Another popular preschool and school-age storytime talks about teeth, putting your tooth under the pillow, the Tooth Fairy, and visiting the dentist. We make Tooth Fairy wands from a wooden chopstick, decorated with tissue paper streamers.
Two books with facts on tooth customs:
Brill, Marlene. TOOTH TALES AROUND THE WORLD.
Beeler, Selby. THROW YOUR TOOTH ON THE ROOF. Both of these could be used to find out what traditions happen in our diverse Bay Area families regarding lost teeth.
Stories:
Brown, Marc. ARTHUR’S TOOTH. Arthur is the last one in his class to lose a baby tooth.
Birdseye, Tom. AIRMAIL TO THE MOON. Ora Mae is sure someone has stolen her tooth, before she has had a chance to leave it for the tooth fairy.
LeSieg, Theo (Dr. Seuss). THE TOOTH BOOK. A simple Dr. Seuss rhyming rap on teeth.
Falwell, Cathryn. DRAGON TOOTH. Sara’s father offers to pull her loose tooth.
Carson, Jo. PULLING MY LEG. Uncle gets the hammer, pliers, and other tools to jokingly pull a loose tooth.
MacDonald, Amy. COUSIN RUTH’S TOOTH. The family gets into a commotion over Ruth’s lost tooth.
Gomi, Taro. CROCODILE AND THE DENTIST. In this very fun short tale, both the dentist and the crocodile are afraid of each other. Kids will call out the repeated phrase.
Steig, William. DOCTOR DESOTO. This classic is a little long for preschoolers, but is full of action and humor.