Emoji Stress Balls
Here’s an activity I tried with my daughter. We made stress balls. It was extremely easy to make and uses materials that you probably already have at home. Stress balls are fun for kids to play with. Children like squishing them and stretching them. They help reduce stress because it gives the child something else to focus on when a situation or something may be bothering them. Stress balls are also great for strengthening hand and wrist muscles. This in turn will help children develop their fine motors skills, like printing or drawing or gross motor skills like throwing a ball.
All you need is balloons, markers, rice and a funnel to make the emoji stress ball.
Take your balloon and blow it up slightly. Hold it at the neck of the balloon, so the air doesn’t escape. I twisted it to hold the air in and my daughter used a clip to hold the air in, while she drew on the balloon.
Take your marker and draw an emoji face on it. You can google emoji faces for kids to look at or they can look at the emojis on a texting app. Also, it doesn’t have to be an emoji face, it can be a design or whatever your child wants to draw. After you draw the face, let the air out of the balloon and let the face dry on the balloon.
Attach the balloon to a funnel and pour rice into the balloon until it is full, just to the neck of the balloon. Once it is filled, tie a knot at end of the balloon and your stress ball is ready to play with.
Please note, some of the steps may require some help from an adult or an older sibling. Also, you can experiment with filling the balloon with different materials, such as flour, sugar, beans or whatever you think would be fun to squish and destress with. Have fun!!!!!