles are stained?
Group Time/Math: graph favorite toothpaste flavors - mint, bubble gum or fruit?
Dramatic Play: Dentist office (call your dentist for donations!)
Field Trip: Dentist Office - Where else!?!
Book - Scholastic - Let's Find Out About: Toothpaste
LIPS--Slice apples in 4 pieces and lay 2 peices white edges together red skins to the outside. Spread peanut butter between the apples and put a row of mini marshmallows across the peanut butter. Walla....you have 2 lips and teeth ! We did this for snack on our dental health day.