Felt Leaf Diffuser Necklace: Autumn Family Fun with Essential Oils

The seasons and holidays are always celebrated in our home with making: cooking, crafting, and holding ceremony. 
As many of you know, I am a certified Aromatherapist. Of course oils than have a huge presence in our seasonal/holiday traditions.
I begin introducing my sons to oils when they are around a year and a half with personal inhalers and creating their own diffusers.
Children love little treasures they can stick in a pocket or other small hidden space. These fun necklaces allow for this and is a wonderful whole family activity creating:
🌟 Fine motor dexterity opportunities
🌟 Sensory exploration
🌟 Health benefits depending on the oils
🌟 Family bonding time

Let’s talk dilution....ALWAYS
I want you to feel safe, confident and knowledgeable about using essential oils properly with your children. Essential oils are powerful: they are nature’s DNA: organic chemistry. There is much to learn about combining oils together and then combining them with your organic chemistry and what the outcome can create. Bellow I have listed a few recipes you can make for your leaf diffusing necklaces.
Most importantly: dilute in a carrier oil.

Carrier oil: vegetable oils: cold pressed unrefined are what I recommend.
Some common varieties I recommend for this project: apricot kernel, sweet almond, grape seed, olive. 

Mixology

Drop by drop for safety and accuracy.
1% dilution ration: ages 1.5-5 years: I Tbs spoon carrier oil with 2-3 drops essential oil. 
2% dilution ration: ages 3-5 years: 1 Tbs carrier oil with 5-6 drops essential oil

A Few of My Favorite Autumn Recipes
These drop rations are not to the correct safety ratio for children: be sure to make your blend and then dilute the blend to the proper dilution safety ration.
All of these recipes are safe for your 2 + year old child. If you have a little one under two at home (you will see my younger 19 month old son in these pictures) I recommend using a single oil at the correct dilution ration.

18 months to almost 2:
Lavender
Mandarin
Sweet orange 
Roman Chamomile
Cedarwood Atlas
Palmarosa
Neroli
Ravensara
Make your diluted essential oil blend up prior to constructing your leaf necklace: more on this in the directions below

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Fall Wellness
3 drops palmarosa
1 drop tea tree
3 drop roman chamomile
3 drops ravensara
2 drops ginger

Sweet Dreams
2 drops lavender
4 drops cedarwood atlas
2 drops roman chamomile
2 drops sweet marjoram

No Stress
2 drops lavender
4 drops palmarosa
3 drops frankinscense
2 drops sweet orange

Joy
4 drops sweet orange
2 drop clary sage
1 drop ylang ylang
2 drop cedarwood atlas

Materials Needed

Enjoy the adventure of collecting:
Essential oil dropper bottle
Carrier oil
Essential oils
Scissors
Toothpick
Felt leaves or felt to cut leaves from
Scissors
Soft ribbon: we used recycled sari silk strips
Small earring hole punch or tapestry needle
Leaf themed or Autumn themed children’s book: you’ll see why in directions. 
Optional: large hole beads

Begin by making your essential oil blend in your essential oil dropper bottle. You can create your blend using drop by drop mixology or have your older child make the blend.

Cap the bottle and shake well for 1 minute: we single a silly song while shaking and do a little dance.

Now let your synergy blend sit while you construct your necklaces.

Let's Create!
1. Cut your desired necklace length + 6 inches: this gives space for knitting your leaf on and tying a bow in the back of the neck for wearing. 

2. Make your leaves: these small felt leaves we had on hand. You can easily cut your own from felt. If you are cutting your own: invest in a high quality thick felt.

3. Punch your leaf: you can do this using a hole punch or tapestry needle.

4. Thread your ribbon through your leaf hole: using the tapestry needle, thumb tack, safety pin, wood skewer, pencil point: anything sharp to help you get the ribbon through the hole.

5. Add optional bead: this can help hold the leaf in play so it lays flat against your body.

6. Oil your leaves: three drops to each leaf to the front side of the leaf. Do not apply oil to the backside as this could than transfer to clothing and leave an oil stain. 

7. Set the necklaces aside to dry. This is when you read your leaf/autumn themed children’s book. Read books for 5-10 minutes.

8. Wear your leaf necklace! 

These also make wonderful car/ room diffusers.
If you create them I would love to see! Please share or tag me on your instagram  so we can create together.
instagram: @barefootmothering

I hope you enjoy!
Warm autumn hug from my family to yours,
Carolyn ​