Discuss how a tooth's enamel surface is similar to an egg shell. Hardboil two eggs. Place one in Coke and one in a colored punch. Soak overnight or for several days. See below what happened to the eggshells.

Use toothpaste and toothbrush to try to clean the shells' discoloration.

Fold 12x18" construction paper in half (hot dog fold). Cut a notch out to make a toothbrush handle. Write student names on the handle. Sandwich a piece of copy paper in the long part and fringe to make bristles.

Mount a daily toothbrushing chart on the larger part and display on a bulletin board.

Another "eggsperiment"---soak a hardboiled egg in vinegar for 3-5 days. The vinegar will eat away the eggshell, just as acidic foods eat away the enamel on our teeth if we don't brush.

Use a model to practice brushing.

Doctor Drill and Fill by Playdoh

Playmobil Dental Office

Use a styrofoam egg carton a yarn to practice flossing techniques.

This is a"Wild Flosser", which comes in a package of about 10.. There is dental floss between the two prongs--they make it easier for young children to floss.

Mr. Mouth only eats food (from our play kitchen) that are healthy for his teeth. This is a good follow-up to reading the Rigby book, "Munching Mark."

This is a dice toss game. The child gets six marshmallows, a mouth workmat, and a graph recording sheet like the one on the right. The child tosses a die, counts out the marshmallow "teeth" on to the mouth, and then records the toss by coloring in a block on the graph. He is finished when he reaches the top of one column and records the number of tosses at the bottom.

Give students a mouth model and have them count out 20 primary teeth (mini marshmallows). If it's later in the year, they can count out 32 adult teeth.

The caption on the left were the instructions for this locker decoration. I photographed each child's mouth, taped a picture of the child to the locker and then taped the mouth photo over the picture. We also made this into a "Who Is Smiling?" class book.

Spread peanut butter on apple wedges and put marshmallow teeth between.

Make a large toothbrush with hanging crepe paper bristles to hang over your door.