Free Dental Health Preschool Lesson Plans
The ‘tooth’ is, teaching dental health is so important during the preschool years. In this post, you’ll find loads of ideas for a dental health preschool theme, including literacy and book ideas, arts and crafts, plus math and science learning.
These free dental health preschool lesson plans are a great additional to your February lesson plans as you learn more about dental health month. You’ll find the whole bundle of FREE activities at the end of this post in a free download!
Dental health month may not sound all that interesting but it can be a really fun and exciting theme for preschoolers. Dental health month activities can include fun hands-on dramatic play as well as pretend brushing activities, dentist role play, and even science experiments!
Since February is National Children’s Dental Health month, many preschools opt to infuse a dental health theme into their lesson plans. We have created over 15 hands-on and developmentally appropriate activities centered around dental health in a preschool classroom. Plus, they are completely free!
So grab these preschool toothbrushing ideas and make planning your dental health theme a breeze!
Teaching Dental Health in Preschool
You may have a few questions about teaching this preschool theme! Check out these frequently asked questions for how to teach your preschoolers about dental health.
Teaching dental health helps preschoolers develop good oral hygiene habits early, understand the importance of brushing and flossing, and learn how to keep their teeth healthy.
The best way to introduce dental health with young children is to discuss good oral health habits such as brushing, flossing, and making sure to keep a brushing routine in place.
It’s all in the planning! Dental activities can include videos, books, songs, and even art with a toothbrush! Children learn that being responsible and clean helps keep their bodies strong and healthy.
Engaging activities include pretend play dentist visits, brushing art projects, and interactive songs and stories that make learning about oral care exciting and memorable.
This theme can be tied into food and nutrition and learning about healthy food choices. Additionally, learning about what a dentist does is a great way to tie into community helpers and occupations into your dental health theme.
Combine dental health with subjects like math through tooth counting games, science with flossing experiments, and literacy with themed books and rhyming exercises.
Use stories like “Just Going to the Dentist” to ease fears, role-play dentist visits, and provide positive reinforcement to create a comforting understanding of dental care.
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Product on sale* Learn At Home Preschool Lesson Plans BundleOriginal price was: $60.00.$22.00Current price is: $22.00.
Engaging Preschool Activities for a Dental Health Theme
There is nothing ‘acci-dental’ about this fun and lively hands on preschool dental health theme! With lots of academic opportunities and engaging ideas, this set of of ideas is perfect for planning your dental theme.
Literacy Activities for a Dental Health Preschool Theme
Alphabet Teeth Cleaning – This fun alphabet activity practices letter recognition while learning about oral health! Print a copy of the ‘mouth’ and the teeth letter cards. Using a dry-erase marker, write a letter on each tooth. Call out letters or have your preschooler pick up different letter cards, then find each letter on the tooth mat and ‘clean’ it by erasing the letter. If you play this fun alphabet game with more than one child, write different letters in each mouth.
Dental Health Rhyming Match-Ups – Rhyming is an essential pre-reading skill and these rhyming matching cards are perfect for a dental theme and are such fun to use! Simply print the toothbrush mats and the tooth cards. Then find the rhyming matches! These are simple CVC (3 letter) words so this activity is a great introduction to rhyming with preschoolers.
Dental Health Picture Books!
Infusing high-quality picture books into your dental health theme is one of the best ways to teach preschoolers about the importance of good oral hygiene! This is a book list of our favorite picture books for a dental health theme. Click the book covers below to learn more about each book!
- Smith, Penny (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- Diesen, Deborah (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- Wucinich, Carrie (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- Simmons, Caressa (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- Wing, Natasha (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- Mari Schuh (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- Laviolette, Stacey (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- Seuss, Dr. (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
Math and Science Activities for a Dental Theme in Preschool
Dental Health Count & Match – Build number recognition and number sense with this fun count and match number board.
Tooth Counting Graph – Print and grab the mini marshmallows! Invite your preschooler to add marshmallows vertically to each column of the graph. What do they notice about each section of the graph (it becomes one more)?
Playdough Flossing – Why is flossing our teeth important? Using a plastic ice cube tray, playdough, and a pipe cleaner, invite your preschooler to wedge playdough between the bottom of the ice tray. Then use the pipe cleaner to floss out the food and germs left behind in our teeth!
