Dental Unit for Kids

Baby and Adult Teeth

We started this unit with the presentation of the baby and adult teeth.  We differentiated the two set of teeth, from the sizes and the teeth count.  Mavi asked the following questions during this activity:

Why are there more teeth in the adult set?

Why are the adult teeth much bigger?

Why is there a change?

     

I answered his questions through scenarios, like, as we get bigger we eat solid foods.  Most of these are hard to break down and needs a solid set of teeth for it to be digested.  So our body provided us with a much stronger set of teeth to be able to chew, chop and grind the foods properly.
 

And as we go deeper into the knowledge of teeth sizes and shapes, we also examined the different kinds of teeth that adults have.  We have this lovely dental model (Science Time Dentistry Deluxe) of the adult teeth.  I got this from our local shop and it was perfect for our study.  What I love about it is that we can remove some of the teeth, specially the four major types, thus we’re able to take a closer look into it.  I swear, the teeth looks and feels real!

Different Kinds of Teeth

Now this is how our adult dental model looks like.  As I mentioned earlier, we can remove the four major types of teeth for examination.  I created the definition cards for Mavi to use, so he can learn more about each type and their functions. 

With the materials I provided, Mavi is now able to tell which tooth is for chopping, which tooth helps in swallowing, and which one is an expert in grinding!  He’s like “I didn’t know that!”.  Download a copy of the definition cards from here or click the image.

And here’s a closer look at the teeth, sorry, I just love looking at them!

Tooth Cross Section

After which, we also looked into the cross section of a tooth.  To read more about this, click the image below or the link here.

The nomenclature cards that we used are from here.

How Cavity Develops

Moving on, another activity I decided to add in our unit is the presentation of cavity development.  This explains the effects of acid and sugar in our teeth.  The aim of this activity is for Mavi to understand the importance of brushing our teeth, to avoid tooth decay.  The image below is a snapshot of the manual included in the dental set (Science Time Dentistry Deluxe).

The cards below are homemade.  It’s the development of cavity in a tooth, which I had Mavi arranged in order.  You can get the printable file from here or click the image for the link.

Care for the Teeth and Dental Hygiene

So now, the biggest question would be, how can we take good care of our teeth to avoid premature extraction.  These food cards are included in our dental set (Science Time Dentistry Deluxe) and provided us information of the foods that are essential in dental health.  He’s happy to see carrots and apples, eggs, milk and cheese, these are his favorites!  And I didn’t know that green tea is good for the teeth, how enlightening!

We also identified how to maintain a clean and cavity free teeth.

1. Brushing.  The most effective way of removing plaque from the exposed surface of your teeth is by brushing it using a flouride toothpaste.  It is essential to brush every after eating especially before bedtime. 
2. Flossing.  To clean in between your teeth, a dental floss is needed.  It is a piece of waxy string that is inserted in between your teeth to remove food particles that brushing cannot reach. Basically, it removes plaque that get stuck in between your teeth.
3. Dental Visit.  The dentist and hygienist helps check whether your teeth are developing properly, and see if the gums have any problems.  It is important to see the dentist every 6 months to make sure that your teeth are taken good care of.

And this concludes are dental unit study.  It was an amazing week of learning about our teeth!  Hope you find this post helpful, informative and inspirational. Till next time!

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Simple Activity for Ageing

Mavi and I were discussing how and why people get old. I whipped this activity instantly to show Mavi what happens when you grow old. 

I printed out Mavi’s pictures from birth to present.  One profile picture to represent each year. 

With these pictures, I asked Mavi to arrange them according to his age.  I added labels to match the pictures.

After a few stumbles, he managed to correct his work and finally completed his timeline.  He was amazed to see his face changed! And there was some point wherein he can not tell the difference between his face (ages 4 and 5).

So this is how I demonstrated to Mavi the process of ageing.  The body changes, as well as the features.  You can also show your kids their baby’s book to show that they are gaining weight as they grow.  Talk about their milestones as well and the major development in their body. 

I am so glad I took photos of him. Will continue this for as long as I can.

