Wacky Sacks are DIY stress balls that are easy to make and provide my kids with HOURS of enjoyment! These homemade stress balls are made using regular balloons and Play-Doh and are a fun project my kids always love to make.
This fun craft idea is a especially perfect any time one of your kids says “I’m Bored” during the summer.
Homemade Stress Balls
For those of you with confused looks on your faces wondering what the HECK “Wacky Sacks” are, here is a little background about how they came about:
My MIL recently returned from touring Europe, (I know, sad life!) and she brought home these little “stress ball” things from some vendors on the streets as a fun souvenir for each of my kids. At first glance, they don’t look like anything special, but wait til you get your little hands on them… they are ADDICTING to play with!
All week I would find one of these lying on the floor and I would play with it while I watched TV or chatted with family and friends. It keeps your hands busy and it just feels FUN! But without fail, as soon as my son or daughter would see me playing with their toy, they would want it back. I found myself wanting one of my own that no one could take away from me, so the wheels in my head started turning and upon examining it I said to myself, “I can make that!” …so I did. Except I made it even BETTER!
The stress balls from Europe were just balloons filled with flour. While flour is very cheap to buy, a couple of them popped after too much use and there was flour EVERYWHERE! This fun version doesn’t use flour so there’s no big mess to clean up if one of them breaks. It uses Play Dough. (Genius, I know!) Here is a tutorial so you can make them too along with a short video at the bottom.
Materials Needed
The great thing about making these DIY stress balls is that you can typically buy everything you’ll need from a dollar store so they’re very inexpensive to make.
- 1 can of Play-Doh for each stress ball you plan make
- 12″ Latex Balloons
- Sharpie Marker
How To Make A Stress Ball With A Balloon
- Roll out your play dough into a long, thin line. (I use one tub of dough per balloon)
- Stretch your balloon as wide as you can and stuff the play dough inside. (Adults can do this themselves, but kids will need help with this part.)
- Press the filled balloon to make it flat and get as much air out as possible. Tie it off with a knot.
- Add a face using your sharpie and you’re finished!
More Fun DIY Activities For Kids
- This easy Slime Recipe is my kids’ favorite craft project to make
- Make your own Homemade Playdough to use in your Wacky Sacks
- Ribbon Wands are another fun DIY activity that can provide hours of fun
- Homemade Puffy Paint is perfect for the artist in your home
- When the weather warms up, Water Gun Painting is a fun project that kids love
This post originally published on Somewhat Simple in October 2009
I have been making these for kids in the neighborhood and they love them. I love how I can also make scented playdough and they love to smell it also.
That’s awesome! All neighbors should be like you!:)
I get it I am a stay at home mom and I really know that my husband would never in a million years think of doing stuff with the kids like us moms do. Stephanie good job I love this!!!
LOL, thanks Yvette!
Hi, thanks for this really cool idea. I wonder, why in your short bio do you only “hope to inspire moms of all walks of life” while leaving out DADS of all walks of life? Dads can make wacky balls, too! And siblings and godparents and aunts, uncles.. just saying.
Yep! You’re right!
We had a lot of fun making these! They didn’t turn out quite as pretty as yours since I let my daughter draw the faces but they are definitely fun to SQUEEZE! Thanks for sharing these! I mentioned them in my post.
http://bit.ly/WackySacks
So glad you like them!!!!
I’m the Editor of Fun Family Crafts and wanted to let you know that we have featured your creative Wacky Sack project! You can see it here:
http://funfamilycrafts.com/wacky-sacks/
If you have other kid-friendly craft tutorials, we’d love for you to submit them. If you would like to display a featured button on your site, you can get one from the right side bar of your post above. Thanks for a fun project idea!
Thanks so much!!
Just wondering……the faces with a sharpie are really cute but when the kids play with them they rub off. Is there a way to prevent this?
