We’re always looking for simple geeky crafts we can make as a family. One day Paige came home from school and said there were kids were handing out stress balls that they had made from balloons and flour. She didn’t get one, but thought it looked easy enough to make at home.
After a bit of research and finding a way to geek it up a bit, we decided to make some superhero stress balls of our own.
These DIY stress balls are easy to make from simple supplies you probably have lying around the house. Because we used flour, they come out pretty firm, and almost seem like one of those hand exercise balls.
Supplies needed for DIY stress balls
- Flour
- Balloons
- Super Glue
- Funnel
- Water Bottle
- Scissors
First steps for Superhero Stress Balls
Now before we began, we knew that we wanted each ball to represent our favorite superheroes. Why? Because we’re geeks!
We decided that since each superhero has two primary colors associated with them, each of our stress balls would have two colors on it.
If you are lacking in superhero knowledge, here’s some ideas for you. Keep in mind that for each of the stress balls you’ll need 3 balloons of the color listed first and one of the color listed second.
- Batman – Black and yellow
- Spiderman – Red and blue
- Hulk – Green and purple
- Ironman – Red and yellow
- Deadpool – Red and black
- Batgirl – Purple and yellow
- Green Arrow – Green and black
- Super Girl – Blue and red
Now I’ll be honest, the superhero assignment was just our way of having fun. You can make a stress ball without picking a superhero for each one, but I will say we had a blast deciding which ones to make.
Making your DIY Stress Balls
Before we started, we sorted the balloons into piles for each stress ball we were going to make. Each pile will need 3 of one color balloon and 1 balloon of a secondary color.
After you’ve got your balloons sorted, blow each of them up and then let the air out. We found this was the easiest way to stretch out the balloons. Plus, I didn’t want to worry about stretching out the balloons while the flour was on the table in hopes it would minimize the mess.
Next, you’ll need to get the flour into a water bottle. This is super easy; insert a funnel into the water bottle and scoop the flour in. When choosing a water bottle make the water bottle doesn’t have a very wide mouth or you won’t be able to stretch out the balloon over the top of the bottle later.
I’ll be honest, we didn’t use any magic measurements for the flour. We filled our 33 ounce bottle almost all the way to the top. It was enough flour for 3 stress balls.
When your water bottle is filled with flour, you are ready to make a stress ball. Take one of the balloons and blow it up. Twist the top so the air can’t get out. Then place the end of the balloon on top of the bottle that has flour in it.
WARNING: listen mammas, I could NOT do this part. Every stinking time I broke the balloon with my fingernail. I honestly thought I bought faulty balloons. One of the kids gave it a try and they had no problem. So if you find yourself breaking balloons, let those cute little hands who are doing it with you do the job. My kids thought it was pretty awesome that they could do something that I couldn’t.
After your balloon is on top of your water bottle let the balloon untwist. In the image below Paige is hiding as I took a picture of her with the balloon that is ready to go.
Assuming your balloon is still attached to the water bottle you can turn the bottle upside down and start shaking the flour into the balloon. Make sure to hold onto the top of the balloon as you do this so it stays attached.
After the balloon has about a cup of flour in it, turn the bottle right side up and remove the balloon from the bottle.
Slowly let any air in the balloon out.
SLOWLY…did I say slowly?
Well I guess you want a flour explosion you can let the air out at any speed. Trust me on this, we had a bit of a flour mess on our first stress ball.
Finishing off your superhero stress balls
Next, you’ll need to cut the top of the balloon off. You can see where we cut the balloon in the image below. We did this on a paper plate to minimize the mess.
Now, take another balloon of the same color and cut the top off of it. Then stretch it on top of the flour filled balloon to cover the hole in the first balloon. You may have to play around with the balloon a bit to get all the air pockets out of it. You will also need to wipe off the balloon with a wet paper towel to get the excess flour off.
We wanted to make sure there wouldn’t be flour leaking out of our stress balls, so we put a couple of drops of super glue on the hole that was left when we put the second balloon on.
After the super glue dried, take your 3rd balloon cut the top off and cover the hole from the second balloon.
Now technically at this point you’ve got a DIY stress ball.
We wanted to dress ours up though…superhero style!
I had it all figured out as to how we were going to cut our final balloon, and we did it. I hated it. So we just randomly cut and folded each balloon to make a “cover” for each stress ball.
There was no rhyme or reason to our cuts. We just cut the top off the balloon in a curved manner. Then we folded the balloon and made one or 2, or three more rounded cuts. We made each one a little different. That’s one of the great parts of DIY stress balls, you can make them turn out however you want.
Once you’ve made your random cuts into the balloon you should be able to just stretch the final balloon over your stress ball. Because the cuts are random each one will be unique. My favorite stress ball is the Hulk. I had some issues cutting the balloons so the edges came out ragged. It was perfect for the Hulk’s ragged clothes. I have to say making these DIY stress balls were a great way to spend the afternoon.
If Geeky Crafts are your thing join us in my Geek Crafts Facebook group and check out my Geeky Crafts category. Or if you want geeky crafts sent directly to your inbox, sign up below. Happy Crafting fellow geek!
Wow!! This is cool! 🙂 I guess it’ll take me a long while to manage to do it. But, I can try 🙂
Thanks! Ohhhh, you can do eeeeettt!
They were fun to make…of course, the kids loved the mess they made while doing it.