DIY Stress Balls

My 4th grade Intervention group that is full of angst by the time class roles around. They have a long morning schedule and then come to my room right after lunch and recess. We have squishy dinosaur someone left behind after a field trip which provides a lot of "relaxation" to those who need it. In fact he has been needed so much so that his neck and feet have suffered a bit! I really should take a picture of the sad dino!

Whenever I have been on Pinterest lately, (which is way to often!) I keep seeing stress balls that you can make yourself! I decided to give it a try as 1 dinosaur is not enough for my group of 12! I hopped over to Somewhat Simple's site to see how to create these!

All I needed was balloons and playdough so off I went to the Dollar Store! $2.00 later I was all set!


I am a bit impatient, so rather than rolling out the dough, I simply stretched the balloon as wide as I could and shoved in the ball of dough. I ended up with a lot of dough under my fingers and on the floor, but it worked! I decided to put a 2nd balloon over each, just in case my students are having a really bad day!

All together it took about 15 minutes which I thought was pretty good! I decided against drawing faces on them, partly because I am no kind of artist! Plus I am not sure if it would stay on the balloon that well. I wouldn't want my students to be walking around with melted smileys on their hands!

My students really enjoyed using these today - we had to rotate them throughout the room so everyone could have a chance! I am assuming the novelty will wear off soon, or else I will be head back to the Dollar Store to make a few more!

Hop on over to Tara's blog to see the rest of the Monday Made Its!



What do you use to help de-stress your class?

12 comments

  1. I just love these.....I really needed one of those last year....I had a student who could have probably benefited from using this and maybe my room wouldn't have gotten trashed if he had had one:/ I totally want one for me too!!! Especially this time of year!!!! Thanks for linking up:)))

    4th Grade Frolics

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    1. Thanks! I really think/hope it will help! I know, I am sure there are times when I will be reaching for one for myself!! ;) Have a great week Tara!

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  2. How fun and crafty of you! I totally would have jammed play-doh in there too, and gotten all that junk under my nails as well, but mine aren't pretty like yours probably are so it'd be ok. ;O)

    Great idea and I bet your fourthies love them! Thanks for sharing!!!
    Have a great week!
    Amanda
    Collaboration Cuties

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    1. Thanks Amanda! You have to love pinterest! Hehe, thankfully I did it Friday afternoon when my manicure was already a disaster! The kids love them, even my 5th graders!! Have a good week! :)

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  3. My kids made stress balloons as part of their spring fundraiser. We used balloons and flour. I was going to post it as a DIY this week. It was such a big seller that we had to take orders and make more. If you want something that is fun and easy to make, this works really well.

    Charlene/Diamond Mom
    www.diamondmomstreasury.weebly.com/blog.html

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    1. Cool! One of my students said she made one with flour with her mom. I will definitely check it out when you post about it!! :)

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  4. Wow! How fun and creative. I would have never thought of that. :)
    Brandee @ Creating Lifelong Learners

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    1. Thanks! It would be a fun activity to do in class too, messy, but fun!

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    1. Thanks, or rather, thanks to pinterest!! :)

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  6. This sounds like a great idea. I think I may have to make some for my stressed out kids. Or maybe for ME!

    -Maria

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    1. They really do work well, my 5th graders even said how great it felt! I must admit, I love them too!

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