For a reason she never explained, my mom kept all of my baby teeth in a box in her drawer. Once I became an adult, she gave me this box like it was some sort of profound gift. Now that I’m a mother myself, I understand the box of baby teeth was profound. It simply meant more to her than it ever could to me. To me, the teeth were awkward and a little gross; but to her, they represented my childhood, the girl I’d been and the very literal parts of me that had grown inside of her.
Thus, when my daughters began to lose teeth, I initially kept them in a box, too—as a kind of loving homage to my mom. Unfortunately, I still didn’t find quite the same level of meaning in this tradition that my mom did, so I soon discontinued it in favor of crafting my own tradition: creating lost tooth scrapbooks. Packed with photos and letters, the scrapbooks bring me the same kind of joy that my mom’s secret box of teeth must have brought her. And hopefully, it won’t make my girls squirm the day they inherit them as adults.
Here’s how we did it, so you can create a lost tooth scrapbook with your kids!
Dedicate one book per child.
It may be tempting for financial or other reasons to combine all of your children’s “lost tooth stories” into one handy dandy scrapbook, but doing so doesn’t allow you to gift each child their own book someday. Head off the in-fighting by dedicating one scrapbook to each child’s journey. Michaels and Hobby Lobby sell quality scrapbooks, and there’s often a sale going on!
Start counting with the first loose tooth.
The first day your child announces they have a loose tooth, start counting the calendar days until it falls out. “Tracking” each loose tooth makes the process exciting and allows you and your child to compare these “data points” between different teeth, sparking a healthy curiosity about the human body. The shortest “wiggle time” my daughters experienced was four days. The longest was sixty!
Document when and where each tooth was lost.
My girls seemed never to lose a tooth in the same place twice. They lost them at school at lunchtime, in the middle of Language Arts class, or just before bedtime. Documenting the “circumstances” under which they lost each tooth proved a valuable journaling exercise, teaching them about descriptive writing and to become detailed-oriented students.
Encourage your kids to write letters to the tooth fairy.
Another writing exercise involves having your kids write letters to the tooth fairy—however you or they conceive of her—and if you’re up for it, writing letters back to them as the tooth fairy! Not only did my girls get more writing practice this way, but the letter in particular is a highly personal form of writing that encourages self-expression. Rather than tuck the letters under their pillows with their lost teeth, my daughters left their letters on the kitchen table, which is also where the tooth fairy left her responses. All of the letters made it into the scrapbooks.
Snap a photo of the new gap in their smile.
In addition to including a mug shot, you can include a photo of the tooth (before the tooth fairy claims it!) in lieu of keeping the tooth itself. Unless you’re into the box-in-a-drawer method, that is.
Today my daughters are happy, healthy teenagers with serious writing skills. Julia has been recognized in class for her poetry and also keeps a regular journal. Rebecca writes and illustrates graphic novels set in an elaborate fantasy world. I know I can’t take all the credit—but isn’t it possible the letters they wrote for their lost tooth scrapbooks had something to do with it? I like to think so.
Inspire your kids to get going on their own lost tooth scrapbooks by purchasing a copy of my tooth-fairy themed children’s book UNDER MY PILLOW.
