TIME’s Best Inventions of 2022 include marvels in medical equipment, technology, gaming, toys, and more. This year, Safewell Essential was awarded a special mention for its Essential Pencils, the writing and drawing utensils that are made out of recycled paper and infused with essential oils. Essential Pencils also have a special Microban antimicrobial coating on them that stops bacteria and fungus from growing, so kids can share the pencils without worrying about spreading germs.
Each pack comes with six pencils featuring different scents, including lavender, peppermint, grapefruit, bergamot, jasmine, and cinnamon. The scents each have different effects: lavender for relaxation, peppermint for clarity, grapefruit for balance, bergamot for focus, jasmine for calm, and cinnamon for energy.
Kids can use the graphite Essential Pencils on homework assignments and tests, or pull out the rainbow of Essential Pencils colored pencils — which come in red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple — for coloring pages or artwork!
Stephanie Bowman, a special education teacher at La Costa Canyon High School in Carlsbad, California, and her husband Thomas, a former Hasbro employee, developed the Essential Pencils after Stephanie saw how essential oils helped her students destress during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Essential Pencils are available at safewellessentials.com for $9.99 per 6-pack. Whether kids use these pencils for doodling or their homework, they will think the Essential Pencils are *scent-sational!*