Oral Health and Teeth - How can we support our children to brush their teeth?

24th June 2025

Written by Emma Archer

Up and down the country every morning and every evening battles are happening. Parents are counting down from three and wondering what they will actually do if they get to zero. Others are begging and pleading and some will be threatening to take toys away. All of this because of the dreaded tooth brush. Let’s face it most children are just not really fans of having their teeth brushed.

So, what are the solutions? What is the answer?

We can’t work miracles, but we have got some great ideas and activities that might help.

A great way to start, is by encouraging children to be curious about teeth and oral health in general. Have conversations about what teeth look and feel like and why do we even have teeth in the first place? You can use our Conversation Cards as great prompts to get going with this!

Now, let’s think about it all from a child’s perspective…… Do children really understand why a plastic brush with bristles on, it is inserted into their mouth with a super strong taste of mint every morning and evening?

No, not really! They hear from us, ‘It’s so important!’ But to them, is it? Why is it?

So let’s start with that…

How do we support children to understand why we brush our teeth?

Firstly, it’s about having those conversations. Cleaning your teeth means strong teeth that can do their job of being able to break down food so that you can swallow and digest food. If we don’t clean our teeth, this can lead to decay and also, really bad breath... and no-one wants that!

So we can say this to children but to really engage them and to get them on board with us practical and visual activities are a great idea.

In our Enhanced Provision resources we have some really great activities that demonstrate in a very fun way, why cleaning your teeth is essential. There are more in our pack but we’ve included a couple of great ones below.

Stuck food!

Using an upside down ice cube tray insert playdough so that it becomes deeply inset within the gaps. Explain to your child or children how the ice cube tray represents the teeth and the playdough is the food. It has been a long day and now it is stuck in the teeth. Is it easy or difficult to get all of it out? Make it fun by timing them or seeing if they can get it all out within two minutes. You can make this slightly more challenging by using building bricks as the playdough will go in the holes.

Talk to you child, is it easy to get the playdough out? What would help? Could we use a brush? What happens if we add water (note – this will make the playdough very slimy but it will come out much more easily!)

If we left the playdough there for a long time what would happen to it? What happens to food if it is left for a long time?

What does this show us about our teeth? What would happen to our breath if the food was left in their a long time?

Stained teeth

This activity is a brilliant way to demonstrate what happens if teeth are left a long time without being brushed and why toothpaste is important. You can use upturned yoghurt pots or cut the bottoms off two litre bottles and then paint them a creamy white colour inside. Then, on the outside of the ‘teeth’ use pens or paints to represent food and drink. Do this with your child, they’ll enjoy this. Go for lots of different colours and talk about what each one could be e.g. ‘This is a nice brown cup of tea, this is a purple lollypop.’

Now, ask your child to try to get rid of the pen with just their fingers. Does this work? What else could we use? The idea is that you will get to the point with water which should work but by then adding some washing up liquid (to represent the toothpaste) you’ll really see the difference in how clean you can get these teeth. Again, ask the questions, ‘What if we just left the pen and paint there?’ Do you want your teeth to look like that all the time? Compare a clean tooth to a stained tooth.

Make brushing teeth fun!

What? How? You might well ask! Well, here are a few more ideas to try.

Lead by example, this might seem obvious but does your child see you brushing your teeth? By watching you and establishing a routine they are going to start understanding it’s importance in daily life.

Singing and songs! Have a fun family song all about brushing your teeth. We have a fun Rhyme in our Oral Health and Teeth resources that explores the actions and structure of brushing your teeth. By singing along it makes the whole activity seem more fun. Songs are also great alternatives to timers. Timers can sometimes add pressure whilst songs are fun, especially if your child is allowed to pick the song themselves.

Toothbrushes – Consider how your child feels about their toothbrush. There are some great designs out there. What is your child’s toothbrush like? Did they choose it? Does it have soft bristles?

Toothpaste - Is their toothpaste age appropriate? The age 0-3 toothpastes usually have a much more mild taste. You can also buy toothpastes in a range of flavours now.

Let them practise themselves. The NHS recommends that a parent/carer brushes the child’s teeth until the age of 6.* However, it’s great to let them have a practise so that they will eventually be pros at doing it themselves. Hold up a small mirror so that they can see what is happening as they brush their teeth.

We really hope that some of those ideas have been useful and that you are now feeling more positive and confident. There are even more ideas and activities in our full Oral Health and Teeth Pack including some fun colouring in and teeth themed counting style activities to continue the positivity and fun!