I've been making stress balls this week, specifically, stress balls for preschoolers who bite their fingernails. My children never bit their fingernails, but they never had their lives turned upside down like these two little boys have. Daughter hasn't done anything about the nail biting but it drives Hubby nuts, so I googled how to stop it. Nearly every google discusses the psychology of dealing with the behavior and how to deal with it over time, but not much to do with the here and now. But one or two mentioned wearing gloves or giving them a worry stone or stress ball and when I googled where to find a worry stone or stress ball, there were several links to diy stress balls. Not only is diy right up my alley, but it means I don't have to wait for one to be delivered, and it's less time I have to listen to Hubby nag the youngest to get his fingers out of his mouth.
I tried a couple of different tutorials, but the one I think works best is from this youtube video from Red Ted Art. I used baking soda instead of flour though. If the balloon breaks, I think baking soda will be easier to clean up. Both boys liked playing with them and the oldest understood that this was a substitute for biting his nails, but have you ever tried to reason with a three year old? If his finger isn't in his mouth, it's up his nose. Usually in his nose and then his mouth. Ewww! He just took the stress ball in his hand and stuck his free fingers in his mouth.
I needed a way for him to manipulate it without getting it to his mouth. So I designed this stress ball muff. I made several versions before coming up with this one and so far it seems to be working. The balloons are holding up but the soda inside seems to be compacting and the balls are a little less squishy than they were at first. I'll post a tutorial for it tomorrow, more so I'll remember how to make it. I spent time with Jack the ripper on every one and would like to avoid that on the next ones. Daughter has requested two for their go bags.
I spent several of my 15 minute slots filling balloons instead of sewing and that affected my overall success rate. But with all my experiments, I used a bit of fabric, so that is good.
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Very smart idea! Love that fabric! So cheerful! Thank you for the link and for sharing!
ReplyDeleteNot a fun problem, but you came up with a fun and bright solution. You could count your ball filling time, it's a part of getting the project finished.
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