Check out this DIY Stress Ball Pumpkin made with squishy balloons and flour! Learn how to make your own easy and cute DIY stress ball balloon craft for kids below!
Make a homemade stress ball with balloons and flour with your kids today– it’s cheap, easy, and all that squeezy-squishy action really is relaxing!
Why Make A DIY Stress Ball?
Why make a DIY stress ball, anyways? The answer is of my favorite words– sensory! Sensory experiences are incredibly enriching for kids and adults too! Stress balls used to be a really popular thing among adults, but parents are realizing they have a profound effect upon their kids too.
Even in the most laid back family, there are daily stresses that children have. They are little kids in a big world and they have a lot of feelings! It’s okay that kids need an outlet.
Part of being a parent is teaching our kids to process their feelings with self-control and express themselves in a healthy way. Squeezing a stress ball can certainly help with that!
If kids are in a stressful or anxious situation, squishing them can be very helpful. It can act as a stimuli to the part of the brain that is stressed and help it focus. In turn, the squeezing reduces feelings of stress and anxiety.
This motion can also help children focus on important things, like school work. If they are having trouble staying on task, using a stress ball can help a distracted child’s mind focus. FYI- some kids get really distracted by the stress ball.. you win some, you lose some!
How To Make A DIY Stress Ball
Because it’s fall (yay!), we opted to make a pumpkin, jack-o-lantern DIY stress ball. It’s such an affordable and simple project that we can make more later on that aren’t holiday/season themed.
It’s a really simple process. Gather up the following supplies:
- Balloons
- Funnel
- Flour
- Permanent Marker
A quick note about the filling material- we used flour, but cornstarch, powdered sugar, regular sugar, play sand, or table salt would all work well. Try out a few different options if you want to experiment with the different ways they feel!
Start by stretching an orange balloon out. Blow it up once and then let the air out. Then stretch the end of the balloon over the end of the funnel!
Once the balloon is in place, scoop flour into the funnel. Use ½ cup of flour to start. You’ll need to tap the side of the funnel or push the flour down with a pencil or the handle of a wooden spoon in order to help the flour go down.
When the ballon is looking full, don’t take it off the funnel yet! Massage the balloon and stretched it multiple ways and see if you can get even more flour get inside. The more full, the better!
Once you are content with how full your DIY stress ball is, SLOWLY pull the end of the balloon off of the funnel. Stretch it out and tie.
Last step- decorate! Use a permanent marker to draw a jack-o-lantern face!
A DIY stress ball can be a fun thing to enjoy even when there isn’t anything stressful going on. But for sure give it a try whenever your child is experiencing stress, anxiety, or hyperactivity– it might make a world of difference!
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