Easy flour stress ball

In this instructable I will describe the excessively simple way to make your own functional stress relieving device. (It is also great for juggling)

Note: The device is not restricted to be used as a stress ball only. You may also use it for amusement, to throw at things (such as burglars), as a christmas/birthday present, for practical jokes, as a keychain, to pretend it's fruit, to sell, to launch into space, to juggle or any other use you can think of.

Step 1: What you'll need

Although the materials necessary for this project do seem difficult to find, you will be suprised to learn that they can be found in most households.

You will need the following:
-party balloons
-flour
-funnel
-scissors

Comments

[I_am_Canadian]

Just so you know, the best way to fill these is to put the flower into a bottle, blow up the balloon, put it around the neck of the bottle and turn it upside down. Once its all in just take the balloon off and let it deflate.

[Langarulz]

if ur not careful itll blow all the flour out

[I_am_Canadian]

...So be careful :-)

[inquisitive]

brilliant thanks for the bottle tip-avoid mess!

[punkrules]

Very nice! I just made a purple one. I didn't have flour so I used corn starch instead. I hope that is ok to do. I saw one of these earlier today in a gift shop. You just saved me $4! Thanks! :D

[Quest for Questions]

I need to now if these are usefull because I'm trying to get rid of bad habits in general. I play with my hair and will some times rip it out. I'm starting to grow bald spots and fiddling with something does'nt work for me.

[a_lavoye]

my cousin maid these before they where awesome. I think I'm going to make some for my speech class because I'm writing a speech about stress and this is sooo cheep to make. the dollar store has it all. this is really awesome.

[Bobett11]

I  am going to put some yarn on it for hair and put a face on it with a marker!

[doitmyselfchic]

Pretty cool. Im doubting it would hold up to the household pet : ) Just trying to use my imagination. Im going to try this one for sure! Neat idea.

[Womid]

Maybe if you added a few more layers it could hold a bit, though it depends on the size of the pet.

[eielofview]

and the sharpness of their teeth! Btw very funny ible! you made my day.

[madwilliamflint]

Something I thought of. I'm a bit hamfisted with things and in the process of breaking one of the normal squeezy bean-filled stress balls I noticed that it was 2-ply. I think this would probably be well served by using two nested balloons.

[MadBricoleur]

GAH! i tried making one with a water balloon... and the balloon slipped: it became a fountain of flour... in my EYE!!! and all over my shirt (which has a face of me on it, so you could technically say my face was hit twice by the flour) XD well, I learned! :D

[Naanac7]

Very cool!, I made one and it was great! I kinda put too much flour in so its like pretty big. I found another way to put more flour in, when its up to the neck, blow the balloon up a bit more and release air slowly, then there is more space. I did this too many times and it got too big:) thanks for the great instructable!

[gk1651]

stress ball is for people isn't it? nice job on this...i like it.

[Sneaky Chopsticks]

Haha nice! I put shampoo in mine!

[kate_27]

messy!

[Sandisk1duo]

why shampoo?

[colorida]

I used to make these with my dad all the time, we used cornstarch. It changes the texture of the whole thing, and holds it shape very well.

[PKM]

My dad invented a great method for filling these when there was a craze for them at my school (ah, late 90s school crazes- anyone remember pokemon cards, yo-yos, rollerblades etc.?). You need a couple of feet of plastic tubing that will fit in the neck of the balloon (we had some from a beer brewing kit). You blow up the balloon through the tube, pinch the neck of the balloon, fill the tube with flour, put your thumb on the open end of the tube, and release the neck of the balloon so the flour in the tube falls into it. You have to think about where the air pressure is contained and what sequence of events will not end up shooting a fountain of flour all over everything, but essentially you're making an airlock. This means you can fill the balloon with a lot more flour than you can by just pushing it in, because the balloon is inflated while you're filling it. Thanks for reminding me of this neat piece of craft.

[mysterygirl154]

I thought of something like this when I was younger, but my bright 11 year old mind didn't release any air or anything so it became as you put it "a fountain of flour". :D

[Charles IV]

There is a easier way to do basically same thing. Get a water bottle, fill it with flour and inflate the balloon twist the neck and put it on the bottle and turn upside down.

[inquisitive]

Brilliant! Now that makes it a great deal more likely I will make some for when I am trapped in my cubicle!

[peacan]

Thanks for the tip! I'd been trying to think of a better way to fill the balloons.

[PKM]

...wow. I totally didn't think of that. That's so much easier :)

[frollard]

Yes use a bottle, its dead simple - BUT!!! The light and fluffed flour you put in the balloon will be ...light and full of lots of air. let the balloon fill, then partly pinch the neck shut, and squeeze the excess air out of the balloon. If you dont, when you take the bottle off, the 'somewhat inflated' balloon will shoot flour all over the place!!! Next, tie off the balloon, and poke a TINY hole in the thickest part (the drip at the bottom, when it was dip-molded). Let the excess pressure out slowly. Now heres the trick, insert it in another balloon - take the entire 'neck' off, dont leave that extra bit. WET the outside of the inner balloon, to remove the starch/powder that stops it sticking. Insert the slightly wet balloon into the outer one. The water+nonstick powder forms a bit of a glue, and they will seal forever! For added security, I like to put a 3rd balloon, so its at least 2 layers at the thinnest point.

[micromind]

really cool idea. try using a punchy balloon to fit more flour in :)

[Brumzzz]

Nice Instructable, easy to make =)
But, I once had a stress ball, you know, with hair and a face, and it ripped. It didn't had another balloon over it, so the flour was everywhere. I tried to flush it down the sink, but it became sticky, smelly goo, and it couldn't go trough the hole in the sink, so I had to push it with my hands. And since that day (that isn't a very long time ago) I hate flour.
=D

[guitarman63mm]

Maybe you could place a small explosive in there, so that when you throw it, it explodes? I doubt simple firecrackers would suffice, but I know not.

[Kush_Slayer]

why use firecrackers when you can use gas or even better homemade c4 lol ok maby c4 is a little overkill but any homemade explosive that can be electrically ignited

[FunkNattidelic]

well the goal (from what i read in guitarman63mm's comment) was that it could explode when thrown. so in that case, you would need a pressure sensitive explosive like an Armstrong's mixture instead of 'homemade c4' I dont think its possible to make a useful grade of C4 explosive, or any high explosive, at home without the huge danger of your house/facility blowing up in the process.

[el_nico_dor]

Lol thanks, nice one. I made one using rice and water. one it popped and white starch was all over me! lol

[nibbler125]

i had one pop right in my face before. but no harm done so its all good

[rilokiley77]

Man I remember when I was younger these corn starch balloon toys were all the rage. Haha "all the rage". We were pretty lame. Anywaaay, this is a totally awesome instructable. At least I know now I'm old enough not to break mine on the first day. I'll draw a little smiley face on it to further it's stress relieving powers.

[TheInventorWithStyle]

i made one. its full of squishy happiness.

[Jodex]

I'm so gonna make that!

[Swishercutter]

I used a small funnel and a chopstick (to push the flour in) to fill mine. It worked fine, wish I would have read the bottle comment though that seems like it would have been easier.

[akinich]

hey you can use filtered sand instead of flour it will me cheaper

[mickey_shimitz]

i did this a while back, and once when i was babysitting, i let the baby play with it and he bit it and then it exploded and he got a big mouth of flour ;) . So DOnT let the youngins play with this one, at least it wasnt my cocaine stress ball wink wink.

[mrtimklein]

Can anyone offer a comparison of different filler materials? I've seen similar projects using sand, rice, and birdseed. On first thought, they would be less messy than flour if broken. -- MrTK