DIY Sensory Play, Stress Relief Fidget Balls

Do your children struggle with sitting still? Do they like to fidget? What about you as an adult?

Do you have a special needs child that enjoys feeling different textures and playing with colorful sensory centered toys?

This project is for you! It is frugal and fun, and my children went crazy over them. I was especially surprised out how my toddler and my seven year old had the same reaction. These were played with for hours and help up really well to my kids playing with them roughly and outside.

These would be a great thing to have in the homeschool room to allow children to “keep moving” while still sitting still. This is a time tested strategy for helping those kids who struggle with sitting still to focus for longer.

Use these for low impact exercise as adults! My father-in-law mentioned how great these could be for his ailing mother to squeeze and exercise those muscles in her hands all while sitting.

THERE ARE SO MANY USES!

What will you need?

4 balloons
2 cups of flour
2-3 tablespoons oil
1 cup of sand
1 cup of beans
funnel
essential oil of your choice (I used Young Living’s Gentle Baby Blend)

Directions:

Blow up each individual balloon a little to stretch them out. It just helps to make sure all the ingredients fall in more smoothly.
Put the balloon end around the funnel tip. Pour the ingredients in slowly so as not to clog the funnel.
For the beans, I suggest using a smaller bean like a black bean.
Pour into the balloon until nearly full and then tie off at the end. It helps to kind of stretch the balloon as you add the ingredients in order to fill in the gaps.
Add 1 cup of plain dry flour to one balloon, and tie it off.
Add 1 cup of plain dry flour to one balloon and then add 2-3 tabelspoons of oil on top of that, tie off, and mix within the balloon to create a squishy play dough effect. You will have to go slowly on this one to make sure the oil does not come back out of the funnel.
Add 1 cup of sand to one balloon and tie off.
Add 1 drop of essential oil to the inside of the balloon end. I used Gentle Baby blend from Young Living. Make sure it is child safe. Certain essential oils can have a calming effect and as the children play they will have the benefit of the calming essential oils on their senses.
Other ingredients to try … popcorn kernels, lentils, sugar, powdered sugar. All of these would have a different texture to them.

ENJOY!

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Lindsey

I am a wife to a wonderful husband and mother to four beautiful children five and under: three girls and one boy. I am a disciple of Christ and I am fulfilling my role to my husband and family as a homemaker. I began The Road to 31 almost two years ago in an effort to focus more as I studied the Word of God and researched those things which were important to me. I found that God used The Road to 31 within my own life to bring community to my front door and allowed me to minister and be ministered to by other women who are walking along the same road as I.