February is Children’s Dental Health Month. Last February I discussed how important it is to maintain your child’s dental hygiene. Developing good dental hygiene at a young age helps your child in the future. Hence, Abigail being a little over 12 months old and has already had her first dental appointment. She of course wasn’t a fan and cried the whole time BUT I want to make sure I’m setting her up for a lifelong road of healthy teeth. As I mentioned before, my other 3 children floss, use mouthwash and use fluoride toothpaste. Because they’re so use to this process, taking them to the dentist is a BREEZE! Even the dental hygienists are always shocked.
As their dental appointments begin to creep up, I try to implement different activities to prepare them for the event. I even swapped out their old Crayola toothbrushes for the PinkFong Baby Shark toothbrushes. Try listening to that song 3 times in a row. Guaranteed to make your head spin but the kids love it and look forward to brushing their teeth!
You guys know I’m big on literature, so it was only right for me to incorporate some dental themed books. When I cam across My First Visit to the Dentist written by Dr. Rose O. Wadenya, I immediately got excited! Dr. Wadenya hails from Kenya, Africa and moved to the United States to purse her healthcare aspirations. Not only was this a good children’s dental book but I was also able to tie in a quick Black History session! It’s always a win when I can incorporate books that have characters that mirror my kids. Dr. Wadenya has other cute children’s books too! Highly recommend reading a few of those as well. They’re fairly priced which is always great! Some other good dental reads would include: Sugarbug Doug: All About Cavities, Plaque and Teeth, My First … Visit to the Dentist and The Berenstain Bears Visit the Dentist.
My First Visit to the Dentist
By: Rose O. Wadenya, DMD
If you have a “YouTube kid” tune in to these videos: Catch the Nasties, Why do We Brush Our Teeth? and Hacky Smacky – Tooth brush Children’s Song. I really like the Brush Teeth Song because it focuses on overall personal hygiene. Learning through music is very important to me because Jeremiah’s learning style revolves around music. He loves the Brush to the Beat song by Mickey Mouse. Is it weird to admit that some of these songs play in my head while brushing my own teeth??? When you have a little one that’s musically inclined you have no choice but to know random songs!
Now that Xiomara is a little older, I always try to incorporate some sort of STEM experiment or craft project. She absolutely loves crafts (jumps for joy) and learns best by doing hands on activities. I found this cute, kid friendly, homemade toothpaste project for her on Pinterest. We named our toothpaste and stored it in a small mason jar. This was pretty cool project! If you’re interested in making your own toothpaste, here’s the recipe:
Make Your Own Toothpaste:
4 tsp. Baking soda
1 tsp. Salt
1 tsp. Flavoring (such as peppermint extract)
Mix and store in an airtight container.
Y’all know I couldn’t leave out “Sassy Sarai”! I found this Marshmallow Mouth craft project specifically for her. Since she’s a little advanced for her age, I figured it would be an awesome craft project for all of my kids! Gluing the marshmallows was their favorite part. By choosing this craft, I was able to tie in mathematics for Xiomara & sharpen Jeremiah’s counting skills. So far Sarai is counting up to the number 20 (which is awesome for a 2 year old). I made sure she had at least 20 marshmallows to glue down.
What’s better than a healthy snack!? We made these Marshmallow Monsters. I think this might have been the highlight of our dental awareness activities. Being that the kids’ school is a peanut-free environment, I’m subjected to sending almond butter & jelly sandwiches. The kids were thrilled to see me pull out a jar of freshly ground honey roasted peanut butter (purchased at Whole Foods). I’m all for eating Jif peanut butter but if I can purchase it without the preservatives I’m all for it. If you strongly dislike cutting up fruit, you can always grab a bag of sliced apples from your local grocery store. Keep in mind you’re paying for convenience and it’s cheaper to purchase apples and cut them yourself. If your little one has a nut allergy, you can substitute the peanut butter for sunflower butter.
Now that I’ve shared how we’ve acknowledged National Children’s Dental Health Month, I’d love to see some of your projects in action. Be sure to follow me on Facebook and Instagram and tag me in your posts! Happy Flossing!
