Teeth have jobs! February is Dental Hygiene month, and what a great time to learn all about teeth. I have a full week of fun, engaging activities to teach my little learners how to take care of their teeth. One activity that my students love is talking about what our teeth do.
Teeth Have Jobs
The best way to teach little ones is using something tactile. This activity does just that! First, I start our day with reading a picture book about teeth. I use the provided anchor chart to show how many teeth we have and what they look like.
Next, we talk about the jobs of our teeth. Just like the rest of our body, teeth have an important job. If allowed, have some snacks on each table while you talk about each type of tooth.
Incisors cut our food. Canines tear our food. Molars mash our food. Before we build our model, we talk about how the shape of each tooth helps with that particular job.
Mouth Models
You probably have most of the items needed for this activity: red playdough or clay, dry navy beans, dry lima beans, glue and the mouth model sheet.
First, take the red playdough and roll into a ‘snake’ shape. This is our gums. Make a U-shape and place it on the inside of the oval. Glue it down to the paper.
Next, use four lima beans and place them flat on the ‘gums’ at the back of the mouth. These are the molars.
Then, place two navy beans vertically in front of the lima beans to show our canines. After that, place four more lima beans flat to show our incisors.
Once that is done, there will be indentions created. Place a dab of glue in each indention and place the beans back where they belong. Dry over night for a fun activity to take home to parents!
You can get this activity along with a full week of whole group activities in my newly updated Dental Health Unit!
Click here to find out more about this resource!
