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?