Teeth!

Our day started out with talking about what teeth are - what makes them hard, what's inside of them, why they fall out, and so on. We chatted about "bacteria bugs" that could eat holes in their teeth, and that's why we brush them. We reviewed a few of these things in the following book:

After talking about "bacteria bugs" and how some foods stick to your teeth less (apples) and some stick to your teeth more (granola bars, etc.), we decided we should put it to the test.

We got out the Oreos first and got our teeth nice and dirty. The kids liked looking in the mirror to see how black their teeth were. Then we got out the apples and chowed down to see how they didn't stick as much to teeth, but actually helped clean the teeth off.

I reminded them that horses can't brush their teeth, but that they eat apples and carrots to help keep their teeth clean.

Next we did a little project where we ripped out pictures from ads and magazines and put them in different piles according to which ones were good for our teeth and which ones weren't. I forgot to take pictures of that.

Our next activity was to take some very yellow teeth and brush them with paint toothpaste to make them white again. Unfortunately, I had used a pen that bled when the white paint was put on the teeth, so the teeth ended up a little gray...

Not exactly the outcome I was hoping for.

We also sang "Up like a rocket, down like the rain, back and forth like a choo-choo train" while we brushed.

And, I forgot again to take a picture of the finished product. The kids pasted the teeth to a piece of paper, drew a head around them, and then pasted on some red lips I had cut out for them. Then they decorated them to look like themselves.

For a break, we watched a short video of the book we briefly looked at at the beginning.

The kids laughed and laughed and some wanted to borrow the show (I got it from the library).

We finished up the day by practicing writing the letter "T" and circling pictures that start with the letter T sound. They're getting better with their handwriting!

Oh yes, and we also read a book called "Going to the Dentist" to prepare the kids for our upcoming field trip. Hopefully we all see better brushing in the future! Just remind them of the "bacteria bugs" and they'll go running for the toothpaste!