Our faces start to fade, but I just reapply them if my kids ask me to. 🙂
Love it!! Made them straight away thank you so much! Will keep the kids entertained on the 2 x 45 minute drives to and from school every day! Xx
That’s awesome! I’m so glad you like them! 🙂
Made one today for my 3 yo and I have played with it almost all day! My 5 yo wants one now too. Guess we’ll be making more!
Thanks so much!
I made these they are fun but……..I used the fun dough from the dollar tree and we found them to be a little ‘tougher’ and harder to squeeze. Still played with them just wondering if there isnthat much of a difference with playdough and. Wonder if the crayola dough would work?
Thanks would love to hear opinions
Monique
Hi Monique,
I have made them using the dollar store play dough and the actual Play Dough brand that I got at Target or WalMart and I didn’t notice a difference in the consistency, but if the dollar store play dough was harder to squeeze, I’d try something else. You never know how old the dough is from the dollar store, so it could have been drier than the one I used.
These are super cute and fun!! I think even my teenagers would have fun with this. Pinned it! Thanks so much 🙂
Thanks Crystal!
I absolutely love this. I was looking for ideas for our “busy bags” for church and stumbled on these. I had some Crayola foam clay on hand and lots of balloons. It works marvelously. Not too stiff, still pretty pliable, and was mostly a cinch getting into the balloons. Two sets of hands definitely worked better than one. I put the balloon entirely over my hand, inside out. Grabbed half a package of foam clay into my fist. I asked a co-worker to work the balloon back over my fist and we had an almost finished product. We tied them off, snipped the excess and then I worked a second balloon over that one for added security. I have not tried non-latex balloons as I would have preferred, but I fear they would fall apart easier. Has anyone tried them? Anyway, I am ready to see if the kids get good use out of them, or if the adults will be squeezing them throughout the service. 🙂 Thanks for the great idea.
Thanks Janet, I am glad you like this idea! 🙂
commercial play doh comes in a variety of sizes. what exactly is a large container? thanks in advance for the info.
Is there an easy way to get the playdough into the balloons? I am making these with home made play dough. I hope the kids love them. I just found this on Pintrest. Love This idea
We made similar ones for juggling, but used birdseed and put 3 balloons on each one. It was a year down the road before any of them broke. (We had several around all ages of kids.)
Just wondering if you ever found out for sure if the play dough dries up an hardens the balloons? Also, did you use latex balloons or what kind did you use? What size were the balloons? Hoping to make these for Christmas!
I used 12 inch latex balloons, I believe. They were from the dollar store. My kids played with these until they all were lost, which was probably a couple months and they never dried out!
Great! Thanks! Making them now 🙂 they’re perfect!
This seems like they are way less messy then the sand filled ones when I was younger. I remember them getting holes in them and then having to toss them or stick tape on the hole. Just made a bigger mess. I think my sons going to love this.
This is a great idea for older children. However as an early childhood educator I would caution anyone giving this to young children. First off in many states it is illegal to use any balloons in a preschool. Liscensing does not allow them. As a mom I wouldn’t give this to my yougest because she still mouths things. it is too easy for her to get a piece of balloon stuck in her throat before anyone realized it was broken, especially because the playdoh will hold the shape of the balloon. It wouldn’t pop as you would expect a balloon to.
Hey, I am making these for a busy bag exchange, and I made the first batch and the next day the balloons all broke open really easily. I was wondering if you were careful not to buy latex balloons because of the oil in the playdough, or if this is only a problem I am having as nobody else on any website I can find has had this problem! Thanks!
Hey Lana, I didn;t have this problem at all, and I always use the cheapest balloons I can find. Sorry they didn’t turn out for you, that is frustrating! Good luck!
How do you attach the pompoms?
I just used a hot glue gun
These look great! I am going to make some to keep my kids busy while I work. Can I used homemade play dough, or should it just be the store bought stuff?
Thanks for posting!
Chelsey
any play dough should be just fine!
