Since 2013 Creative Homes have worked with 12 nurseries and early years settings, reaching 450 families so far in South London. Visits from our Tooth Fairy and Toilet Training Sailor support settings to improve independence and readiness for school through playfully encouraging healthier routines at home and nursery. Our playful approach and quality resources equip families and settings to approach personal care in new and fun ways, often improving communication between families, home and settings.
How to access our service
A visit from the tooth fairies
A one hour workshop for children accompanied by a caregiver includes:
A visit from the toilet training sailor
Sam, the toilet training sailor arrives at your setting lost with her parrot, who is desperate for a wee. Is there anywhere Polly can go?
Through an interactive story session Sam takes families on a toilet training adventure introducing games and songs that support families and nurseries to approach toilet training together in a playful way.
In-house staff training
The Creative Homes team offer bespoke training, giving staff a chance to learn how to use all our playful resources and discuss how to implement them in their setting. We also instigate staff discussions about how to improve communication with caregivers around toothbrushing and toilet training and how to measure the impact of our work together. A toolkit is provided.
“An interesting introduction to different ways to help children with toothbrushing.”
– Coin Street Nursery staff member
Our pilot study with Coin Street nursery children found:
- 33% were only brushing their teeth once a day
- 30% didn’t have a dentist or regular check ups
- 48% of parents had confidence or stress issues around their children's dental care
- 25% of under 5’s have dental decay in one tooth in south London boroughs.
After our tooth fairies visited Coin Street nursery:
- 100% increase in children brushing twice a day or more
- 55% of parents report a better quality of toothbrushing routine
- 100% of parents show an increase in skills and knowledge around dental care, healthy diet and tooth brushing
- 90% of nursery staff now trained and equipped with practical skills and resources to tackle dental care with families in their setting
The tooth fairies bring happier toothbrushing to Coin Street nursery
Dawn has two sons aged four and two who have tooth brushing tantrums every night which is becoming a big point of tension in the family.
“They scream and push the tooth brush away…they love eating sugary foods… I feel guilty but I find it really difficult to stop them with so much sugar everywhere”.
The tooth fairies visit the children’s nursery, Coin Street, to check on how well everyone’s teeth are being looked after. They inspire families to improve their toothbrushing routine through song, dance, stories and play.
“My son is more aware of what foods are good for his teeth and has a better understanding of the result of eating too much sugary food since meeting the tooth fairy at nursery”.
The tooth fairy helps brush 30 children’s teeth throughout the day. Each child goes home with a new toothbrush and tube of “Fairy Paste”. The original “tooth brushing song” is sent to all parents that evening by the tooth fairies so they can practice straight away.
“My daughter is totally committed [to tooth brushing] and wants to make the Tooth Fairy pleased”.
– David, Coin Street nursery parent
Dawn needs some extra help with tooth brushing so the tooth fairy pays the family a visit at home, repeating the songs, games and toothbrushing routine they learned at nursery.
“Tooth brushing time is fun now. It’s become a sort of family bonding activity and my son takes more pride in brushing his teeth”.
Creative Homes run a training day with Coin Street Nursery staff so they can continue to use the songs, stories and dances introduced by the tooth fairy in their setting.
“The Tooth Fairy project helps us (the staff) link in to our own creativity and play”.
– Deborah Kukathas, Deputy Head of Early Years Education at Coin Street
Coin Street nursery recognise the importance of the service and the great value for money it provides.
“An innovative project that has an impact on children’s lives and benefits their health and well being…it will have a positive knock on economic effect for the future”.
– Deborah Kukathas, Deputy Head of Early Years Education at Coin Street
