We thought the children might like to make their own stress balls. Not because they are stressed but just because the balls feel so good to squish!
Sherry had already made one, sent it around the circle and asked the children to guess what it was made from.
Most did very well and guessed correctly.
On the table we placed a basket of balloons …
sand, salt …
left over cornflour from the goop, and some coloured rice that the littlies had used for something.
They also needed funnels to help pour the materials into the balloons.
We didn’t have enough but found that a small bottle with the bottom cut off worked very well as did a piece of paper rolled into a cone shape.
Most children used only one ‘ingredient’ but some used more.
The children really enjoyed comparing the feel of different fillings.
They were fascinated at how the balls changed shape when squeezed …
and how they stayed that way.
Some children threw their balls around and loved how they went flat where they landed.
At the end of the session we asked the children to give their squishy balls to their friends to feel and see whether they could guess what they were made of. Again, they did very well.
The rice was most obvious as you could see the grains inside the balloon, and hear it as well.
The cornflour felt very silky but …
it was more difficult for the children to differentiate between the sand and salt.
The children enjoy our beanbag activities and thought it would be fun before they went home to use their new squishy balls instead of the beanbags for our brain gym activities.
Such fun!
