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Holistic therapies and homeopathic remedies have been gaining in popularity and use in recent years. I will reach for essential oils as an alternative before taking over-the-counter medicines. Even some hospitals have started to diffuse essential oils to reduce workplace stress and promote natural pain relief. Teachers can use essential oils in the classroom to help with student productivity and mood.
Disclaimer: Even though essential oils are touted as “all-natural”, make sure you get permission from your administrator and check with the school nurse for any allergies or sensitivities your students might have. TeachersPayTeachers even has a free download for parental consent to use essential oils.
When choosing essential oils, make sure the label says “therapeutic grade”. This means that the oil is pure and has not been diluted with other oils (unless specified) or alcohols. At first, you may balk at the high price of some essential oils. But remember that essential oils are highly concentrated, and you will only need 1-2 drops for it to be effective. A 15 mL bottle contains about 250 drops. It takes about 1,000 lemons to make 1 pound of lemon essential oil!
Although some essential oils are safe to use topically on the skin, I would not recommend putting essential oils on your students. It is much safer to diffuse the essential oils in the air, and everyone will still reap the benefits! You can purchase an inexpensive diffuser from your local health food store or from Amazon.
Here are some essential oil combinations you can use all day long:
Wake Up
1 drop Wild Orange + 1 drop Peppermint
Both Wild Orange and Peppermint are used to energize you. This is a good combination to use in the morning when your sleepy-head students are walking through the door and they need a little perking up.
Stay Focused
1 drop Lemon + 2 drops Rosemary
Rosemary is your go-to oil for enhancing memory and concentration. Lemon aids in alertness. This essential oil blend will help you and your students stay on task.
Calm Down
2 drops Lavender + 1 drop Vetiver + 1 drop Cypress
Lavender is known for its calming and relaxing properties. Combined with Vetiver and Cypress will give it an earthy aroma that will help ground and balance your students’ mood. This blend will be especially good after an exciting P.E. class or after an assembly when energy is running high.
Be Well
2 drops Cinnamon + 2 drops Clove + 2 drops Wild Orange + 2 drops Melaleuca (commonly known as Tea Tree oil)
During cold and flu season, you can diffuse this essential oil blend to help your class stay healthy. Cinnamon, Clove, and Melaleuca have antibacterial and antiviral properties. Wild Orange helps mellow out this spicy scent. You can also make your own cleaning spray by adding the oils to a spray bottle and filling it with distilled water. Just shake well before each use.
Test Taking
2 drops Grapefruit + 1 drop Spruce
Anxiety about tests can be a real struggle. You want to help calm your students’ fears without making them drowsy. Grapefruit and Spruce help to bring down stress levels, but also motivate and boost confidence.
I truly believe in the amazing benefits of essential oils. And anything I can use to help my students succeed, I will try out. During this past school year’s Common Core state assessments, I diffused some essential oils while proctoring the test. Afterward, one of the students came up to me and asked what the mist was and if that was where the smell was coming from. She said how much she enjoyed the aroma, and how great she felt about taking the test. She even asked where she could get her own essential oils to help her concentrate on her homework. It might just be the power of suggestion, but I will keep using essential oils in my classroom.
Please be careful with this and know your students medical issues before using any scents. Students (and teachers) with asthma and severe allergies can react badly to scents. As an aide, I walked into a classroom to help with testing and had to leave within 5 minutes due to a severe asthma attack caused by some sort of scent potpurri in the class. I ended up at the doctors for a breathing treatment.
Teachers have asthma and allergies as well. The school nurse doesn’t have their medical records and the administrator doesn’t, either. The last thing an asthmatic teacher needs is to have the teacher next door fill the hallway with the essential oil of an asthma trigger. Ending up on steroids with sleepless nights because of a fellow edicator’s whim is not fun. Please reconsider this suggestion. Please don’t practice homeopathic medicine at school. That’s not your job.
@CD
Therapeutic essential oils ease the symptoms of Asma, not increase it. Essential oils are not “perfumes” or synthetic sprays that agitate the bronchial system.
That is horrible! Any way you know how to stop the schools from using these oils. My niece’s child is having horrible problems with these oils and they won’t stop using them. Doctors notes to school stating these oils are causing problems and still won’t stop using them!
You are so right! I’m not sure why or how school staff have become certified experts to treat students with oils as They see fit..You can’t have it both ways..if they are using them to make students Calm..ect…I feel they need written permission to use them not all students are the same or react the same. If they don’t really have an affect..then why take a chance for them to be an irritant. As parents you wouldn’t allow cigarettes in the classroom.
What if you are wrong about these oils? Because you are wrong! Kids with Asthma CAN have problems with these oils!
Thanks for sharing great guide and good recipes . I have been using essential oils in my 5th grade classroom for almost 2 years. Students always want to have the seat closest to the diffuser! I mostly use Peppermint, I feel like having the oils in my classroom has done several things for me and my students all these years.
