Helpful Tips for Parents

• Expose children to multiple languages early if possible. The preschool window is the most efficient period for language acquisition the brain will ever have.

• Learning environments matter. A space with accessible books, puzzles, art supplies, and natural materials at child height encourages more learning than a child-proofed empty room.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the most important educational skill to develop before kindergarten?

Executive function — the cluster of skills that includes working memory, cognitive flexibility, and inhibitory control — is the strongest predictor of kindergarten and long-term academic success. Executive function is built through play (especially complex pretend play), physical activity, music, and responsive adult interaction. It cannot be taught through drills or worksheets. A child with strong executive function can learn academic content readily when developmentally ready; a child with weak executive function struggles regardless of academic knowledge.

Related reading: See also our alphabet activities and our read-aloud guide for more ideas on this topic.

🎓 Skills Your Child Will Develop

• 🌐 World Knowledge — Background knowledge about the world dramatically accelerates reading comprehension — children who know more understand more of what they read — making every content-area learning experience a literacy investment.
• 😊 Love of Learning — Positive early learning experiences build a child's identity as a learner — and children who see themselves as curious, capable learners approach school with the engagement and resilience that matter more than any specific skill.
• 🔢 Early Numeracy — Hands-on counting, sorting, measuring, and pattern work develops the number sense and mathematical reasoning that formal arithmetic will later build on — and preschool numeracy is one of the strongest predictors of later math achievement.
• 👂 Listening & Attention — Activities that require children to listen carefully and follow directions build the voluntary auditory attention that classroom learning, reading comprehension, and conversation all require.

Preschool Dental Health Circle Time

Talk with preschoolers about which foods are good for their teeth and which foods are bad for their teeth.

Teach preschoolers how to correctly brush their teeth. Have them use their fingers to pretend.

Visit healthyteeth.org for information about teeth and gums to share with your preschoolers.

Get a Free Oral Health Kit for your Preschool Classroom from Colgate.

Preschool Dental Health Arts and Crafts

Tooth Cleaning Painting - Use a tooth template to draw a tooth on a piece of yellow paper. Have preschoolers "clean the tooth" by painting it white.

Dental Floss Painting - Give each preschooler a piece of dental floss. Fill a paper plate with paint. You can use several colors if you want. Have the preschoolers dip the dental floss into the paint and then, holding the dental floss with two hands, use it to paint on their paper.

Dental Collage - Make a dental collage by cutting pictures of food out of magazines. Grocery store ads are a great place to find pictures. Give preschoolers two paper plates each. In the center of one plate draw a happy face. In the center of the other draw a sad face. Have preschoolers cut out pictures of food and glue them to the happy plate if the food is good for their teeth and to the sad plate if the food is bad for their teeth.

Toothbrush Painting - Give each preschooler a toothbrush and a piece of paper. Fill a paper plate with paint and let the preschoolers use the toothbrush to paint on their paper. You can purchase cheap toothbrushes at a dollar store.

Preschool Dental Health Math and Science

Preschool Dental Lesson - Why the Dentist Fills Cavities. Give each preschooler an apple and have them carefully stab a fork into the apple several times. Ask the preschoolers to tell you the color of the inside of the apple. Talk about how cavities are small holes in our teeth. Let the apples sit out for a few days. The holes will turn brown. Ask the preschoolers to describe to you what the apple looks like where the holes are. Tell them that is why the dentist fills in our cavities and why we need to eat food that is good for our teeth.

Preschool Dental Lesson - Importance of Brushing Teeth. Boil eggs in water with a tea bag. The tea will stain the egg brown. Once the egg cools, give each preschooler a toothbrush and show them how to brush the egg. The brown stains will disappear as the preschoolers brush. Talk to the preschoolers about how important it is to brush our teeth well.

Preschool Dental Lesson - Enamel Protects our Teeth. Give each preschooler an egg and ask them why they think the egg has a hard shell. Tell them that the shell protects the egg. Have each preschooler feel their teeth with their tongue. Tell them that the smooth coating their teeth have is called enamel and it protects our teeth. Put each egg in a jar filled with vinegar. Put a lid on the jar and leave in a safe place for a few days. Come back and gently remove the egg from the jar. Ask the preschoolers how the egg changed. Tell the preschoolers that the vinegar made the shell of the egg break down. Tell the preschoolers that the enamel on our teeth can be damaged the same way by the food that we eat. That is why we have to brush our teeth every day.

Preschool Dental Health Music and Movement

Brush your Teeth (sung to Row, Row, Row your Boat)

Brush, brush, brush your teeth

At least two times a day

Cleaning, cleaning, cleaning, cleaning

Fighting tooth decay!

Brush your Teeth (sung to Row, Row, Row your Boat)

Brush, brush, brush your teeth.

Brush them everyday.

Up and down, and round and round.

Scrub the germs away.

Preschool Dental Health Pretend Play

Include a white smock, tiny dentist mirrors (these can be purchased at the grocery store), clean toothbrushes, a desk lamp with a flexible stand, and paper towels in your pretend play center. Ask preschoolers to take turns pretending to be the dentist and the patient. Be sure and tell preschoolers not to put things in their mouth. Explain that they can pretend to brush their teeth or look at their teeth by putting the props on the outside of their mouth and using their imagination.

Preschool Dental Health Books

Visit the Dental Health Category in the Preschool Education store for great preschool dental health books.

More Dental Fun

Dental Activities, Coloring Pages, Fun Facts, Crafts and Games for Kids

Dentistry.About.com has a ton of dental coloring pages, crafts, experiments, activities, brushing charts, fun facts and more.

Healthy Food for Healthy Preschooler Teeth

Limiting sugary candy and treats is important. But for healthy preschooler teeth, it doesn't stop there. Be sure to practice healthy food habits like planning meals, limiting grazing, and learning about all the foods that can cause tooth decay to protect your preschooler's teeth now and for years to come.

Hi! I'm Rachel Lister, the Preschool Education writer at PreschoolRock.com. I live in Utah with my husband and two beautiful boys. When my oldest son was born, I quit my teaching job and opened a home daycare and preschool. I love to help preschoolers learn about the world around them. They make life interesting and I can't imagine doing anything different. If you have any ideas, suggestions or comments, feel free to contact me.