Cross-Curricular Activities to Explore Dental Health

Build a Model For Flossing Teeth
Materials:
- Paper Plates (Use red or pink to mimic the inside of a mouth)
- Marshmallows (I used jumbo, but choose the size that fits your plate)
- Construction Paper Tongue
- Hot Glue or Elmer’s Glue
- Play Dough
- Pipe Cleaners or Yarn (Use for floss)
Quick Tip: Let your marshmallows get stale before you hot glue them to the plates. The longer they sit out, the harder they get. Ours sat on the windowsill for a week and they worked really well.
DIY Mouth Model
- Use stale marshmallows, red/pink plates, and a paper tongue to create a model of a mouth.
- Hot glue the marshmallows to the plate in a u shape OR let students use school glue to create their own model.
- Cut out a tongue shape out of construction paper and glue to the plate.
- Let glue dry and your mouth model is ready to go!
Using Your Mouth Model
Kids can use this model to practice flossing their teeth. It’s really easy to make and your kids are sure to love it!
Put playdough in between the teeth. Use green, yellow, and brown to simulate plaque and food between the teeth. Kids can use pipe cleaners or yarn to clean between the teeth. I found that yarn worked a lot more like floss, but the pipe cleaners made it much easier to get out the “plaque”.
Build a Play Dough Model For Subtracting Teeth
Interactive Activities For Dental Health

More Math Ideas
If you want some easy, hands-on learning activities, you can check out my dental health packs here. However you choose to teach about dental health, be sure to take advantage of children’s love of teeth and hands on fun!
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