Homemade Stress Balls

Jelly Beadz stress ball.

Next time your child is studying the concept of volume, or maybe air pressure, why not make a stress ball?  It's an easy and fun way to work with measurement, and the result is a great sensory tool for kids who need to fidget with something while they work.

The easiest and cheapest stress balls are made by simply filling a balloon with flour, cornstarch, or sand, and tying it off.  Depending on the size of the balloon, you might need about a cup of filling material.

It doesn't work to just pour the material straight into the balloon-- there's not enough pressure to make the latex stretch.  Instead, use a funnel to pour the material into an empty water bottle.  (If the neck of the funnel is very narrow,  try stirring the flour in the top of the funnel, and/or poking a pencil through the hole until it all goes through.) Then blow up the balloon to about 1/4 of its full size.  Hold the neck of the balloon shut at the base, leaving as much of the neck free as possible.  Twist the neck once or twice to hold it, then carefully stretch the open end of the balloon over the mouth of the bottle.  Hold the balloon on the bottle while you turn the bottle over, letting the flour (or sand) flow into the balloon.  (It may not "flow" quickly; you may need to keep tapping the bottle till it all gets in the balloon.) Once all the flour is in the balloon, separate the balloon from the bottle, gently let all the remaining air out of the balloon, and tie off the neck of the balloon.

A more expensive, but much cooler,  version of the stress ball is made from water-absorbing Jelly Beadz.  I found mine online, a 1 lb bag for $17.  You only need 1/2 teaspoon of beads to make a stress ball, though, so a smaller bag would work fine.  Here's how it works:

Materials:

• 1/2 teaspoon Jelly Beadz (dry)
• 1 round balloon, about 12"
• 1 cup water
• measuring cup and spoons
• empty water bottle
• funnel

Procedure:

1. Place 1/2 teaspoon of Jelly Beads in water bottle, using funnel.*
2. Pour 1 cup of water into water bottle.  

   

   Air-filled balloon
   attached to water bottle.

3. Blow up balloon to about 1/4 its full size.
4. Hold the neck of the balloon shut at the base, leaving as much of the neck free as possible.  Twist the neck once or twice to hold it, then carefully stretch the open end of the balloon over the mouth of the bottle.  
5. Hold the balloon on the bottle while you turn the bottle over, letting the water and beads flow into the balloon.  You may need to swish the water in the bottle to loosen the beads.  If any beads stick to the bottle, let a bit of water back into the bottle from the balloon and keep going back and forth until the bottle is empty.
   
   

   

   Pouring water into
   the air-filled balloon.

6. Once all the water and beads are in the balloon, separate the balloon from the bottle, gently let all the remaining air out of the balloon, and tie off the neck of the balloon.  

   

   Air removed,
   balloon is ready to tie off.

   
   
7. Set the balloon aside for 3-4 hours to allow the beads to absorb the water.  When it is all absorbed, you have a very squishy, soothing stress ball.  

   

   These balls are all filled with Jelly Beadz.  The one on the left
   is made with a clear balloon; the others are regular colored balloons.

   *Note: another option is to pour the dry beads into the balloon before you blow it up, but I hesitate to try that with kids lest they inhale the beads.

Now, try these questions with your student: if you're studying volume,  try measuring the volume of the stress ball.  It was originally filled with 1 cup of water, plus a few tiny beads-- what should the approximate volume be?  Does the volume change after the beads absorb the water?  Why or why not?  How would you measure that?  (What would happen if you poured one cup of water into a two-cup measuring cup, and then dropped in the stress ball?)  What is the metric equivalent?  And why can't you just pour the water directly into the balloon without blowing it up and sealing in onto the water bottle?

Free On-Line Interactive Learning

Sorry, this is just a screen shot, not a real video.

 Want to learn math?  Try Khan Academy.  Want to learn a new language?  Check out Duolingo.

Both of these sites are well-thought out, free and interactive, offering user-friendly courses that guide you (or your student) through learning new material at an individualized pace.

Khan Academy is a non-profit educational site that offers K-12 math all the way through Calculus; it even has a math level with basic counting, addition, and subtraction.  It probably works best for kids who already have the basics down, however.   The site includes video lessons, practice problems (with hints and answers) and mastery challenge tests, and allows students to earn points and badges as they work through various levels.  It can be used for supplementary help (when homework just doesn't make sense), review, or as the basis for a homeschool math curriculum.  Parents, teachers, or tutors can create an account and add their children in classes so that they can monitor their progress, or the students can work on their own either using their own account or just accessing the lessons as needed the website.

If the wedsite is used as the basis for a homeschool math course, I would recommend the student be provided with additional practice on paper, a variety of drills, as well as real-world math activities.  For example, a student learning his multiplication facts would likely need practice outside of the website, whether flashcards, games, songs, or whatever matched her learning style.  A student learning to measure would need actual hands-on tools-- rulers, measuring cups, and scales-- and real things to measure.  Learning about angles would require having an actual compass to measure actual angles.  Even the occasional pencil-and-paper worksheet (free to download from many sites) helps the brain process the material in a way that the computer screen can't always match.

Duolingo provides instruction in your choice of 16 different languages.  (Mostly European-- there is Russian, Turkish and even Esperanto, but sorry, no Chinese or Arabic at this point.) After creating an account, you can also download an app for your mobile device for lessons on-the-go.  You can start from the beginner level, or take a placement test to see where you should start.  Your progress is tracked through many different lessons.  You can set daily goals of 5, 10, 15, or 20 minutes of daily practice.  As you progress through the lessons, you earn "lingots" to spend in the virtual store.  From the look of the progress chart on my screen, the lessons appear to cover the equivalent of a first-year course-- possibly two years at the high school level-- in a foreign language, at least as far as grammar is concerned.  I can't tell at this point how much vocabulary is involved.  Of course, if i were using the site as the basis for a homeschool foreign language course, I would supplement with additional reading, writing, listening and speaking opportunities.  Teacher's Discovery has a wealth of resources for the foreign language student, including beginning level readers, dvd's, music, games, etc.

