North Carolina Early Learning and Development Progressions: Birth to Five

Domain: NC Foundations for Early Learning: Health and Physical Development (HPD)

Subdomain: Self-Care

Goal: Children develop independence in caring for themselves and their environment.

Skill Progression: Self-care

Age: 48-54 Months

Click here to go to all skills for ages 48-54 Months.

Thoroughly brushes teeth

Situations for Observation of Skill

Observe the child after a meal with toothbrush and toothpaste.

Elicitation Strategy

Provide the child’s toothbrush and toothpaste after eating.

Behavior Observed

Wets toothbrush, applies toothpaste, brushes all teeth well, rinses and spits.

Routines-based Intervention (Embedded Instruction)

Early childhood educators and parents should involve children in planning, preparing, setting up for, serving, and cleaning up snack, lunch, and dinner. This teaches skills of sorting, counting, etc., involves fine motor and gross motor skills, and teaches responsibility and self-care. Encourage adults to have children brush teeth and wash up after each meal.

 North Carolina Department of Public Instruction, 2015

©2015 by the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/.