3 Ways to Teach Your Child About Good Oral Health While Homeschooling

Are you now homeschooling your child because of COVID-19? Are you looking for ways to make the curriculum fun and exciting? Do you want to incorporate resources that benefit both their mind and smile? Whether your child struggles to maintain healthy teeth and gums, adding experiments and lessons that focus on oral health for kids in Alamo Ranch can help get them excited about taking care of their smile. Read on to discover three unique ways you can teach about dental health.

Incorporate Books, Games, or TV Shows

Depending on your child’s age, adding in time for books or a short tv show or movie can help them learn more about their teeth and visiting the dentist. Whether it is a picture book for the littlest learners or a game dedicated to helping pre-teens take better care of their smile, adding these to their daily lesson can help them learn more about the benefits of brushing, flossing, and rinsing. They’ll also begin to discover how fun it can be to practice good oral habits at home!

Try Different Experiments

For some children, hands-on experiments are a great way to help them better understand different concepts. Fortunately, when it comes to dental health, there are endless activities that can not only cause excitement but also an eagerness to learn more. Consider trying a few of these experiments at home as a way to incorporate oral health into your lesson plan:

• Tooth Stains: Using four hard-boiled eggs and one raw egg, place them in clear cups. Covering two eggs with soda, use coffee or tea to cover the other two. Using white vinegar, pour it over the raw egg. Allow the contents inside all the cups to sit overnight. The results will show how dark-colored beverages can stain the exterior and interior of the egg (tooth). It will also allow you to explain how brushing can help remove exterior stains (you can show this by allowing your child to use a toothbrush and toothpaste to clean the egg’s shell).
• Growing Plaque: By placing 2 teaspoons of dry yeast, one cup of warm water, and one tablespoon of sugar into two clear cups, you can stir the mixture with separate spoons and watch as the “plaque” quickly grows. This experiment can help your child to better understand how this harmful substance attacks healthy teeth and gums and why brushing and flossing will help to eliminate plaque before it has the chance to grow!

Create a Collage

To bring an art project into your lesson plan, try having your child create a collage. Cutting pictures out of a magazine of people smiling and having them draw pictures of various oral hygiene items (i.e., toothbrush, toothpaste, dental floss, mouthwash), they can visualize the necessary objects needed to maintain a healthy smile. You might even have them incorporate their own photo into the collage, placing it front and center, so they can see just the benefits of brushing, flossing, and rinsing.

There are many ways you can teach your child about oral health during this time, so if you need additional help to find lesson plans or resources, don’t be afraid to reach out to your child’s dentist in Alamo Ranch.

About the Practice
At Alamo Springs Dental, our team enjoys helping even the youngest patient achieve a healthy, beautiful smile. Because cavities are a common occurrence in children, we use effective tools and techniques to keep their teeth and gums looking and feeling their best. We’ll also provide tips and recommendations to both children and parents to ensure proper oral habits are practiced at home, in-between regular appointments. If your child needs a checkup and cleaning, or you are looking for ways to improve their oral hygiene at home, contact us at (210) 463-9339.