Dentists on Call

To finish off the month of February, we focused on dental health. We have a local dentists' office, Dr. Pyke's, that specializes in pediatric dental care. They have been coming to visit our classroom the last few years and, Ms. Cathy is just GREAT. She puts on a very age appropriate and engaging presentation every year. Her helper, Sammy, is always a crowd favorite too.

Ms. Cathy first dressed for us so that the children can see what she would look like if they visited her at the dentist office. She had on gloves, goggles, and a mask. She then showed them some instruments that she would be using, like the tooth counter and a little mirror.

Sammy comes to join in then and Ms. Cathy helps him to brush his teeth and tongue, then floss. Finally, Sammy has brought some goodies with him and the children help Ms. Cathy and Sammy figure out if the snacks are happy or sad tooth snacks. We thank Ms. Cathy, Sammy, and Dr. Pyke's office for this wonderful program.

On Thursday we continued with the dental health theme. I had all the children bring in a food from home. Then we sorted the food into happy or sad tooth foods. Our craft for the day involved play dough and beans. The children made a short snake from the play dough, we glued in onto a paper telling us that children have 10 teeth on the bottom and 10 teeth on top. Then the children added 10 beans to simulate teeth--they turn out pretty cute.

There was more fun going on during the free play time too. I had brought in four hard boiled eggs. I put two eggs in cups of cola, and two eggs in cups of fruit punch. I then showed the children how the cola and punch turned the eggs brown or red. I explained that this is what could happen to our teeth if we drank too much of these types of drinks, and didn't brush our teeth. I also had some toothbrushes and toothpaste. The children were allowed to take and egg and a toothbrush, add some toothpaste, and brush that egg back to it's beautiful white; always lot of fun!

On another table I had some masks, gloves, goggles, a big set of teeth, and a big toothbrush (I usually have floss, but I didn't know I was out of it until I went to get it). The children dressed up as dentists and cleaned those big teeth. They were adorable.

It was a great week, but now it's time to move on to windy March and promises of spring.