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Mindfulness stress balls
Posted 31 Mar 2025
One of the body’s reactions to fear, anxiety and stress is muscle tension. This can lead to muscle aches and pains, exhaustion and feeling tense. Think about how you respond to stressful situations. Do you tense up when you’re feeling anxious? Stress balls are a fantastic sensory activity that incorporates progressive muscle relaxation (that is, tensing up muscles and then relaxing them – a ‘squeeze-release’ movement).
When to use mindfulness stress balls
- As a sensory tool for people with sensory needs.
- When a person is feeling angry, nervous, stressed or anxious to help them manage their emotions.
- For fun.
They are also great for school classrooms:
- Around break times to help students decrease energy levels.
- In a sensory space/calm corner.
How to make mindfulness stress balls
You will need
- A balloon.
- Flour or rice.
- Funnel (you can make one out of a piece of paper).
- Empty water bottle.
- Optional: Decorations (e.g. cotton wool, permanent marker).
Things you will need to make mindfulness stress balls
Instructions
- Stick a funnel in the neck of a water bottle.
- Fill the bottle with your chosen filling (flour or rice).
- Stretch out your balloon and cover the neck of the water bottle (you may need to blow it up for some extra stretch).
- Tip the bottle upside down and fill up your balloon. Go slow to avoid clogging the neck of the balloon.
- Gently remove the balloon and try to squeeze out as much air as you can.
- Tie up your balloon.
- Now for the fun part, decorate!
How to use
- Squeeze the stress ball in your left hand for 30 seconds.
- Pulse it for 30 seconds.
- Repeat with the right hand.
Benefits
- Relieve aches and pains (e.g. arthritis pains).
- Reduce anxiety and stress.
- Promote better sleep.
- Lower blood pressure.
- Improve concentration and creativity.
- Strengthen muscles.
- Support ‘fidgeting’ for kids with ADHD or ASD.
Stress ball game ideas
- Play catch or juggling with the stress ball.
- Hide some stress balls around the room and do a stress ball hunt.
- Use the stress ball as a communication activity in a group. When a person is holding the ball, it is their time to speak.
For children with disability
Mindfulness stress balls help maintain equilibrium. For Autistic children, they offer a necessary distraction to reduce anxiety.
Imagine how you feel and look when you are anxious. Now, visualise feeling that way all the time – stressful, right?
This is often the experience for Autistic children, and stress balls help alleviate that anxiety. This works the same way as when you squeeze the stress ball as a way of preventing an emotional reaction.
Use of mindfulness stress balls, and their incorporation into children’s sensory diets results in better tolerance to sensations, better regulation of emotions, enhanced alertness and increased attention span. Cognitive abilities, writing, and school performance is enhanced in Autistic children, those with ADHD, and kids with regulated sensory patterns.