Thanks for dropping by and hope that you like this post!

Human Body Unit: The Skeletal System

The second and last part of our Human Body Study includes the Skeletal System and a brief introduction to the Permanent Teeth Development.

The Human Bones (Skeletal System)

Previous works on Skeletal System can be found here and here.

This year, I added some depth into our study.  We started our work using our Skeletal System Nomenclature and Definition Cards.  This is an independent work for him.

Next, I have this small miniature of the human skeleton which I bought from a Euro Store and I started cutting it into pieces.  Here I showed Mavi the bone model and compared it to our image.  We talked about the functions of each bone in the human skeleton and we also tried to compare the arm and the leg bones.  I pointed out to Mavi that the bones in the legs are longer than the arms.

We played around with the bones.  Making different formations.  Mavi thought that this was funny LOL.

Forensic Anthropologist (A Play Pretend)

I buried the bits and pieces of the skeleton I previously dismantled in a bowl of oatmeal.  Here I asked Mavi to dig, brush and put the pieces of bones back together. “Oh, just like the dinosaurs Mommy!” he exclaimed.

 

And much to my surprise, this was an easy task for him.  He was able to complete the work in no time. Though he wasn’t challenged, he really liked digging the bones and scrubbing the oatmeal off.

The Bone Experiment

We conducted an experiment on a chicken bone. This is to demonstrate the effect of acids on bones.

What you need:  Vinegar, chicken bone and a jar

After cleaning the cooked chicken bone, we placed it in a jar filled with vinegar.  After 24hrs, we remove the bone from the jar and examined its texture and flexibility.  Mavi observed that, the bone’s flexibility increased daily (for 5 days) until it felt like a rubber.

This is because of the loss of calcium in the bones after exposing it to vinegar which is an acid and reacts chemically with the bone.  As a result, Mavi and I discussed the importance of calcium in our body specifically in our bones.  How it gives the bones strength and firmness.  We also talked about the foods that are rich in calcium, which we need to eat in a daily basis for maintaining healthy bones.

Books

Our book from the library the Eyewitness Skeleton (Bookdepository) was also a great help.  It shows the contrast of human bones and animals bones, the structure and formation.

And that concludes our Human Body study for this year.  Hope that this post will help you with your own skeleton and human body unit activities.

Get the Skeleton Montessori Cards here:

FREE Teeth Development Nomenclature Cards

This week we will explore on how teeth grow.  I made the cards so we can look into the permanent set and discuss the functions of each.  Download the file by clicking the image below.

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Human Body Unit: The Internal Organs

The second week of our Science curriculum is all about the Human Body.  The first part of our study is the internal organs.  We’ve tackled this subject a couple of times now and below are the links of our previous studies:

• Introduction to Internal Organs
• Puzzles and Nomenclature Cards
• Different Internal Organs (Modelling using PlayDoh)

Introducing the Internal Organs of the Body to Kids

We're doing The Human Body this month and part of which is learning about the basic internal organs of our body.  This is a timely subject to tackle as my son has been sickly for the past few days because of the changes in the weather.

I've always wanted to purchase a human torso model to show how these organs look and how they are positioned in the body.  But the price in this side of the world is not in my budget so what I did was to buy PlayDoh that comes in different colors to create our own model using our Internal Organs Nomenclature Cards.

Our Printable Materials for February

Hello everyone! I would like to announce 3 new materials that we will be using for the month of February.  If you are interested, just click on the images for the link and detailed description of each file.

Parts of the Human Body (new!) in English, Spanish, French and Deutsch

- contains 16 parts of the human body in FOUR different languages! 

 

 

 

Basic Human Body Systems (new!)

- this file contains 6 basic systems:  circulatory, respiratory, skeletal, digestive,muscular and nervous system.

 

The Internal Organs of the Human Body  (new!)

- the file includes 9 internal organs of the body: brain, pancreas, heart, lungs, kidneys, liver, stomach, small and large intestines.

 

The Skeletal System

- the file has 16 parts of the skeletal system.

Hope you get a copy! Thank you!

Have a lovely weekend everyone.