Learning about teeth

 This month for our homeschool get-together our topic was Our bodies. When we learn more about our bodies I always find it so amazing the detail that God put into them! I had asked our chiropractor to come and speak for part of the morning which we all really enjoyed as he told about our spine and the nervous system and introduced us to an easy stretching routine which he called your spinal hygiene which is promoted by "Straighten up America". Here is a link to the instructions which he gave us. The kids and I have been doing it on school morning ever sense then and I like it.

 Each of the kids were also supposed to present something about a body part that they had studied. In our family Mara studied the Spleen, Jonathan the Ears, Aaron the Nose and Megan wanted to do the teeth. I decided I would tell you about Megan's presentation as I had fun helping her with it.

 We decided to make a puppet with teeth to help us with the presentation and then after we made a little puppet with baby teeth then Megan thought we had better have a big puppet with adult teeth too. We printed off this teeth diagram to help us make the puppets correctly and to learn more about the teeth.

 We made sock puppets so the supplies we needed were: A sock, a couple of thin cardboard pieces cut in an oval to give shape to the mouth (basically the jaws). I used an old cereal or cracker box for this. Red paper to coat the mouth with and make the tongue from. Some stuffing (I used some old bits of a sweater) for the top of the head, "spit" balls made from white paper to use for teeth. (Lay them on the diagram to make sure you have them correct.) Yarn for hair, buttons for eyes, red yarn for lips and a glue gun with glue.

 The head of the puppet will be at the toe of the sock. You put one piece of cardboard inside and the other work to squish the mouth in at the right place on the outside and then glue them together (with the sock in between). Glue the red paper in and the tongue and then start gluing in the teeth. I felt like quite a dentist at this point!

Add the hair and eyes and strips of red yarn for lips. Gluing everything in place. Add any more details that you desire. Have fun with your toothy puppets!

Megan and I told about the layers of the teeth, the fact that they had roots, when you got teeth and then when you lost them again and how many teeth people generally have.

She also brought quite a few items such as a toothbrush, floss, candy, pop, water, etc which she asked the audience whether it was good for your teeth or not.

 We had fun working together on this.

 Do you have any fun ideas to share about teaching your kids about the body? Something you have done either as a child or an adult? I always love to hear your ideas!