Thank you for posting these! They were so fun to make!! 🙂 I made mine into bunnies for Easter gifts. Thanks to my husband we found an easier (one person) way to fill the balloons.. If you would like to check it out I will leave a link!! Thanks again!! These are great!! http://lyndsaybsjourney.blogspot.com/2012/04/thank-you-pinterest-modeling-dough.html
I am so excited to try these! I have used sand before and it did not work that well. I have a son & many students with ADHD and this is a quiet way to have them do something with there hands. I have a student with anxiety too that would help sooth him. Thanks so much for sharing. BTW, I found this through a pin on pinterest.
Teddi
GREAT idea, i love this!!! Doing this with my kids today. Thanks so much for sharing!
Can you please tell me what size balloon you used?? I tried making some with “standard” size balloons and they kept turning out funny/pointy shaped and for the life of me could not get them more rounded…my husband thinks I need to be using larger balloons…
I never thought about using playdough. Have created these with flour but there is…eventually…a bit of a mini disaster when the balloon gets a bit too much use. 🙂 I will definitely try it with playdough! Thanks for the idea!
Hi! Thanks for sharing this fun activity. I used it in a busy bag exchange I recently hosted with some friends. I shared your activity and our swap on my blog. http://sstorywindow.blogspot.com/2011/10/toddler-time-busy-bag-series-part-2.html
I made one today for my 3 year old preschool class. We were painting with balloons filled with all kinds of things— rice, buttons, beads, macaroni, etc. The most popular was the balloon filled with play-do! I will be making many more for the kids to manipulate and play with. I will decorate those with faces and stand back and watch what happens! Thank you for the idea!!
You’re welcome Debbie!
Hi- I just stumbled across these on the Pinterest site. I have a question on how to tie them off , do you cut the end of it off after you tie it off?? My director at pre-school is asking me too many questions. I am like just let me make them already LOL. I did cut one off today and a friend got it open quickly , they are quick when they are 3 and I thought maybe I was not supposed to cut it just tie it and leave it.
Thanks
Deana Truitt
I did not cut the top off- just tied it like a regular balloon and called it good!
I found this on pinterest and I just made some – thank you! They are terrific!
Wonderfull activity!!!
I saw these on pinterest and jumped up to make them right then! Such a great idea, thanks! I posted mine on my blog and linked back to your post.
I know some people getting these for Christmas for sure. Thanks for sharing.
Loving the playdough idea. Both my kids had one of these off the street vendors in Venice, Italy. Filled with flour, which got EVERYWHERE when they eventually broke (like in my daughter's bed!) But they were SUCH fun while they lasted. Thanks for the tip!
This is a fab idea, def going to try it with my LG
We just made a few of these today. The girls love them! They'd be great party favors too.
Thanks so much for the tutorial – I will be making some of these little guys!
Trasie-
I used a whole big container of playdough for each balloon.
Hello! I just stumbled upon your blog today. Love it!!! I can't wait to look around some more.
I am in charge of a craft at my childs school for the Christmas Party and I was wondering if you could tell me how much play dough you put in each balloon. Did it take a whole large can per balloon? Thanks so much!
My son and I made some today for Christmas presents for his father's family. We were all giggles in trying to get the play-dough into the balloons! Great activity – and so affordable thanks to the dollar store!!
These are adorable!
Thanks so much for the awesome, creative idea!! I made a practice one yesterday and can't put it down. I'll be using the idea later this month at work as a team-building activity!
Does it eventually get hard or does the balloon keep the playdough soft?
I would imagine if the playdough were not exposed to the air that it would keep it’s freshness. They keep it in the stores for ages in those plastic containers. 🙂
Love your blog! Glad I found you from Michelle. Can't wait to see the finished Master Bedroom 🙂
These are so cool! I am going to have to make these with my boys!
OH so cute!
So creative! And fun too. I think I should make these to just get rid of my playdough. These are way less messy and look really fun 🙂
Those are adorable! Now that's the sort of souvenir I'd love!
we are doing this today for a preschool project for sure thank you so much!!!
That's cool. I've seen these filled with cornstarch but not playdough. When they would pop, cornstarch would be everywhere! Playdough is much more practical.
Nancy