Got Stress? Make Your Own Stress Ball!
Let’s face it. Sometimes stress happens. And telling ourselves not to be stressed . . . well, that might just make us more stressed!
Instead, it’s good to have an outlet for the nervous energy that can go along with stress. And that’s where a homemade stress ball can come in handy.
Stress balls, if you’re not familiar with them, are small squishy balls that fit nicely in your hand, that can be squeezed, tightly squeezed, fiercely squeezed, and then squeezed some more! You can give them angry squeezes! Frustrated squeezes! Nervous squeezes! Add the stress adjective of your choice! With some more exclamation points!!
I’m getting stressed just writing that.
But seriously, these little balls are indeed a simple and harmless way to have an outlet for stressful emotions rather than letting them build up and manifest in some other way we might regret later. With a few simple supplies and a few minutes of time, we can give ourselves some DIY stress relief (without alcohol) haha. Yes, this solution is more appropriate for all ages.
How To Make A Stress Ball With Flour and A Balloon
To make our own stress balls we’re going to use some pretty basic supplies. You will need:
- Balloons (Mine were 9″, bought at the dollar store)
- An empty water bottle (or other bottle with a small neck opening)
- Flour
- Funnel
- Sharpie Marker & Small Amount of Yarn (If you want to add a face and hair)
- Pour 3/4 cup of flour into your bottle. A funnel makes the job go easier.
- Next, blow up the balloon a little bit, and put it over the neck of the bottle. Make sure some air stays in the balloon. Then transfer the flour from the bottle into the balloon. This will probably take some tipping back and forth, some tapping of the bottle, and a wee bit of patience.
- Once all the flour is in the balloon, remove the balloon from the bottle and slowly let the remaining air out of the balloon. If you go too fast, the air could blow too much of the flour back out.
- Tie a knot on the balloon, ( little bit of flour might come poofing out when you do this, that’s OK).
- Draw on a face using a sharpie marker. I googled “cartoon faces” under google images for a few ideas. You can also add some yarn hair using the method in the picture below.
- And then your stress ball is finished!
Putting Homemade Stress Balls To The Test
Stress balls are a nice size that fit in the palm of your hand so you can do some aggressive squeezing to release your anxieties and frustrations. That’s how I use these stress balls too – just your basic squeezing and squishing around.
BUT, I recently gave one of my little stress balls to my 5 year old grandson when he had a case of the grumpies. And a 5 year old uses them slightly differently! First came all the stretching in every which way, then the punching and the poking, then came the smacking and the flattening. The little’ole stress ball took it all and hung in there. A few little strands of the yarn hair fell out, and the face I drew on faded off a bit, but the ball was still intact.
But just as importantly, after he was done with the stress ball, my grandson went back to playing and he really did seem happier again. I think it truly did get out some of his frustrations.
So although I’m sure these stress balls are not completely indestructible, I think they can take quite a bit of wear and tear and will hold up pretty well under the stress they are intended to take.
Why not make a few today and let them take the stress . . . not you!
Homemade Balloon Stress Balls
Materials:
- Empty Disposable Water Bottle
- Funnel
- Balloons (I used 9")
- Flour
- Sharpie Marker & Scraps of Yarn (if you wish to add a face)
Instructions:
- Measure out 3/4 cup of flour. Using your funnel, pour the flour into the empty water bottle.
- Blow up the balloon a little bit, and put it over the neck of the bottle (that now contains the flour). Make sure some air stays in the balloon. Then transfer the flour from the bottle into the balloon. This will probably take some tipping back and forth, some tapping of the bottle, and a bit of patience.
- Once all the flour is in the balloon, remove the balloon from the bottle and slowly let the remaining air out of the balloon. If you go too fast, the air could blow too much of the flour back out.
- Tie a knot on the balloon ( a little bit of flour might come poofing out when you do this, that's OK).
- You can then use a sharpie marker if you wish to draw on a face.
- You can also add some yarn hair to your balloon. To do this, wrap yarn around your fingers about 12 times to create a small bundle. Tie the bundle together in the middle using another longer piece of yarn. Once the yarn bundle is tied together, cut the loops open on each end using a scissors. Tie the yarn bundle onto the top of balloon under the knot.
Could you use sand instead of flour?
Yes, I think you could use sand instead of the flour as it is also a somewhat soft, loose ingredient that should squish around OK inside of the balloon.
Hilarious that the yellow one looks like Boris Johnson
Now I am going to think about that every time I look at the yellow one! haha 🙂
I love the idea of stress balls. I’m making some today. Lord knows we are all STRESSED at this time. Thank you and the keep the ideas coming. I love making my own anything from food the clothing.
I would double the balloon if this is possible.
Are we allowed to make and sell your ideas? I would like to use them for fundraising.
For this particular project I think it would be OK Ann, as it’s kind of a basic idea that’s been around for awhile.
Wonderful idea and so easy!!! As a gray haired computer user, I thank you for this quick and simple way of stopping myself from wanting to throw a fit of frustration when learning more fun ways to use my computer, cell phone, smart TV and so on…. great gift idea for little ones going through medical test…..
Yes, I find these little stress balls can come in handy when technology is giving me frustrations!