HT Games
Plaque Disclosing Tablets
Plaque disclosing tablets are small pills that use food-grade dye to turn children's teeth pink in any spots that still have plaque on them. They provide a dramatic visual cue that can help children understand more clearly whether they have brushed their teeth thoroughly enough. After a toothbrushing session, let your child chew up a tablet and swish the saliva around in his mouth for about 30 seconds. Examine his reflection in the mirror with him, pointing out spots where he needs to brush again.
Tooth Scrubbing
Buy a small, inexpensive whiteboard and use a permanent marker to draw a large, toothy smile on it. You can glue wiggly eyes to the upper edge of the whiteboard to create a funny face. Make markings on the teeth with dry erase markers, such as black spots to represent cavities or blue scribbles to represent plaque. Let your preschooler practice brushing the teeth with a dish brush until the smile is clean and white.
Toothbrushing Chart
Children can take ownership of their dental hygiene by working with you to create a toothbrushing chart that lets them mark off when they brush their teeth each morning and evening. Help your child draw a chart with seven columns and three rows. Label each column in the top row with the names of the corresponding day. Label the second and third rows "Morning" and "Evening," or use sun and moon stickers. Let your child add a sticker to the appropriate box to keep track of the times she brushes her teeth.
Tooth Decay Experiments
Simple but vivid science demonstrations can illustrate the importance of dental hygiene in ways preschoolers can see concretely. Soaking hard-boiled eggs with white shells in brown soda will stain the eggs, while a stripe of toothpaste around the middle of the egg shell will protect that portion from staining. Similarly, soaking chicken bones or eggs in vinegar will soften them. Teach children that food that stays in our teeth slowly turns into a similar damaging acid.