All About Teeth!

In spite of the somewhat inclement weather and the late start of the schools we had five regulars and one guest attend story hour this morning.

Many toys were brought out and the adults had a few minutes to visit before we began our hour with our wiggle song. 

After the song we changed our routine and turned our attention to Morgan, our guest from Pardeeville Family Dentistry. She gave us all a pair of pink gloves and a nose/mouth mask with pink flowers to put on so we know what it looks like when we go to the dentist.

Morgan brought Roo, a plush kangaroo along and each child got to brush Roo's teeth while learning to brush in circular motions. We learned that we should brush in the morning and just before going to bed. We also learned that until we can tie our shoes alone we need to have an adult help us brush so we are sure to get all 20 teeth very clean.

After that Morgan brought out a cute monster board and we talked about foods that are good or bad for our teeth.

The children took turns putting good foods in the monster's mouth. A couple of foods that were tricky were fruit juices and milk (especially chocolate milk) which are to be drank with meals and not by themselves. Water is the best thing to drink between meals.

 

 
After Morgan finished we read two books:

 

Brush Your Teeth Please by Leslie McGuire

Brush Your Teeth Please was a pop-up book with different animals and the children got to take turns brushing the animals' teeth.  

 

The Missing Tooth by Mary Packard

The Missing Tooth helped us learn that about the time we start school our teeth will start to fall out so new ones may grow in their place. This seemed to be news to most of the children. In the story a little girl is disappointed because her friend's are losing teeth and she isn't. When one of her teeth finally comes out she loses it, but then finds it when she gets ready for bed. One of the children wanted to know "why she couldn't put it back in her mouth" and that gave all the adults a good chuckle.
Our morning ended with each child receiving a "goody bag" from the dental office with a toothbrush, bubble gum flavored toothpaste, a letter for parents and several activity sheets for the children. 

They were also given a very colorful book titled Four Seasons for Little People by Dr. Jerry Ballard.