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We’ve had lots of fun lately making sensory stress balls out of balloons at home!
What’s super fun about these homemade DIY sensory stress balls is that once you have it down on how to make them, you can vary it up in many ways.
These stress balls are a great fidget toy for busy hands. They can help kids to de-stress and self-regulate their emotions. They can also just be fun sensory toys to be used everyday.
Hopefully they’ll have a calming influence, bring a little comfort and help release tension when needs. I know my kids just find them super satisfying.
We are sharing are 3 favorite balloon stress balls that we’ve made.
But be creative and come up with ideas to add in your own. Feel free to share what you’ve tried in a comment.
How to Make a Color Changing Sensory Stress Ball with a Balloon
These homemade stress balls will change color when you squeeze them!
They are pretty simple to make with just a few basic supplies, my kids had a blast putting these together all by themselves! And then played with them for hours!
We chose to do it outside because the cornstarch can get messy!
I’m sure the kitchen would be just as good. Maybe with a shower curtain on the floor or something.
Supplies Needed to Make Color Changing Stress Balls with Balloons:
- 1 cup cornstarch
- 2/3 cup water
- Colored balloons
- Empty bottle with cap
- Food coloring
- Funnel
- Spoon or scoop
- 1 cup measuring cup
You’ll want to choose primary colors for the food coloring and balloon so that when combined they will create a secondary color.
For example, blue food coloring and yellow balloon make green. Or, red food coloring and blue balloon makes purple.
Put together the Color Changing Sensory Stress Balls!
Using the measuring cup, funnel, spoon and empty bottle, add 1 cup of cornstarch to your bottle.
I gave each child 1 cup of cornstarch. And asked them to get as much of it into the bottle as they could.
Of course, I offered to my guidance to help if either of them needed me.
This is a bit tricky and usually requires some tapping on the funnel to keep the starch moving.
But it’s also great fine motor control practice, and sneaks in a little sensory too!
Charlie is 5, and he eventually decided to switch to just using the spoon and skipped the funnel.
Maisie is almost 3, and she decided the best option for her was to push it down the funnel with her fingers.
She loved the sensory texture.
At the end we just tipped the container and gathered the spills up to add into the bottle at the end.
But she wasn’t quite sure she liked her hands to be so messy.
I love allowing time for my little kids to explore the process with experiments and activities like this.
Once we had the majority of the cornstarch inside the bottles, and Maisie’s hands were clean, we moved on to step 2.
The second step in making these sensory stress balls is to add the water.
For this oobleck style solution you need to have less water than cornstarch, but not as little as half.
I find 1 cup cornstarch to 2/3 cup water to be the most effective combination to create a nice texture for these squishy balls.
It’s thin enough to mix up and pour into the balloon, but thick enough for a good sensory texture!
So, I gave the kids the water and they poured it into the bottles of cornstarch.
And next we added food coloring.
Lots of food coloring!
Now, you shake it until you can’t see any dry cornstarch in the bottle.
Toddlers, like Maisie, may need a little help with this gross motor challenge.
Shaking heavy objects fast and long enough may be a bit much for tiny developing muscles. But oh-so-good!
But I encourage you to let them try as long as they can, because they will love seeing themselves change the color inside.
The next step is key and important for all of these sensory balloon stress balls!
- Take the cap off the bottle.
- Blow up your balloon about half way.
- Twist it to keep the air in.
- Then stretch the opening over the top of the bottle full of corn starch.
- Now flip it over and let all the liquid flow into the balloons!
My kids love this part!
Watching the solutions they created flow into the balloon is so much fun!
Make sure all the liquid gets into the balloon!
The final step needs to be done by a parent!
Carefully take the balloon off of the bottle and allow as much of the air out as you can before tying it off.
If some of the liquid spills out, try to squish it out of the tip before tying off to avoid little bubbles getting trapped in the knot.
Now squish it, squeeze it, stretch it!
And watch these colorful balls change colors.
This is a great opportunity to talk about colors!
- Talk about what color is on the outside.
