Brushing Tips for PreSchoolers
August 13, 2008 8:07 pm Health and SafetyGetting preschoolers to brush their teeth is easier said than done. To get your child to brush longer than the eight seconds she usually does, name all the foods that she ate that day (or the previous day in the case of early morning), and ask her to remove each of these from her teeth. You’ll get a few extra precious brushing moments out of her.
If the two of you brush together, see how many faces the two of you can make as you brush - make a game of it; she’ll end up brushing her teeth for longer. Sneaky, but may work (at least for a while!).
Call out the names of family members, her favorite cartoon characters, her dolls, and ask her to look for these at the back of her mouth with her toothbrush. It might make those much ignored places easier to reach and clean.
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Trish @ Another Piece of the Puzzle :
Date: August 13, 2008 @ 9:58 pm
These are great ideas - we usually just asked if we could count them. We also did vowel sounds, like “ah” and “ee”.
Alison :
Date: August 14, 2008 @ 4:41 am
This is when I love sibling rivalry - My girls have competitions of who can get their teeth the cleanest and brush for the longest!
We also love making faces and we’ll try removing all of the different foods tonight.
Jess :
Date: August 15, 2008 @ 10:42 am
Little kids do great with power toothbrushes! If they are at the age where they need a little help, you can “take turns” brushing each others teeth. Of course, you’ll want to re-do your own later
Miriam :
Date: August 20, 2008 @ 1:51 am
Great ideas! I keep all of our toothbrushes in the kitchen and we brush together. The girls like to try and out-last me.
Lis Garrett :
Date: August 23, 2008 @ 11:06 pm
I always ask Bridget, “Show me how an alligator brushes his teeth.” She then opens wide to get her back teeth.
Or, “Show me how a mouse brushes his teeth.” She’ll then make a tiny mouse face and brush her front two teeth.”
Eventually, we get them all done!