Types of Dental Art Projects
Getting young children excited about dental hygiene can be a difficult task. Brushing, flossing and rinsing can seem like a laborious and boring exercise. Combining dental care with an activity children already enjoy doing may get them excited about caring for their teeth. A dental art project may be just the thing to get kids to pick up their toothbrushes.
- Make a tooth chain. Just like cutting out gingerbread men from a folded over piece of paper, the same concept can be applied to make a chain of teeth. Make a master template for young children or let older kids create their own.
- Assign different types of teeth to different students and have them each draw a picture of the tooth, including facts on how the tooth functions. An alternative to this is to write the facts on the back of each tooth picture or use a flap system where the facts can be found by lifting the tooth up. This way the teeth pictures can be cut out and arranged on a wall to represent where they are in the mouth and how they fit together.
- Create a timeline of the eruption of teeth. This can include illustrations, facts and a frame of time. Putting it on a long piece of paper can make it more fun and can be hung up around a room or rolled up like a scroll.
- Draw a picture of a general tooth, including all of the parts of the tooth. This will teach children that their teeth are alive and need special care to last.
- Construct a tooth puzzle by having children cut out the teeth in a tooth chart. A tooth chart can be found online or at your local dentist’s office.