Making Dental Care Fun for Children: Creative Tooth Fairy Ideas and Tooth Brushing Routines
It’s fair to say that most children do not enjoy brushing their teeth or make it a priority. That’s why adults need to teach, assist, and supervise children’s brushing routines until they’re confident in their ability to brush their teeth properly. Encouraging healthy brushing doesn’t have to be boring, though. You can motivate children to form a healthy oral routine by making Tooth Fairy visits fun and by making brushing time enjoyable with music and visuals.
Creative Tooth Fairy Ideas
The Tooth Fairy has the renowned tradition of leaving a small cash reward in exchange for a baby tooth. This may excite children enough to brush their teeth, but you can add your spin and tradition to the Tooth Fairy to encourage healthy brushing. By making the Tooth Fairy exciting and rewarding, it’s important to stress that it only visits for healthy baby teeth. Here are some non-traditional Tooth Fairy visits to help make your child want to keep a healthy mouth for the Tooth Fairy to collect their baby teeth.
Activity Idea
Instead of leaving cash, rewarding a child with an activity for a lost tooth and healthy brushing can be satisfying. Activities can range from inexpensive to more costly, depending on your preference. For example, if your child enjoys going to the park, getting a Happy Meal and playing at the McDonald’s PlayPlace, or going to a movie, these can all be great rewards.
Trail Idea
A fun way to show that the Tooth Fairy visited and checked on your child’s clean mouth (besides taking the tooth) is by leaving a trail. The trail can be made of almost anything, such as glitter, leaf petals, or more tangible items like coins, treats, and toys.
Pen Pal Idea
An interactive relationship builder between the Tooth Fairy and your child can be a pen pal routine. Your child can start by writing in a notebook or leaving a letter for the Tooth Fairy, and then the Tooth Fairy can write back in the notebook or provide a letter with unique Tooth Fairy stationery. Writing back and forth can humanize the Tooth Fairy while reminding your child of the importance of losing baby teeth healthily!
Tooth Fairy Coin Idea
If your child doesn’t have the best brushing routine, a solution to reiterate the importance of brushing could be leaving Tooth Fairy coins. Using a “monetary” system with Tooth Fairy coins can show how they can earn more coins with better brushing. Then, depending on your judgment, the amount of coins the child collects can result in different level rewards.
Treasure Hunt Idea
A fun way to promote healthy brushing by the Tooth Fairy is by leaving a treasure hunt. A child can look forward to waking up and solving a mystery that leads to a treasure. Treasure ideas can include a certificate, a care package, “Tooth Fairy” snacks, or anything else you’d like to reward them with!
Songs and Videos to Make Brushing Fun
The Tooth Fairy is an encouragement for healthy brushing, but your child isn’t losing teeth constantly. So, how do you keep your child looking forward to brushing their teeth day and night? An easy solution is to partner brushing with their favorite characters and shows. There are so many videos on YouTube that make brushing for the full two minutes fun. Here are some popular brushing-related videos on YouTube that may spark interest in your child.
- A mellow tune that mentions the importance of brushing
- Monsters brushing their teeth
- Baby Shark theme
- Mickey Mouse theme
- Bluey theme
- Dora theme
- Elsa theme
- Ms. Rachel
Besides the videos mentioned above, there are hundreds of other options on YouTube. Set some time alone or with your child to discover videos they can enjoy.
Need Help Encouraging Your Child to Brush Their Teeth?
Hopefully, these Tooth Fairy and teeth-brushing videos can help encourage a healthy brushing routine. Using these tips and tricks can be a positive reinforcement and make brushing their teeth an enjoyable (or at least a normal) action. If you need any more help or have questions about pediatric dentistry, call us today. At Pediatric Dentistry of Central Iowa, we specialize in creating an environment where kids and parents are comfortable asking questions and look forward to their next cleaning!