I was interested to learn that there is a new type of pencil from Fruit Shoot called Smencils. These are pencils that smell, they have a scent of different fruits.
They are made from 100% recycled newspaper and the packaging is recyclable.
I have very fond memories of using scented pens and pencils as a child. There is something special about being able to smell the scent as you draw. Smells have this ability to transport you to different places, whenever I smell lavender I am taken back to my grannies garden and my childhood for example. Smells have more of a significance for my son. He is autistic and as a result has a hypersensitive sense of smell. He can smell things that I would not notice. His sense of smell is so acute he can identify who a jumper belongs to just by the smell, we call him a human bloodhound.
I gave him the pencils and waited to see his reaction. The pencils are stored in plastic tubes which are biodegradable and guarantee to keep the freshness of the smell for two years.
I obviously have not had them long enough to test this, but with the pencils I had as a child the smell did fade rapidly so this is a good idea. Each tube tells you the smell of the pencil inside, if you need to know. When removed from the tube the smencils look like this:
The smell is lovely. It is fresh and fruity and quite strong. The Smencils I received were the original ones, so they are just grey pencils. They came in Tropical, Orange, Blackcurrant and Apple, Apple and Summer Fruit scents, the same as Fruit Shoots. You can also get coloured Smencils and Smens (scented pens).
When I gave them to my son his face was a picture. He could smell them though the tube and could not wait to use them. My son enjoyed using these and it actually encouraged him to do more writing. This is great as it is usually a struggle to get him to write anything, but having scented pencils definitely motivated him. He could write a paragraph in a different smell, an idea which appealed to him.The scent does not linger on the paper but we had fun finding out if it would.
There are 25 different scents including candy floss, bubblegum and an intriguing mystery scent. They are RRP £1.25 each or £5.99 for five but larger sets are also available.
If you are quick you can enter a competition to win one of ten sets of Fruit Shoot Smencils. The competition is the Learning Resource UK facebook page and ends on Friday 14th September 2012
Disclosure: I was sent a set of Smencils to try out but my opinions are my own.
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