February is Children’s Dental Health Month, but you can use these fun ideas any time of year. These dental health activities for preschoolers and kindergarteners help them understand why it’s so important to take care of their teeth. They’ll learn about their teeth and mouths and get hands-on practice with brushing and flossing. Every one of these is guaranteed to be a hit—and that’s the tooth!
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Use these fun and engaging books to introduce your dental activities for preschoolers. Find them at your library, or buy them on Amazon:
This is one of those classic dental activities for preschoolers, and they always love the mini-marshmallow teeth! After you make these, kids can use them to practice brushing and flossing too.
Put together a sensory tray for wee ones with toothbrushes from the dollar store and plastic toy teeth. Then, make a batch of blue or green glitter slime to represent toothpaste or use actual toothpaste (be sure kids don’t eat it).
This cute tooth craft is easy to make and will look so fun hanging from your classroom ceiling. If your littles aren’t quite up to using scissors yet, you can pre-cut the teeth shapes for them.
Mix up your own puffy paint with shaving cream and glue. Then, have kids use the paint to “brush” large paper teeth. Finish by sprinkling glitter on top to show they’re sparkling clean!
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Grab the free printables and give kids some white playdough. Then have them shape teeth and count them into the open mouths.
Give kids some magazines or grocery store ads to look through for pictures of various types of foods. Tear or cut them out, then build collages of foods that are good for your teeth and those that can cause cavities.
This song has been around for years and years. As each generation of kids sings it, they learn how to take care of their mouths.
Use white ice trays and turn them over to represent teeth. Then, write letters on them with dry erase markers. Kids can use “toothbrushes” made of felt glued to wood craft sticks to erase them, saying the letters out loud as they go.
Empty egg cartons, especially the white foam ones, make excellent model teeth. Color on them with washable markers, then let kiddos use a toothbrush and toothpaste to get them clean and white again.
Duplo blocks are another terrific stand-in for teeth, especially when you want to practice flossing. Place some playdough between the “teeth” and then use yarn to floss it out.
This is such a cool and easy way to introduce kids to the idea of cavities. Poke a hole in the skin of an apple, then watch what happens to the white part inside. Compare this to getting a hole in a tooth’s protective enamel.
Encourage families to help kids develop healthy habits at home with these free printable charts. Kids can color them in and check off the proper teeth as they brush every morning and night.
Dental activities for preschoolers like this one really bring home the message about keeping your teeth clean. Soak eggs overnight in cups of soda, juice, coffee, or tea. The next day, take a look to see how stained they are. Have kids try to brush them clean, if they can!
We spend a lot of time reminding kids that sugar is bad for teeth. This fizzing experiment using yeast helps them understand why.
