This seems kind of silly to me. I don't think it would work to be honest. Pencils are too rigid compares to straws. There is also typically a lot more friction in which they wouldn't be able to roll out as easily.
It works fine, from those I've seen. I don't know what purpose it serves besides being cute, though. And those dispensers are much more expensive than I'd have guessed.
I bet those dispensers are expensive. Perhaps a restaurant going out of business sale would be a great place to find one. If it did work, then I could see the value of not having those couple of kids who like to srand there at the pencil can "all day" trying to select the sharpest pencil. They would have to take the first one that came out.
All it would take it one kid to be a jerk and hit the dispense lever a dozen times to make a complete mess.
There are vertical straw holders that would work if you just want something with a lid. I've seen the idea on Pinterest and it looks cute but I doubt I'd spend the time and money on it. I wouldn't turn it down if I won it at a workshop or as a present though!
I have one. I love it. Although I teach kinder and really I'm the one who uses it because the kids keep playing with it. If I taught older kids it would be perfect, in fact when I taught first grade the kids used incorrectly and it wasn't a problem. It wasn't that expensive. It's a clear plastic and I paid 20.00 for it on Amazon.
Lol I was thinking the same thing. As far as for pencils, I don't see the point, it doesn't prevent students from taking more than one if that's what they want.