Daily tooth brushing habit

Introducing the after-lunch habit of tooth brushing has helped one kindergarten address challenges around oral hygiene and nutritious kai, fostering new habits and conversations among whānau, kaiako and tamariki. 

At Geraldine Kindergarten, Healthy Active Learning is delivered through WAVE – South Canterbury’s longstanding health promotion in education programme. Working in partnership, they are supporting kaiako to have a deeper understanding of health and wellbeing for ākonga – whether through embedding public health policy, strengthening community action, or creating supportive learning environments – all while weaving it into learning experiences like tooth brushing.

To start, ākonga practiced on a mouth model and were invited to brush their teeth in small groups. Now, this is a daily routine embraced by most ākonga, and leads to wider conversations around quality kai and inu in both the classroom and with whānau. 

“It' been awesome seeing the enthusiasm from our tamariki and whānau, Tamariki are asking to brush their teeth and feeling proud of their beautiful niho (teeth) and smiles. Whānau have shared how it is supporting tooth brushing at home too.”– Kaiako