Does teaching dental health feel like pulling teeth? 🦷
Well, then you’re in the right place!
With engaging activities and fun lessons, you can make this essential topic exciting for your students.
Let’s jump into practical tips, creative ideas, and ready-to-use resources that will have your class smiling bright! 😁🪥
Why Dental Health Matters
We teach students about keeping their hearts, bodies, and minds healthy, so why not their teeth?
Good dental health habits early on help prevent painful cavities and set the foundation for lifelong health.
February is National Children’s Dental Health Month—the perfect time to put a spotlight on this important topic. 🩵
Let’s Start with the Basics
The Role of Teeth
Before jumping into the nitty-gritty, help students understand why teeth are so important! Explain the different types of teeth in a kid-friendly way: 🦷
Incisors: For biting into food like apples.
Canines: For tearing foods like meat.
Molars: For chewing and grinding up food.
It can be helpful to use a set of model teeth to demonstrate each type. (These can also be very helpful for speech-language pathologists, so if you are lucky enough to know an SLP in your area, you may be able to borrow one.)
What Exactly is Plaque?
Plaque is a sticky film of bacteria that coats teeth and can cause tooth decay, receding gums, and bad breath… yuck! 🤮
We can prevent plaque by brushing and flossing our teeth regularly.
One fun way to demonstrate this sometimes tricky, abstract concept is with plaque-disclosing tablets.
Once a tablet is chewed, it turns plaque a bright purple color, so you can easily see where it is and how much is there.
This helps students to visualize plaque and develop good dental hygiene habits. 👀
Recommended Read-A-Louds
Reading aloud is a powerful tool to introduce new topics like dental health in a relatable and engaging way. 📙
Well-chosen stories capture students’ attention, spark their curiosity, and help them connect emotionally with the subject.
Books featuring relatable characters facing common experiences, like a first visit to the dentist or learning to brush properly, make the concept of dental care approachable and fun.
Here are a few engaging read-alouds to try:
- Getting Ready for My Dentist Visit by Fei Zheng-Ward: A great book for students to learn about dental health and what happens during a dentist visit.
- Why Do I Need to Brush My Teeth? by Caressa Simmons: A story written by a dental hygienist that helps kids learn how to practice healthy oral care habits.
- My Friend Toothy by Stacey Laviolette: After facing over 20 cavities with her own child, the author was inspired to create a book that would help ease kid’s fears and give parents peace of mind about their children’s dental health.
Engaging Activities for Oral Health
Dental Health Writing Crafts
Use the colorful craft pieces and writing projects to create beautiful writing crafts to decorate your bulletin board or hallway!
Students can sequence or write about the steps for how they take care of their teeth. ✏️
It’s a great way for students to get creative while you assess how well they’ve absorbed the concepts.
Science Egg-speriment
This classic science experiment is always a hit! 🥚🥛
- Use hard-boiled eggs to represent teeth.
- Submerge them in various liquids like cola, juice, and water.
- Observe the effects after a day or two.
Students will see how sugary drinks can stain teeth. This helps provide a visual representation of the importance of good brushing habits.
Hands-On Task Cards and Puzzle
A great way to incorporate dental health into broader subjects, like math and literacy, is through hands-on task cards and puzzles! 🧩
Practice ten frames, counting, one-to-one correspondence, upper to lowercase letter matching, shapes, and more!
Toothpaste Making
Turn your classroom into a lab by making homemade toothpaste! 🥣
- Take 1 tablespoon of baking soda
- Add 1 tablespoon of salt
- Add 3 drops of peppermint extract
- Add 3 drops of water
- Mix all of the ingredients together to get a smooth texture.
- Once your toothpaste is made, students can practice brushing their teeth with it!
This hands-on activity is a great opportunity to explain how toothpaste fights plaque and demonstrate how to brush teeth correctly.
Interactive Games
Another great way to inject fun into this topic is with a printable game, like bingo!
Bingo is always a hit with students and a great way to review vocabulary while assessing how well your students have absorbed dental health concepts.
Movement Activities
Incorporate movement into your learning with this write-the-room activity! 🤸♀️
Review dental health vocabulary words, while getting out the wiggles and practicing writing skills!
Incorporate Dental Health into Your Routine
Brushing Challenge
Why not create a classroom brushing program?
Send students home with a brushing chart to track their habits for a week. 🪥
Reward consistent brushers with stickers or a certificate.
You can also allow them to practice brushing while learning math and literacy skills with these colorful brushing play mats!
Snack Time Discussions
Use snack breaks to talk about healthy food choices. Ask students questions like, “What snack do you think makes your teeth happy?” to encourage mindful eating. 🍎
To reinforce these concepts, you can introduce activities that help students reflect on what they’ve learned, like these dental health sorting games, puzzles, charts, and task cards!
Collaborate with Dental Professionals
Guest Speakers
Invite a dentist or dental hygienist to your classroom. 👩🏫
Many professionals are happy to bring oversized toothbrushes and models to demonstrate proper brushing techniques.
Field Trips
If possible, organize a field trip to a local dental office.
This experience can demystify visits to the dentist and reduce anxiety.
Take-Home Resources
Flyers for Families
Send home bright, engaging flyers about dental health tips.
Include visuals and simple language to encourage family discussions.
Brushing Charts
Provide a printable brushing tracker for students to use at home, fostering healthy habits beyond the classroom.
Websites
Caregivers can find short, educational clips about dental health on websites like Colgate Bright Smiles, America’s Toothfairy, and Bright Futures, which offer free resources and activities for their kiddos.
Celebrate National Children’s Dental Health Month
Host a Contest
Organize a poster-making contest where students illustrate the importance of brushing and flossing.
Display the winning artwork in the hallway.
Smile! Bulletin Board Display
Say cheeeeese! Have a smiley photoshoot with your students! 😁
Encourage students to show off their pearly whites and hang up their photos for a fun classroom display.
Dental Health Vocabulary
As a thank you for helping to educate our young learners about dental health, I’d love to gift you with this FREE set of flashcards! 🎁
Use them when teaching dental health vocabulary or as an assessment tool.
They also work well for matching games, relay races, scavenger hunts, flashcard hopscotch, go-fish, building patterns, word walls, write-the-room activities, memory games, and much more!
Dental Health Bundle!
And if you’d like to save money and time on prep, take advantage of this dental health bundle with over 50% savings! 🥳
It includes all the printable resources in this blog post at a huge discount!
Teaching dental health can be a blast when you mix learning with play!
I hope you’ll use these tips and activities to create memorable lessons that stick with your students long after they leave your classroom. 💕
Happy teaching—and happy brushing! 🪥
Talk soon,
P.S. If you use any of these ideas in your classroom, you would completely make my day if you tagged me on Instagram!
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