Toys in Mouths

In our class this year, we have several Bunnies who are still in the stage of putting toys in their mouths. I want to let you all know how we handle this at school.

In a classroom of three and four year olds, we have some games and toys with small pieces. Putting toys in mouths is a danger times two! Of course we want to prevent choking, but also, we want to prevent transmission of germs as much as we can.

In class, we have had many, MANY chats about what goes in your mouth and what doesn't. Our consistent message is: Only FOOD goes in your mouth. If we see a child put a toy in his or her mouth we promptly send him or her to the bathroom with the toy to "give it a bath" with soap and water and dry it off. We remind the child to keep toys out and only put food in. We even sometimes add in words like, "You put this toy in your mouth. I'm so sorry you had to stop playing to come wash this toy." We want to point out the natural consequence - it's not so fun to stop what you are doing to wash toys.

Please help us by reinforcing this message at home. We can have a bigger impact if we work as a team.