Aspiring Dentists

We had lots of good clean dental fun on Thursday. My favorite part of the day was watching them dress in our dental "gear" and clean some teeth. We have a large set of teeth, a big toothbrush, glasses, gloves, and floss. I put them out on one of the tables and let the children dress as dentists and clean the teeth. They look so cute.

We played the "Good for Teeth" or "Not Good for Teeth" game. I had all the children bring some food from home. We then sorted it into the two different categories. They get a little confused when the food is good, but not necessarily good for teeth. I had the game out during play time if they wanted to continue to practice.

Our project helps to reinforce 10 teeth on top and 10 teeth on bottom. I have a paper with our little teeth poem on it. The children all get a small amount of pink Play Doh to represent the gums. The roll the Play Doh into a snake and and glue it to the paper in a smile formation. I have navy beans to represent the teeth. The children have to count out 10 beans and press them into the gums.

It's a pretty easy project but it incorporates quite a bit: fine motor and counting to pick up the beans, count them out, and place them in the gums. Did you know that making snakes from Play Doh is great pre-writing activity? This helps them to build strength in their fingers and hands which is very beneficial for writing.

This was our healthy teeth day--just wait until you see what we do tomorrow.