This easy craft for kids is the perfect way to ease back to school stress! These DIY stress balls are easy and fun for kids to make. I love how you can make each one unique.
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My oldest and youngest daughter thoroughly enjoyed making stress balls at the end of the school year. They found the process very relaxing, and all four kids enjoyed playing with the resulting stress balls all summer long. All transitions are stressful, and going back to school can create a lot of stress and anxiety for kids. This simple craft is an excellent way to de-stress! You’ll find a few of our other favorite de-stressing activities at the end of this post.
DIY Stress Balls Tutorial – Make These to Ease Back to School Stress!
What You'll Find on This Page
DIY Stress Ball Materials
- Balloons. Depending what you put inside, you may want to double up on balloons.
- Filling. My kids used rice, glitter, and cotton balls for theirs. The different materials create very different experiences! You can also fill stress balls with homemade gak.
- Funnel. We used one from IKEA that is normally used as a bath toy in our house.
A Sensory Craft to Reduce Back to School Stress
Stress balls provide excellent sensory feedback. Making stress balls is also a great sensory experience! My girls tested out different fillings, and watched the fillings fill up the balloons.
Rice was their favorite filling, but they all agreed that it they most enjoyed having sensory balls with different textures to move between.
I realized I never took photos of the completed balls; thankfully they made a cameo appearance in my post about the kids’ pretend stores. Emma wasn’t selling them, but she did include them in her shop for customers to play with while reading a story. Can you spot them in the lower left corner? Emma used an ultra fine Sharpie pen to add swirls to one of the completed stress balls.
More Ways to Ease Back to School Stress
Change is stressful, and heading back to school is a big change! Here are some of our other favorite ways to help kids cope with back to schools stress:
- Calm activities to help kids decompress after school.
- Let the kids lead a family walk.
- One simple way to help anxious and explosive kids.
How do you help your kids cope with back to school stress? I love to see photos, suggestions, and ideas in the comments below and on my Facebook page. You can also tag me on Instagram.
MaryAnne is a craft loving educator, musician, photographer, and writer who lives in Silicon Valley with her husband Mike and their four children.
Great fidget toy too!
I need to have my kiddos make some, it’d be a great arsenal in my “don’t be distracted” toolkit.
Yes! They are great fidget tools.