Today's neat find are these “Sprout” wood-cased pencils, which offer an eco-friendly alternative to wasteful plastic pens and mechanical pencils. They're made from certified and sustainably harvested wood to ensure they're carbon neutral, and each one is tipped with a decomposable cellulose capsule containing non-GMO seeds for various herbs, flowers, vegetables, or trees.

When you're done with a given pencil, you can plant it upside-down in a pot filled with soil. After a few weeks of regular watering, you should see sprouts starting to grow!

This is a fantastic way to get kids thinking about the products they use in a more cyclical, minimum-waste fashion. ♻️?

You can buy Sprout pencils in various amounts and seed types:

• Various packs of 5 ($10–$12 each) with different seed choices
• Various packs of 8 ($15–$16 each), also with different seed choices
• Pack of 12 ($22) that includes seeds for thyme, sage, daisy, basil, melon and forget-me-not
• Pack of 32 ($50) that includes seeds for sage, thyme, carnation, chia, coriander, daisy, forget-me-not, and basil
• Pack of 100 ($135) that contains 25 sage seeds, 25 thyme seeds, 25 forget-me-not seeds, and 25 basil seeds.

They also offer colored pencils that kids will love all the more.