- Give the preschoolers printed charts to color and decorate. Charts can help them track teeth brushing, dentist visits and healthy food choices. The charts can include spaces for the days of the week and brushing and flossing in the morning and evening, or spaces to write in what healthy foods they ate throughout the day. Read through the charts with the children and tell them how to use them; they can add stickers for each time they accomplish a teeth-related task.
- Create dentist puppets or teeth puppets out of printed paper templates or socks. The children can decorate and color their puppets, then act out skits about visiting the dentist or keeping their teeth clean at home. The children can alternate roles, first playing a dentist and then playing a tooth. The dentist puppets can remind the "patient" to brush daily, avoid eating sugary foods and get regular checkups. The tooth puppets can pretend to enjoy eating healthy foods and talking about fighting cavities with tooth brushing.
- The children can draw and color parts of a tooth with their teacher's help. The parts include the crown, tooth and roots. The children can also draw cavities in infected teeth and learn that cavities happen when teeth are attacked by bacteria, which are killed with regular brushing and healthy eating. Other drawing activities can include drawing a dentist's office, a dentist's chair, pictures of healthy foods and pictures of unhealthy foods.
- Help the children decorate a pillowcase with markers, paints or other decorations. Add a special pocket to the pillowcase for lost teeth; have the children set a square of material where they want the pocket and teachers can sew or glue them in place. Discuss why children lose teeth and how they can help make sure their adult teeth grow healthy and strong by brushing and eating healthy foods. Other sewing crafts include making fabric teeth to hang on the wall or creating a tooth brushing blanket that reminds them to brush, floss and eat healthy.
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