Clubhouse "Teeth"

A few hard boiled eggs, some jars, and a couple of items from the refrigerator. 

Thus begins our Dental Health Month adventures.

I have read about a variety of experiments using eggs in a jar, and in those readings I have seen a lot of arguments saying that the scientific similarities between teeth and eggs are not enough to validate said experiments, and so on and so forth. To that I reply: This is Preschool. We paint the Sun Pink and decide a Hippopotamus can fly. We learn using our imaginations, and creativity is our science. So if you want to debate whether or not this experiment is scientifically valid, you just try to get pass our flying hippo :)
I hard boiled the eggs much earlier in the day, and let them soak in cold water until we were ready for them. During lunch we started our discussion about our teeth. We talked about how we were using them to chew our bananas and bite our sandwiches. The kids remembered when they were "little babies" and they could only drink milk because they didn't have any teeth. We explored what kinds of things we would not be able to eat if we didn't have strong teeth to chew them. The conversation was the perfect way to prepare for our "science experiment".

Back in the classroom the conversation continued. One of my favorite things about teaching Preschool is how much they already know if you just let them talk. So easily they can be guided right into teaching themselves a lesson, and often times teaching me one too!

We started by tapping our teeth and talking about how they felt.

"My teeth are hard!" (Our most popular answer.)

"My teeth are strong like my muscles!" (Let the muscle flexing ensue.)

"My teeth tickle when I touch them!"
(Um, ok?)

Then we passed around our eggs, looking at what color they were.

The same color as our teeth!
Wow, what a coincidence ;)

Tapping the eggs, we talked about how they felt.

This is where Scientists may argue this experiment is misleading, and tooth enamel is very different than the shell of an egg. We know that Mr. Scientist. We also know volcanoes don't really erupt baking soda and vinegar. Like I said, this is Preschool.
Our teeth are hard and white, and so are the eggs. Correlation developed. We now have teeth to experiment with.

Enter the Coca Cola, Vinegar and Orange Juice. We poured them into their respective jars and talked about what they were. All the kids knew what the Coca Cola was, and some even wanted to drink it. When asked if it is good for our teeth to drink it, there was some debate. Good thing we have a "tooth" to test this out for us. Then we talked about how the Vinegar is like the bacteria that builds up in our mouth, a.k.a "mouth germs". If we didn't brush our teeth and we just let all of the mouth germs live in there, what would happen to our teeth?

As for the Orange Juice, here at the Clubhouse we rarely drink juice because even sugar free does not mean sugar free. When we do have juice, it is so diluted you may as well call it flavored water. Juice has a lot of sugar, and sugar isn't good for our teeth, right?

Yes, that's a little hand pouring the juice into the jar. I let the kids do all the pouring.

Yes, that's an orange juice spill on the table. It happens when I let the kids do all the pouring.

We added our "teeth" to their jars and set them all up. We talked about how we will open the jars in a few days and see what happened to our "teeth".

Will they still be hard?

Will they still be white?

Will they still be strong?

Those are the questions we look forward to answering in a few days.
You want to know the answers too?

You'll have to come back to find out ;)

Anyone else feel like brushing their teeth?

Ms. Liz

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