Question:
Dental Health Curriculum Guide ?
Answer:
1. The dentist helps keep our teeth healthy.
2. Teeth are used to chew food.
3. Teeth should be brushed after each meal.
4. A hygienist helps the dentist.
5. A dentist removes decay from our teeth.
6. Pictures of our teeth are called X-rays.
7. A toothbrush and paste are used to clean teeth.
8. Dental floss helps clean between teeth.
9. The dentist's office has special machines.
10. We can keep our teeth healthy by brushing them every day and eating
foods that are good for us.
SUGGESTED ACTIVITY CENTERS
1. Display books about visiting the dentist in the library.
2. Display pictures of teeth, children brushing their teeth, etc. in the
quiet area.
3. Provide pink paint at the easel for the children to explore.
4. Place some safe dental products on the sensory table. Include a mirror,
dental floss, toothbrush, toothpaste, etc. A dentist may even lend you a
model of a set of teeth.
5. Provide construction paper, splatter screens and discarded toothbrushes.
The children can splatter paint onto the paper using the toothbrush as a
painting tool.
6. Provide paper, toothbrushes of varying sizes and shapes, and paint at
the art area.
7. Add toothbrushes and water to the sensory table.
8. Make playdough with peppermint extract to give it the smell of minty
toothpaste.
9. Mix dry cornstarch, water and food coloring until the mixture achieves a
smooth, paste-like consistency. Do not add all of the cornstarch at first
so that you can compensate if too much water is added. Note: This is a
messy activity, so small groups of children are best.
10. Select a variety of objects including tools, foods, and other materials
that could fit in a person's mouth but that may or may not be appropriate
there. Include objects in a variety of sizes so that size is not the only
criterion influencing children's decisions. Invite the children to identify
what they should and should not put into their mouths and the reasons for
those decisions.
11. Make a folder game by making five mouths. Draw the numbers 1-5 on the
mouths with teeth to fit at the corresponding number of teeth. Number the
inside of the folder 1-5 and have the children match the number of teeth to
the numeral.
12. Ask each child to bring an empty toothpaste box to school. Put each
child's name on his or her box when it comes in, so the child can identify
it. Help children create a graph by gluing or taping their containers to a
piece of cardboard. Group identical brands so that children can compare the
number of each.
13. Make a tape recording of sounds made by the mouth being used for
different purposes, such as chewing, coughing, biting, swishing, gargling,
brushing teeth, drinking whistling, talking and singing. Show the children
pictures of people involved in these actions. As you play the tape,
encourage the children to listen to the sounds, locate the picture and tell
how they know it illustrates that sound.
14. Bring in a variety of brushes for the children to examine, including
hair, tooth, lint, fingernail, dog and paint brushes. As it is introduced,
explain its name and its purpose. Encourage the children to use the correct
names when passing the brushes around or when using them in their play.
15. String beads or macaroni on dental floss.
16. Make a Dentist's Office prop box. Include mirrors, lights, bibs, cups,
X-ray of a tooth, plastic gloves, Popsicle sticks for tools, dolls, etc.
Caution the children to avoid actually putting fingers or instruments in
each other's mouths.
CIRCLE TIME / GROUP ACTIVITIES
1. Discuss healthy habits: We brush our teeth at least two times a day
(morning and night). We floss our teeth every day.
2. Discuss the dentist's office and the kinds of tools he uses to keep our
teeth healthy.
3. Discuss good and bad foods for our teeth. By avoiding sticky, gooey
foods and choosing self-cleaning foods, we help our teeth fight decay. Show
and compare tooth attackers and tooth cleaners. Let the children compare
and classify the following food items into tooth attackers and tooth
cleaners:
gum drops raisins cookies
candy gum carrots
bread popcorn apples
tomatoes melons pickles
peanut butter macaroni cauliflower
4. Discuss that when we don't brush our teeth regularly, they begin to feel
dirty. It feels like something is covering them -- and it's called plaque.
By using a toothbrush regularly, we can get rid of plaque before it starts
to hurt our teeth.
5. Have a taste-testing day for toothpastes. Select a variety of
toothpaste brands for children to sample. Place a small drop of one kind on
the end of a Popsicle stick. Have the child taste the toothpaste. Ask each
child to choose a favorite. Graph the results.
ART & MESSY MEDIA ACTIVITIES
1. Make toothbrushes and teeth.
2. Cut pictures out of magazines of foods that are good for our teeth and
foods that are not.
3. Practice brushing the alligator's teeth. Turn an egg carton over (the
egg cups are the teeth). Using the white paint and toothbrush, have the
children "brush" the teeth. You can mix a small amount of toothpaste into
the paint for a more realistic smell if you like. Put black paint out and
see if anybody gets the idea to use it to make cavities.
4. Make smiling faces. Give each child a 6" by 4" pair of smiling lips cut
out of red construction paper and an 8" by 1/2" strip of white paper. Have
the children snip off little pieces of their white paper to make "teeth."
Then let then glue on their paper teeth on their paper lips to make big
toothy smiles.
5. Paint with unwaxed dental floss. Dip into paint and then drag across
paper to make a mark. Experiment with the floss. Fold paper over a
paint-covered strand(s). What do you see?
6. Draw smiling faces.
SPECIAL ACTIVITIES
1. Visit the dentist's office. Observe the furnishings and equipment.
2. Invite a dental hygienist to visit the classroom to discuss tooth care
and demonstrate proper brushing techniques.
3. Prepare a healthy snack of fruits and vegetables.
4. Provide each child with a disclosing tablet to check their brushing
habits. Disclosure tablets, when chewed, temporarily color teeth to show
which ones still have plaque on them. Their function is to help children
become aware of how to brush their teeth more thoroughly. Notify parents in
advance if you are going to use disclosure tablets so that ...
Actually I was thinking I very much enjoyed Mariann's curriculum too.
It's simple, straightforward and adaptable even for the young ones.
I'd buy the C.D. rom or if you put it up on a seperate web site (one on
it's own) and offer it for free....I'd like that too. :)
