How to Use Essential Oils in a Classroom

Teachers. I can’t think of a more worthy profession that needs our support with all of the budget cuts we have had in recent years. More and more teachers are in need of things to help them destress, help with headaches, and something to even boost their immune system during cold season. For those reasons and more, I recently had a chat on social media about using essential oils in the classroom discussing diffusing and safe alternatives for diffusing.

Let’s face it, essential oils have become more mainstream. I don’t know of anyone who has not heard about them. The benefits of essential oils seem to be all that is talked about! Some of us know that there are more to essential oils than just the benefits, but to well-meaning teachers and parents, there is a so much that may not be known. So for now, I am going to focus on how we can use essential oils in a classroom.

Personal Use in the Classroom

As many of you know, not everyone will react to essential oils the same way due to dose, age differences, medications and medical conditions. For this reason, it is important that we use essential oils in the classroom in a manner that is unique and personalized for only ourselves.

A few ways include the use of personal aromasticks or aromatherapy inhalers. They are perfect for just about everything from easing the perception of pain from stress headaches to even immune support. They are fairly easy to make, too! The best part about these neat little essential oil tools, is that they are small enough that you can keep them in your pocket, your purse, etc. They travel very well! I wrote an article about them here if you are interested in learning more about personal aromasticks.

Another option is to utilize aromatherapy jewelry. There are so many options available on the market these days! From bracelet pendants to lava bead bracelets or lava bead necklaces to silver pendant necklaces and even terra cotta pendant necklaces, the options are virtually unlimited. They all work the same in that you only need a single drop or two of your essential oil or blend on the jewelry to reap the benefits of essential oils. With jewelry, once you have added your essential oils, you can just lift it to your nose whenever you need them. The best part about these is that they can be somewhat stylish and again easy to use.

An option that we sometimes forget is that we can add a drop of essential oil to our clothing. The best place to do this is to add it to the collar of your shirt or the end of your sleeve by your wrist. This way you can either enjoy the aroma throughout the day (until it wears off) or when you need it.

One last easy option that really is a favorite of mine (when my hair is a little longer) is to make an aromatherapy hair oil. I use argan oil, whatever essential oil or blend I want to utilize during the day, and an antioxidant if I make an ounce or more. When blending, use no more than a 2% dilution for the essential oils. Note that the antioxidant to the batch to ensure the product does not oxidize before you can use it all. Once you have made your aromatherapy hair oil, just add it to the tips of your hair!

Cleaning in the classroom

There are multiple options for cleaning with essential oils, but in this instance, I am not going to offer recipes. Instead, I want to focus on safe use of essential when cleaning the classroom. Again, we don’t know how every student will react to essential oils, so this brief set of guidelines will help you to create a safe and clean learning environment for your students if you are a teacher or parent helping in a teacher’s class.

If you choose to use products with essential oils in them, the best time to use them is right after school. This is important for a couple reasons. The first reason being that it gives the essential oils time to air out and dry.

• Cleaning when the kids have gone home for the day ensures that no student will come into contact with potential essential oils that can have an adverse reaction.

The second reason is that it prevents students from potentially taking home backpacks and other items that have been dosed with essential oils unintentionally.

• It decreases the risk of exposing your student’s family to something they may have a severe allergy to or prevent an adverse reaction because of medications or conditions otherwise unknown to you.

I sincerely hope you find these tips helpful. I know many parents and teachers who wish they knew these tips to help each other create a safe, clean and stress-free environment for the teachers and students! If you want to catch the back to school chat video I made, you can watch it below.

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