Summer is over and the kids have headed back to their normal routine of early mornings and late nights. Slumber parties and cookies will be replaced with homework and science projects. Dinners will become more rushed and breakfasts will be a lot less leisurely.

But before you throw away your lists of all the school supplies, you should also consider which essential oils you might need to stock up on…Because school time is germ time.

Any time you take a large amount of children, cooler temperatures, and poor hand washing, you are bound to bring home some germs. Save your family from the curse of the ‘Back to School Cold’ by making a simple hand spray out of essential oils.

Using oils such as oregano, peppermint, tea tree and lavender, you can create easy anti-germ combinations for use on everything from fingers and lunch boxes to toys and door handles. Add in a carrier oil (a base or vegetable oil used to dilute essential oils for better application to the skin) and you have yourself natural spray alternative to traditional disinfectant spray.

The best oils to use for this mixture are oregano and frankincense, but there are actually a large variety of germ-fighting essential oils that can be used to make a powerful germ killing spray. Here are just a few ideas:

• Oregano, frankincense, peppermint and a carrier oil
• Lavender, frankincense, tea tree and a carrier oil
• Eucalyptus, lavender, tea tree and a carrier oil

You can even pair one or two oils with some castile soap and water to make natural cleaning wipes.

Just like disinfectant spray, these oils won’t make up for good old fashioned hand washing, but every little bit will help your kids avoid the dreaded back to school cold.