Looking for some fun dental health themed ideas and activities for your preschool and kinder aged kids? I’ve created a dental health theme set full of literacy, math, and hands-on ideas that I’m excited to share with you today! Take a peek and let me know how I can help you get set for February!
Fun and Engaging Dental Health Themed Activities!
Bring out the toothbrushes and let’s kick off the fun with these dental health themed books! My girls’ absolute favorite, at their age of 2.5 and 4, was Snappy Croc by Howard Hughes, but here are a few others we enjoy too!
Brush! Brush! Brush! by Alicia Padron
Snappy Croc by Howard Hughes
Brushing Teeth by Mari Schuh
Just Going to the Dentist by Mercer Mayor
A Day in the Life of a Dentist by Heather Adamson
DENTAL HEALTH MATH THEMED IDEAS
Pick a mat, identify the number, trace, then count! I pulled out the lima beans for this one and they were perfect for “teeth!” I love activities like this because we can work on number recognition, number formation, and practicing one-to-one counting all in one.
Flossy shapes are an engaging way to practice 2D shape recognition and formation. Print and laminate these shape mats for durability then pull out some Play-Doh and invite your littles to form each shape. You could even set out some floss and have them form the shape with floss before using Play-Doh.
How cute is this tooth fairy bag mat? This single page center style activity where your kids are asked to roll a die, identify the number, then find the matching number representation on the mat and cover. We used white snap cubes to act as teeth for covering.
Colorful toothbrushes make for a fun pattern practice activity! Pick a card, follow the pattern, and make it with the toothbrushes. No toothbrushes??? Use pipe cleaners or colored popsicle sticks instead.
Working with ten frames? This pick and fill activity is great for number recognition, counting, and one-to-one correspondence.
TOOTHBRUSH COLOR SORT & ORDER BY SIZE
I’m in love with this toothbrush color sort activity because it not only focuses on color recognition, but also size order! Choose to set out all the colors or just pick 2-3 to focus on at a time.
DENTAL HEALTH THEMED LITERACY ACTIVITIES
Have fun matching toothy pairs by identifying each letter and finding the picture that starts with that beginning sound. These cards fit perfectly in task boxes and are great for centers and morning bins.
I LOVE a good themed alphabet mat. Toss some magnetic letters in a sensory bin and set out the mat to practice identifying letters and sounds. You can have littles match uppercase to uppercase or switch and do uppercase to lowercase.
Who doesn’t love a fun rhyming game?! For this activity, your littles will pick a mat then pull picture cards and find their rhyming pairs. The activity includes two choice boards and a recording sheet if needed.
Looking for a fun way to chat dental health theme vocabulary? Pull out these syllable clip cards, say each dental word, then clap to identify how many syllables are in each and clip. Perfect for task boxes!
I don’t know if I need to say much about this cute, GIANT toothbrush name craft! Your kids will love its size, get in a little name practice, and it has a reminder to “brush for 2 minutes, 2 times a day!”
MORE DENTAL HEALTH FUN!
I CAN BRUSH AWAY THE GERMS -ART!
Have you ever made fluffy paint out of glue and shaving cream? If not, this activity is a must-try! Print the included germ-filled tooth sheet then invite your littles to brush away the germs by covering them with fluffy toothpaste paint!
We can’t have a theme without some type of sensory bin and for this theme I thought a water bin was fitting! Fill a tub with water and add some blue food-dye then toss in various dental health themed items. This bin shows mouth rinse cups, toothbrushes, colored water-filled mouthwash bottle, an ice cube tray (teeth).., check your local dollar store and toss in what you have.
I wanted a fun way to chat about foods that are healthy for our teeth and ones that aren’t so great so I added in this food sort activity. I tossed the picture cards in a sensory bin and will invite the girls to pick a card, sort it to the correct tooth, and chat about why it is good or bad for our teeth and what we can do to help!
OKAY! So this is probably NOT the food to eat after our good/bad food sort (HA!) BUT here is a fun idea for a toothbrush snack. Pretzels, frosting, and mini marshmallows make cute toothbrushes and are tasty! And if you’re looking for something a bit healthier try this apple mouth snack!
To make this yummy snack take a slice of apple, top it with peanut butter, then add marshmallow teeth. Top it off with another peanut butter covered apple to create a mouth! Your kids will think this one is so funny!
BUTCHER PAPER COLOR TOOTH SORT
Roll out a long sheet of paper and sketch a few colored teeth on it. I also like to include the color word to get in some identifying word practice. Then invite your littles to hunt for objects that color and sort!
I CAN’T TELL YOU HOW EXCITED I AM FOR THIS THEME! So many FUN IDEAS! This resource also includes a toothy egg experiment, toothpaste slime recipe, dental health play dough cards, a writing tray center, themed printables, and MORE!
Check out my complete dental health resource in my shop HERE!
I can’t wait to hear what you think and am excited to see you play and learn with your littles in February!
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