After a glorious 2-week break sans students, the sweet sounds of caroling can crash down into a chaotic classroom. 

Fortunately, February is Children’s Dental Health Month and we have you covered. Teachers – try these lesson plans to get you back in your usual school spirit:

Happy Tooth/Sad Tooth
Grade Level: K-1
National Health Education Standards: 1, 7
Materials: Happy/Sad Tooth Template, magazines, scissors, glue

Overview
Students will identify nutritious foods and drinks that can keep our teeth healthy, as well as foods and drinks that can be harmful to our teeth.

Steps

1. Lead the class in reviewing why teeth are important and explain that teeth help us chew healthy food, which keeps our bodies healthy, and helps us to learn. The choices we make in our foods and drinks can help or hurt our teeth.
2. Help students brainstorm a list of foods and drinks that they think would be healthy for our teeth and why.
3. Repeat with a list of foods and drinks that would be bad for our teeth and why.
4. Give each student a Happy Tooth sheet and a Sad Tooth sheet.
5. Instruct students to cut out healthy foods and drinks from magazines and glue them to the Happy Tooth.
6. Instruct students to cut out unhealthy foods and drinks from magazines and glue them to the Sad Tooth.

Marshmallow Teeth Model
Grade Level: K-2
Materials: Teeth outline pattern, 2 large bags of jumbo marshmallows, scissors, glue, construction paper, yarn

Make a set of teeth out of large marshmallows as a class project. Use a magic marker to draw teeth outlines on construction paper. Break students into three groups: one group will flatten marshmallows for incisors, another will flatten and clip corners of marshmallows for canines and the third group will press in the middle of marshmallows to make molars. Next, have each group glue marshmallows to the paper in the correct order: 2 molars, 1 canine, and 2 incisors on each side and each end. Let dry and use the model to point out how food can get stuck in ridges and spaces. Practice “flossing” with some yarn.

Dental-Themed Books

Fuel your students’ imaginations while educating them about proper dental hygiene. From Tooth Fairy tales and brushing basics, to cavities and dental visits, these books cover it all. Find our recommended book list here.