- What color did they put on the inside?
- What color do they make together when you squeeze the stress balloon ball?
Now that you know the basics of how to make a stress ball with a balloon, let’s change up the contents of the stress ball to vary up the sensory stimulation!
How to Make a Water Beads Sensory Stress Ball with a Balloon
A water beads sensory stress ball is the king of sensory! The texture of this stress ball is unmatched and very satisfying.
Part of the fun of making this sensory stress ball is playing with the balloons while the water beads grew and took over all the water!
Supplies Needed to Make Water Beads Stress Balloons:
- 1 tsp dry water beads
- Empty bottle
- 1 cup water
- Clear or opaque balloon
The steps to making the water beads stress ball balloon are super simple. And this one is much quicker than the cornstarch on shared above.
Start by pouring the water into an empty bottle.
Add 1 teaspoon or so of water beads to the bottle.
And just like the previous cornstarch sensory stress balloon, you’ll fill the balloon the same.
- Blow up the balloon about half way.
- Twist to keep the air in.
- Stretch the opening over the bottle opening.
- Tip upside down to get as much of the water and beads into the balloon.
- Allow the water beads to grow! This is when you can play and have fun with the other balloons while you wait. (Check out our 30 ways to play with balloons here.)
At this point you have a choice!
To make it so the water beads bounce around inside the balloon creating a fun sound and still lots of stretching and squeezing fun. To do this, you’ll need to leave a little air pocket in the balloon before tying it off.
Or, you can make your balloon like we did where the beads eventually soak up all the space availing inside the balloon. To do this, you will want to make sure there is basically no air left in the balloon.
Last step, tie off the balloon and snip the excess off about 1cm from the knot.
The sensory texture of this balloon is simply unmatched.
How to Make This Glitter and Sequin Bomb Sensory Stress Ball with a Balloon
These sensory stress balls are so pretty and fun to squeeze.
They are calming to watch the little glitter and larger sequins spin and spiral around inside.
To Make a Sequin Sensory Stress Ball You’ll Need:
- A clear or opaque balloon
- An empty bottle
- 1 cup of water (you could also use a gel in this one if you’d like a different resistance level)
- Glitter and sequins
This is basically the same as the water beads balloon in terms of directions. But very, very different in affect!
To make this stress ball you will start by choosing at least one glitter and one sequin.
I recommend avoiding star shaped sequins and they tend to pop the balloon much quicker than the other shapes.
- Add the water, sequins and glitter into your empty bottle.
- Blow the balloon up about half way.
- Twist the balloon to keep the air in while you stretch it over the opening in the bottle.
- Swish the bottle around to get the glitter mixed all in before tipping upside down.
- Once all the liquid is in the balloon, carefully remove it from the bottle and remove as much air as possible.
- Tie off the balloon and snip off the excess about 1cm from the knot.
My main tip with the balloon sensory stress balls: Don’t play with them in the car, or in the living room!
These are made with balloons. And little ones tend to play rough with them or have sharp nails, so eventually balloons pop.
Which for us was part of the fun!
But having them pop on the couch, rug, or car may not have been such a funny experience as popping on the kitchen floor and backyard.
Maybe consider doubling up on balloons for these if you’d like extra protection.
Top Tips for Making Homemade Stress Balls with Success:
- If the cornstarch is too hard for your little kids to get into the bottle, you can always mix the water and starch in a bowl first and then pour it into the bottle as a liquid. But don’t try to pour it straight into the balloon.
- Don’t forget to blow up the balloons a bit before stretching them over the top of the bottle!
- Balloons designed for helium tend to be stronger and last longer for squishing and stretching!
- When tying off the balloons, try to avoid bubbles getting trapped in the knot.
- You can always substitute a gel for the water to get s different squishy composition that might provide the right amount of stress relief that you’re looking for.
- If you have a kid who is bound to end up with this in their mouth, don’t cut the end off the balloon. Mine both naturally found that to be the fun part for their mouth and teeth. This saved the balloons from breaking.
What are some interesting ways you have used balloons lately?
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