Playful Preschool Learning Activities for a Dental Health Theme
Hot Potato Game – Play the classic game of hot potato with you guessed it, a potato! Grab a potato and some music and pass the potato around with a few friends or family until the music stops! Whoever is holding the potato is out until the game is over.
Taste Tester – Gather a sample of different foods and place them on a plate. Have your preschooler cover their eyes and taste an item. Can they guess what they are eating?
Animal Exercise – Can you stand on one leg like a flamingo? Can you walk like a crab? Can you fly like a bird? Challenge your preschooler to come up with 10 silly animal moves. Make a list of all the animals they came up with and celebrate!
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Product on sale* Learn At Home Preschool Lesson Plans BundleOriginal price was: $60.00.$22.00Current price is: $22.00.
Social-Emotional Activities for a Dental Health Preschool Theme
Easing Apprehension About Going to the Dentist – Go to YouTube and read the story, Just Going to the Dentist by Mercer Mayer. It’s perfectly normal for young children to have some apprehension or nerves about visiting the dentist. This book shows how calm and relaxed Little Critter is even after a dental cleaning and a fixed cavity. It helps to ease fears about the dentist and the things that we might experience when visiting.
Happy and Sad Tooth Collage – Our teeth can feel happy and sad based on the foods we are eating! Print two of the teeth patterns and draw a happy face on one and a face with a line for a smile on the other. Then using a magazine cut out photos of foods that are good for our teeth and foods that are sometimes foods.
You can discuss how brushing and flossing our teeth really well is extra important after eating sometimes foods because we want to make sure to get our teeth extra clean! It’s important to ensure that children don’t feel shame around food so the focus is more on great tooth-brushing routines than food choices.
Just Plain Fun Dental Health Activities for Preschoolers
Toothbrush Art – This art tooth craft uses shaving cream, glue, and a toothbrush to paint the tooth with a fun fluffy medium. Plus, painting with a toothbrush is extra exciting!
Model of a Mini Mouth with Marshmallows – With just construction paper, glue, and mini marshmallows, your preschooler can make a replica of a full mouth with teeth. This model can be used to teach about flossing, different types of teeth, and the importance of good oral hygiene. Plus it’s a fun way to practice brushing and teach kids proper brushing technique.
Parts of a Tooth Playdough Model – Collaboratively, you and your preschooler can make a model of the parts of the tooth, including the pulp and dentin.
Get Online Activities for a Dental Health Theme
Online Story – Go to YouTube and listen to the story, Brush Your Teeth by Leslie McGuire. After reading, ask your preschooler to share: What might happen if we don’t brush or floss our teeth? Role-play a dentist’s office by using a toothbrush, toothpaste, and a mirror. Invite your preschooler to be the dentist.
Daniel Gets His Teeth Cleaned – Daniel Tiger takes a trip to the dentist to get a check-up. The doctor walks Daniel through all the tools and procedures and Daniel feels much better about his visit!
Brush Your Teeth Song – Sing along and give your preschooler a great reminder of the proper way to brush your teeth.
Toys for Teaching Dental Health
Sometimes including additional themed materials are a huge hit for preschoolers and can really bring your theme to life! These are some of our favorite dental health toys and activity kits my preschoolers love to use.
- 25-piece dentist play set with realistic pretend play dental care essentials to give cleanings,…
- Includes set of pretend teeth, dry-erase marker, examination tools, toothbrush, toothpaste tube,…
- 【Valuable Toddler Pretend Play Toy】Our kids doctors play set comes with stethoscope toy,…
- 【Multifunctional Doctor Playset】The medical cart has 2 layer and all doctor tools can be stored…
- Montessori Practical Life – Have your children master how to brush and floss their teeth with this…
- Montessori Homeschool – Having clean teeth is critical for good dental health. Most kids, however…
- Felt set It is perfect for small fingers to play.
- 【9PCS Pretend Dental Kit】Forceps, Syringe, Toothbrush, Toothpaste, Plate, Oral Mirror,…
- 【Dental Health Education】Though this set has only 9PCS, quite simple design compared with other…
Get Your Free Dental Health Lesson Plans Here
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I’m Sarah, an educator turned stay-at-home-mama of five! I’m the owner and creator of Stay At Home Educator, a website about intentional teaching and purposeful learning in the early childhood years. I’ve taught a range of levels, from preschool to college and a little bit of everything in between. Right now my focus is teaching my children and running a preschool from my home. Credentials include: Bachelors in Art, Masters in Curriculum and Instruction.