Pre-K · Brushing & flossing
Brushing with a Grown-Up
Brushing is a team sport for little kids — a grown-up leads, you help, and together you brush morning and night with a tiny dab of fluoride toothpaste.
What you'll learn
- Students will state that teeth get brushed two times every day — morning and night.
- Students will show that a grown-up brushes with them and helps every time.
- Students will repeat the toothpaste rules — just a little dab, and spit, don't swallow.
Brushing your teeth is a team sport — and your grown-up is the team captain!
The brushing team
Little kids’ hands are still learning tricky jobs, so a grown-up brushes with you every time. Maybe they hold the brush with you, maybe they finish the spots you missed. That’s not baby stuff — that’s how smile champions train!
The three team rules
- Brush two times every day. Once in the morning after breakfast, once before bed. Morning brush, night brush — every day!
- Just a little dab of fluoride toothpaste. For big preschool kids it’s the size of a pea. Teeny-tiny — that’s all your teeth need!
- Spit it out — don’t swallow it down! Toothpaste does its job on your teeth, then it’s done. Give a big spit at the end, like a whale saying goodbye.
While you brush, the toothbrush visits every tooth: the fronts, the backs, and the bumpy chewy tops. A favorite song makes the visit fun — brush until the song is done!
Now grab your grown-up and show off what you know in the little quiz below. Go, team smile!
Print & go
Printables for this lesson
The educator plan includes objectives, standards, the step-by-step lesson, and a paper pre/post knowledge check with answer key. The family sheet is bilingual — English and Español on one page.
Standards alignment
Sources
Every health claim in this lesson comes from a primary source and is clinically reviewed before publication.
- Source: AAP HealthyChildren.org — Good Oral Health Starts Earlyaccessed 2026-07-28
- Source: American Dental Association — Toothpastes (Oral Health Topics)accessed 2026-07-28
- Source: ADA MouthHealthy — Brushing Your Teethaccessed 2026-07-28
Licensed CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 — free for schools and families to use, share, and adapt with credit (non-commercial, share-alike).
Healthy Smiles. Brighter Futures. · atomicsmile.org/learn
Brushing with a Grown-Up — Educator Lesson Plan
Learning objectives
- Students will state that teeth get brushed two times every day — morning and night.
- Students will show that a grown-up brushes with them and helps every time.
- Students will repeat the toothpaste rules — just a little dab, and spit, don't swallow.
Standards alignment (NHES)
- NHES 1.2.1 — Identify that healthy behaviors impact personal health. (Standard 1, Pre-K–Grade 2, NHES 2nd ed., 2007)
- NHES 7.2.1 — Demonstrate healthy practices and behaviors to maintain or improve personal health. (Standard 7, Pre-K–Grade 2, NHES 2nd ed., 2007)
Materials
- A demonstration toothbrush (soft bristles) and a tube of fluoride toothpaste
- A big smile puppet, tooth model, or stuffed animal to practice on
- A favorite short song for brush-along time
- Printed pre/post knowledge checks from this packet (one per child, read aloud, used twice)
Procedure
- Pre-check (3 min): read each question aloud and let children point or answer together. Collect the sheets to compare after.
- Warm-up (2 min): who brushed their teeth this morning? Hands up! When else do we brush? Before bed!
- Watch me (4 min): show a tiny pea-sized dab on the brush. Brush the puppet's teeth gently — front, back, and the chewy tops — while the class air-brushes along.
- Team talk (3 min): who holds the brush at home? A grown-up helps every time — because grown-ups are brushing coaches, and little hands are still learning.
- Rules rap (1 min): say it together — "Little dab! Brush all around! Spit it out — don't swallow it down!"
- Post-check (2 min): read the same questions aloud again and celebrate how much everyone knows now.
Knowledge check — photocopy this page
Give the same check before and after the lesson; class totals before vs. after give you a measurable outcome for reports and grants.
Name: ____________________________ Date: ______________ ☐ Before the lesson ☐ After the lesson
- How many times a day do teeth get brushed?
- Two times — morning and night
- Once a week
- Never
- Who brushes with you while you are little?
- Nobody
- A grown-up
- A dinosaur
- How much toothpaste goes on the brush?
- A whole tube
- A giant mountain
- A little pea-sized dab
- What do you do with toothpaste when brushing is done?
- Spit it out
- Swallow it down
- Save it in your pocket
- Which teeth does the toothbrush visit?
- Only the front ones
- Every tooth — fronts, backs, and chewy tops
- None of them
Answer key — teacher page
1. a · 2. b · 3. c · 4. a · 5. b
Sources
- AAP HealthyChildren.org — Good Oral Health Starts Early — https://www.healthychildren.org/English/healthy-living/oral-health/Pages/Brushing-Up-on-Oral-Health-Never-Too-Early-to-Start.aspx (accessed 2026-07-28)
- American Dental Association — Toothpastes (Oral Health Topics) — https://www.ada.org/resources/ada-library/oral-health-topics/toothpastes (accessed 2026-07-28)
- ADA MouthHealthy — Brushing Your Teeth — https://www.mouthhealthy.org/all-topics-a-z/brushing-your-teeth (accessed 2026-07-28)
Healthy Smiles. Brighter Futures. · atomicsmile.org/learn
Brushing with a Grown-Up
Tonight's healthy habit
Brush your child's teeth twice a day — after breakfast and before bed — with fluoride toothpaste: a pea-sized dab at ages 3–6, just a rice-grain smear under 3. Little kids can't brush well alone yet, so a grown-up brushes with them, and everyone spits instead of swallowing.
Try it tonight
Make tonight a brushing concert: pick a favorite song, and brush together until it ends — grown-up hand over little hand. Finish with the big spit and a "ta-da!"
El hábito saludable de hoy
Cepille los dientes de su hijo o hija dos veces al día — después del desayuno y antes de dormir — con pasta con flúor: un poquito del tamaño de un chícharo de los 3 a los 6 años, y apenas como un granito de arroz antes de los 3. Los niños chiquitos todavía no pueden cepillarse bien solos, así que una persona grande cepilla con ellos, y todos escupen la pasta en vez de tragarla.
Pruébalo esta noche
Hagan esta noche un concierto de cepillado: escojan una canción favorita y cepíllense juntos hasta que termine — la mano grande sobre la manita. Terminen con el gran escupitajo y un "¡ta-rán!"
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