Dental Health Activities for Kids in Third Grade

Third grade is an appropriate time to focus on the importance of good dental health. National Dental Heath Month is in February each year, but any time is a great time to focus in on this important aspect of health. Plan activities for third graders once each week for special lessons around dental health.

Dental Health Word Search

Dental health word search puzzles are a simple and fun way to introduce your third grader to dental health. Because third graders are usually comfortable with spelling and vocabulary activities, this is a perfect activity for dental health. Dental health word search puzzles should include words like cavities, floss, flouride, sugar, brushing, dental check-ups, plaque, tartar and healthy snacks. Have dental health word search puzzles on student's desks when they come in the morning. As students complete this seat work, they can turn in their puzzle and take a small prize from the dental health prize bag. Fill the prize bag with small tubes of toothpaste, flavored dental floss or dental health stickers.

Visit From the Dentist

Third graders enjoy having special visitors to class, and especially during dental health month, dentists are ready and available to do school visits. Be sure and call a dentist in your area several months in advance because dentists tend to book up during this time. Arrange for the dentist to discuss the importance of good brushing, how to floss, what happens at a dental check-up and what healthy teeth and gums look like. Also be sure and have the dentist brings chewable tablets that are designed to show how clean the kids teeth are and any areas that require cleaning. This is always a fun part of a visit from the dentist.

Dental Health Story Writing

Choose two or three fun stories to share about the tooth fairy, and then have third graders create their own stories about what the tooth fairy does with all the teeth. Since most third graders no longer believe in the tooth fairy, this is a project they can really be creative with. Encourage them to be come up with ideas for what the tooth fairy looks like, where he or she lives, who gets to be the tooth fairy and what he or she does with all the teeth they collect. Also make sure students include facts about dental health they've learned from other lessons. Encourage them to add the different ways kids lose teeth and what to do to prevent tooth loss in the stories.

Dental Health-Themed Lessons

Dental health activities can be combined with other lessons. You can use dental health lessons that are also appropriate for math by choosing worksheets with a mystery phrase at the end that says something about healthy teeth after solving problems. Bring dental health into language arts through assigning spelling words that are related to dental health, such as "teeth," "toothbrush," "plaque," "tartar," "flossing" and so on. Along with special activities, use these lessons to extend regular instruction so that you can keep the dental health theme going across the curriculum.