Good Morning Ladies,

I searched high and low for a preschool I felt comfortable with for Aria. I could not find one that would work for us financially or trustworthy. So I decided to take it into my own hands and teach her myself.

I looked up lesson plans with the Montessori Method. I found a teaching schedule and I started to make printables based on this method.

This week we are doing the Dental Health Unit, which is actually quite perfect because that has been my job for the past 10 years. I wanted to start her out with how I started out. Learning the teeth. Now I don’t expect her to use this knowledge every day I just want her to have this knowledge for whatever reason.

Teeth (Monday):

We have eight molars, four on top and four on the bottom. Molars are used to chew food.  I had Aria color the molars one color.

Next, we have Premolars. There are eight in our mouth as well four on top and four on the bottom. We use these teeth to grind our food. I had Aria color them with a different color.

She then started to color the canines. We have four in our mouth two on top and two on the bottom. These are used to rip and tear our food.

Last, of all, we have our Incisors. These are our smiling teeth. Used to nip and cut food. Aria loved coloring these teeth. We have eight of these in our mouth four on top and four on the bottom.

We made up a song we sing every day to remember Molars, Premolars, Canines, and Incisors. It is really all about repetition!

This was such a fun activity for us to do together. You can laminate this and use stickers, dry erase markers, or just let them color with crayons.

I found our printable {here}.

We also learned terms they would use at the dentist. Open, close, fill, brush, floss. We practiced doing these actions as well as reading them.

(“Filling” her tooth)

(Practicing Opening)

(Practicing Closing)

Brushing  Teeth (Tuesday):

Teaching your kids to brush your teeth properly is so important. If you are unsure how to do it properly visit your dentist and have them show you. It is really simple and they are happy to help you! All I can tell you is you want the brush half on the tooth half on the gums using light pressure vibrate the brush as you move from tooth to tooth. No long strokes, just gentle vibrations.

I first taught Aria but giving her this printable to practice on. I printed off this sheet and marked it up with dry erase markers. Using an eraser she would have to get rid of the marks. Download it {here}.

I wanted her to practice on a worksheet before moving her to the real thing.

Practice Flossing Our Teeth (Wednesday):

I put playdoh in Aria’s Duplo blocks and had her use a shoe string to floss them out. I think letting them see it on a larger scale helps them to understand it better. She refused to do this part. Which is fine I will keep trying to get her to do it even though this unit is over

I showed her how to floss her teeth, which she found more interesting than the playdoh. So many people do not know how to floss properly. You don’t want to saw with your floss. You want to wrap the floss and scrape up and down.

Flossing is so important to your personal hygiene. Please floss your teeth, I see what not flossing does and it isn’t good.

Practicing Brushing (Thursday):

For this portion, I was going to have her do it in the bathroom but she is in love with my makeup mirror so I wanted it to be more fun for her. So we grabbed a tray and practiced putting the right amount of toothpaste on her brush.

After we got the amount down, she moved to brushing in the mirror. I feel like having it all laid out on a tray for her made it feel more like an experiment, so it got her attention. Having the mirror helped her to see all her teeth in the back and she did really well at brushing all the way in the back.

Practicing for the Dentist (Friday):

You can even go to the dentist for this part of the unit. Make sure you practice and let them know things will tickle, there will be weird noises but not to be scared. They are in control. A good dentist will take their time with the child and be very patient. Let your dentist talk them through it don’t scare your child let them even watch your appointment.

Make these activities fun. Go at your own pace. Some kids will listen, some kids will hate every second of it. Just be patient with them. Advice I need to apply for my own child.

I would love to see pictures of you using these printables in your own homeschool lessons. Post them on my facebook.

Check out more Montessori posts: Intro to Reading