I have found it to be most helpful for students with Autism. Also, it awakens the brain in a way that I cannot begin to explain. There is no connection to the asthma and allergy that I have observed. Inhaling diffused peppermint oil can oftentimes immediately unclog the sinuses and offer relief to scratchy throats. Peppermint acts as an expectorant and provides relief for allergies, as well as colds, coughs, sinusitis, asthma and bronchitis. … Basil essential oil reduces the inflammatory response of allergens.
Essential. Oils are great. Mostly. But do be advised if you have an epileptic. Child in your classroom. As some oils can. Be harmful. To them such as rosemary and basil ect. Look to the doterra book to determine. What oils are not safe for epilepsy.
Good recipes, thanks for sharing.
For a long time the teacher brought his oil didduser, but it was small and we didnt notice anything. For large rooms where there are students its desirable to use an oil diffuser with a large capacity.
This is so stupid. I can’t believe the oil craze has gotten to the point that people endorse this stuff. Essential oils have no place in a classroom.
Kids can have horrible reactions to these oils. My niece is one of them! And….the school won’t stop using them despite the fact that she got a note from her doctor stating these oils WERE the cause of her problem.
I always ask my parents at the beginning of the year before diffusing oils in my classroom. There are a select few oils that one would have to watch out for. I do believe that as an educator, my students’ safety is priority. Thankfully, I have had parents that like the fact that I am diffusing oils. I have had less sickness in my classroom and have a high attendance rate because of less sickness. I only use DoTerra (Therapeutic blends).
I agree that having parental permission is crucial! I also believe that there is a HUGE difference between the “cheap” oils that claim to be therapeutic and high quality ones. In order to claim therapeutic, they only need to contain 3% of a given oil! I believe that’s why some people have negative reactions to oils.It’s all the fillers added to the so-called oil. I’ve had reactions myself from some of the cheaper oils I tried when I was first starting out with essential oils. Those oils ended up in the garbage!. I ONLY use high quality Doterra Oils in my classroom.Since using high quality oils, I’ve only seen positive effects on my students. My parents have been grateful for the use and I have also seen a huge decrease in absences due to illness.
Yeah… I know a kid who almost died because they were allergic to lavender and a teacher thought it would be great to diffuse lavender essential oils (from DoTerra, BTW). Be careful with this stuff.
There are no records of deaths from oils…there are from pharmaceutical meds. If the Lavender is not pure the additives could cause problems. Place the diffuser on intermittent setting. I am sure there is more to this child’s exacerbation of symptoms than just the inhalation of lavender. I am a critical care nurse and it is a shame alternatives and secular medicine cannot find common ground. Believe me I have seen medicine not at work….sometimes disheartening
While anaphylactic reactions are rare, there is evidenced based literature citing specific case studies. I am a certified aromatherapist and a huge advocate of essential oil use, but having worked in healthcare for 20+years, I also respect that rare risks are not zero. The best way for us to approach EO use is to take the time to get educated from a school endorsed by NAHA. Unfortunately, multi-level marketing companies are promoting information and applications that are not supported by professional aromatherapists. There are known safety risks with essential oils especially in younger children. I really advocate for individual use/personal devices like nasal inhalers rather that diffusing so that individual needs and risks and be respected while still achieving the benefits for those who desire them.
You are so right! I’m not sure why or how school staff have become certified experts to treat students with oils as They see fit..You can’t have it both ways..if they are using them to make students Calm..ect…I feel they need written permission to use them not all students are the same or react the same. If they don’t really have an affect..then why take a chance for them to be an irritant. As parents you wouldn’t allow cigarettes in the classroom.
It makes me sad to read the comments that are so strongly against oils in the classroom. Of course teachers need to be cautious and aware of kids who might be sensitive to them, but where is the outrage about Plug-Ins, Scentsy Burners, Perfume, Cologne and other fragrance that comes off of clothing and bodies all day long!!! If using pure, therapeutic grade essential oils you are FAR LESS LIKELY to have a reaction than from synthetic fragrance. My children come home with headaches often from the fragrance in their schools. We fortunately were able to pinpoint the daily (weekday only) headaches starting in the afternoon for my son to his teacher burning Scentsy in her classroom. Grateful a message to her explaining the situation resulted in her stopping and my son feeling better. Essential oils (real essential oils) are plants!!! Of course some people will have an issue, some people do with everything…but goodness, it’s far less likely than from the synthetic fragrance made up of thousands of “proprietary” chemical cocktails coming off the majority of the people in the classroom!!
I am a public school health and safety specialist for 18 years. Putting your favorite flavor of the month chemical into the shared air in a public building is not just unconscionable selfish, it might make people question your judgment regarding the rest of your responsibilities. ‘Essential’ does not mean no-toxic. There are people who do not wish to be impacted by your recent interest in treating your colleagues and pupils with your latest amateur aromatherapy skills. Save it for your home. We just want to breathe air. Deny any knowledge of ever even having considered such a foolish idea.
I disagree with any school or teacher infusing my child with any essential oil without my permission. A consent should always be obtained and the medical history of the child should be considered. Unless is ordered by a natural medical physician is a definitely NO!