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Delta Dental writing tips

Writing tips

If your kids like to write, encourage them to create stories about their teeth, their dentist and other experiences. Use these tips to make the writing process fun for everyone. 

Get started

Sometimes starting a story is the hardest part. Help kids ease into writing with these simple exercises:

  • Tell a story about going to the dentist. Are you a little nervous? Are you very brave? Use lots of description and plenty of action words.
  • Write a story about the Tooth Fairy. Where does she live? Does she have a name, other than Tooth Fairy? What does she do with all of those teeth? What does she look like? (Or is the Tooth Fairy a he?)
  • Tell a funny story about losing a tooth. It can be a true story, or you can make one up. We know a girl who lost her first tooth at a birthday party. She bit into a gooey chocolate candy bar. When she took the candy bar out of her mouth, her tooth was sticking straight out of it!

Make writing exciting

These exercises can help your kids express themselves and find joy in their stories:

  • Be descriptive. You could write: "The girl had curly hair." Or, you could say: "Samantha's hair looked like dozens and dozens of Slinkys and bounced wildly as she walked."
  • Use plenty of action words. Instead of saying "The boy stubbed his toe and said 'Ow'," try this: "Andrew sped through the living room, smashed his big toe into the side of the coffee table and hollered. 'Ouch!' he yelled. 'Ouch, ouch, ouch, ouch, why the table and not the couch?'"
  • Think of all five senses as you write. Imagine that your friends are reading your story. How can you be sure to keep them interested? Describe things in your story, so that your friends can see, hear, taste, smell or touch them. A lemon is yellow and can definitely be sour, but isn't it more interesting to say that a lemon is the color of midsummer sunshine and is so tart and tangy that your entire face puckers?
  • Have fun with words. You can make them rhyme, sing or dance across the page. Imagine how your story would sound if it were sung, instead of spoken. Or make one of your characters speak only in rhymes (and drive the other characters bonkers!).

Explore poetry

Poetry is easy once kids know the rules. Here are two types of poems that your kids can try:

  • A limerick is a funny poem of five lines. The first, second and fifth lines rhyme, and each of these lines has nine syllables. The third and fourth lines rhyme with each other, and each of these lines has six syllables.

    For example:
    There once lived a girl named Anna-May
    Who so loved eating candy all day
    Her mouth began rotting
    Loose teeth friends were spotting
    But good hygiene can save her. Hooray!
  • A haiku is a three-line poem that doesn't need to rhyme. The first and third lines have five syllables and the second line has seven syllables.

    For example:
    Ann may have nice teeth
    One day. If she starts to brush
    And floss right away.

    Jack will eat candy.
    But won’t ever brush, so he
    Will get cavities.

What is a syllable?
A syllable is a unit of sound containing one vowel and its surrounding consonants when you say a word. For example, tooth has one syllable (tooth), dentist has two syllables (den-tist) and enamel has three syllables (e-na-mel).