I have just started using the Duolingo site myself, but it reminds me somewhat of Rosetta Stone in that it begins with pictures to identify.  Unlike RS, however, the lessons have you translating instead of learning by immersion.  For example, in the first few lessons of RS, you would hear the word in the target language along with a picture, and then later you would select the correct picture when you saw the word.  With Duolingo, I was asked to choose the word that meant "the woman," from several pictures labeled in the target language.  When I clicked on the correct photo, I heard the word.  Later, it asked me to translate the phrase and I typed in "the woman,"  then to label the picture, and I typed in the correct phrase in the target language. Obviously, this would not be the ideal program for someone who is a careless speller, but it was kind of fun.  And I like that the grammar is explicitly taught-- the lack of grammar is a common complaint with Rosetta Stone, or at least it was when I was using it years ago.  (Many people prefer RS precisely because it uses the immersion approach, which is the natural way that young children absorb language.  As an older learner, however, i like to know the grammar behind what i am learning so I can connect what I'm learning to what i already understand. Different strokes for different folks.)

So if you are looking for enrichment opportunities for you or your child, you might give these a try!  They are free and fun.

"Smart but Scattered"-- when your child isn't reaching his potential.

Procrastination.  Disorganization.  Immaturity.  Laziness.  Lack of focus.  Lack of persistence.  Low frustration tolerance.  No self-control.  Does your child seem to struggle with any of these?  Does it drive you up the wall?

Executive functioning skills are the "adulting" abilities that allow a person to begin and finish tasks,  manage time, and handle stressful situations calmly.  When children have glaring deficits in one or more of these skills, a parent may be at a loss as to how to help.  Dr. Peg Dawson and Dr. Richard Guare have developed a series of books that guide parents through not only helping their children and teens, but also to work on weak areas in their own executive functioning that might be interfering with their success.

Dawson and Guare list the following as executive functioning skills:

• response inhibition (impulse control)
• working memory (keeping track of things)
• emotional control
• task initiation (not procrastinating)
• sustained attention (focus)
• planning/prioritizing
• organization
• time management
• flexibility
• metacognition
• goal-directed persistence
• stress tolerance

We all have different strengths and weaknesses in these areas.  As we grow older, most of us either strengthen our weak areas or find ways to compensate for them.  For example, "working memory" is something I have less and less of these days.  To compensate, I write lists, leave notes, use electronic reminders, or put trigger items in a place where I know I will see them.  Task initiation is another weakness of mine.  While I fight procrastination daily, I manage it in various ways.  Dawson and Guare suggest starting small, and building in achievable rewards.  For example, when I find myself putting off cleaning the house, I can decide to clear off two tables and vacuum for 10 minutes, and then reward myself with a cup of fresh-brewed coffee and my favorite creamer.

In some cases, weak executive functioning skills go hand-in-hand with learning disabilities, but once the skills are addressed and strengthened, the student is better able to compensate for his learning issues.  Soberingly, Dawson writes, "weak executive functioning puts (students) at risk for compulsive, addictive behaviors, including substance abuse, unprotected or random sex, gambling, eating disorders, self-mutilation, preoccupation with appearance, emotional difficulties such as mood swings, suicidal thoughts and aggressive behaviors, and poor academic planning and success." (See more here.)  So waiting for your child to grow out of his problems and magically acquire the skills he needs is not always a safe way to go.

Part of good parenting is helping our children build competence in executive functioning skills, so that they can eventually live on their own and keep a job successfully. Some parents have the same strengths and weaknesses their child has, while others have very different ones; either way, there is help.  For parents of elementary through middle school age students, Smart but Scattered is an excellent resource.  Then there is Smart but Scattered Teens.  Smart but Scattered Guide to Success is for the adult who would like to improve his own executive functioning.  All of these are available on Amazon kindle, or in hard copy from the publisher.

In these books, the authors explain that there are basically three ways to help a person with weak executive functioning:  change the environment, teach the skills, and provide incentives.  For example, if your child has trouble keeping her room clean, you could:

1) Change the environment by providing specific organization and storage helps in the room-- a laundry basket, labeled toy bins, bookshelves, closet organizers, and school supply caddies.

2) Teach the skills of organizing, task initiation and item management by first showing the child (or helping him develop) a step-by-step process for cleaning: make the bed, put dirty clothes in hamper, clean clothes in designated closet or drawers, put trash in trash can, place toys in designated storage, dishes and other stray objects in appropriate places, books/papers/school supplies in designated places, vacuum floor.  Provide (or help child make) a checklist, set of task cards, picture board, or whatever suits his level of maturity.  Finally, provide reminders and support until the child is able to complete the task consistently on his own.

3) Provide your child with incentives that are both appropriate and motivating.  A four year old might be spurred on by, "Let's pick up your toys, so we can go to the park and play!"  A fourteen year old might be more motivated by, "When your room is clean, you may go to the movie with your friends." Different children are motivated by different things, and these books provide suggestions for tailoring the incentive to the child.

You may know adults whose specific executive functioning weaknesses have been crippling, sometimes leading to financial ruin, job loss, divorce, and other disasters.  Others may just be frustrated by their own disorganization or procrastination tendencies.   The skills of competent adult behavior can be taught, and these books can help parents do just that.