I’ve seen this project on a couple other blogs and thought it would be a great way to teach my son about emotions. I found a bag of all yellow balloons at Target and it reminded me of the classic smiley face. I thought this would make the perfect canvas for all of our different faces/emotions.
All you need to make stress balls are flour, a funnel, a black sharpie and balloons. I couldn’t find our funnel (figures) so I cut the bottom off of an empty water bottle and it worked just as well.
Stretch the opening of the balloon over the end of your funnel. Scoop flour into it and shake down till it fills your balloon. Tie the balloon off and draw on your face with the black sharpie!
I added on colored yarn to make some fun crazy hair. The hair is just an untrimmed pom pom. Google “how to make a yarn pom pom” for simple tutorials. The colored hair came in handy because I also printed out each balls emotion in its coordinating color. This made it easier for my son to match up the ball to its emotion.
I asked him which ball feels “happy” and then explained, when we are happy, we smile!
Our little game worked well and we played it over and over again. When we were done, I threw out the little pieces of paper, but ended up having to print more out when he wanted to play again later that evening – I should have known better :o)
When not talking about emotions, these little guys are fun to squeeze, squash, smash and smoosh. Perfect for sensory play!
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These are so cute!
I've been pondering and looking for ideas to help teach my lil guy about emotions…this idea is great!! and hands on…good for my boy who's always on the go go go…;) thanks for sharing
Our boys sound very similar :o) Glad I was able to inspire you!
Very nice!
What a seriously fantastic idea! Thank you so much for sharing it, I will definitely be making these at our house 🙂
Thanks Tonii! Happy to be your newest follower! – Sarah
These little guys are so cute! Thing 1 is going to love them. I'm clipping this for later. Thanks for sharing at Wednesday Whatsits. 🙂
Thanks Julie! And thanks for giving me the opportunity to share :o)
I love them! I think I need to make one for each of my kids (with different colored hair) so they can take out their anger on these instead f each other. 🙂
HAHA! Ya if only I could get big brother to beat up one of these instead of his younger brother. Happy to be your newest follower! -Sarah
What a great idea! I am going to share this with a mum who has an autistic boy. They practice emotions all the time and this is a great hands on activity. Thanks for linking up to the Kids Co-op!
These are adorable! What a great idea!
You've been featured on Wednesday Whatsits! Come by this week's party to grab your button. Thanks for linking up! I hope to see you again. 🙂
These are wonderful!! I will definitely have to give this a try. Thank you for sharing at Sharing Saturday! I hope you are having an amazing week!
Hello,
These look so cute, can you tell me what you used to attach the pom poms to the balloon? I assume glue, but I was wondering what kind adhered to the balloon best
Hello! I am a teacher who works with students with emotional disabilities and other behavior issues. I also blog about my experiences to help others. One of our counselors makes stress balls with our kids like these. I was searching for a picture of them for my blog. I loved your picture and your blog post so I have mentioned your blog and linked to it in my post that will be going out on Thursday. Thank you for sharing!
Heather Salsman
Teaching Through Turbulence
I love them, is a Creative idea thanks.
You always have the greatest ideas and crafts!!! Very talented!!!
Very nice ideas, im sure toddlers will like it.
Done this with my group of Sunday school kids and done a little lesson on how Jesus loves us in all different moods,shapes, sizes and colors etc…
Hello all, here every person is sharing these kinds of familiarity, thus it’s pleasant
to read this blog, and I used to go to see this blog everyday.
How to you attach the pom poms to sit on the top so well? You can see the balloon tie on some of mine and some wont sit central
Thanks