Stress Balloons Stress balloons have been around for years. The reason they are so popular is they do help relax a person when they are nervous about something important. Just holding one in your hands and squeezing really helps calm fidgety nerves. If you bought one of these in a store you could pay up to $10.00 for one. Ours just cost pennies and is easy to make. All you need is flour, a bowl, funnel, wooden spoon and balloons. We found these cute Halloween balloons and thought they would be great for this. If you go to a party supply store or craft store you can find balloons in all colors, with all kinds of sports printed on them, and for all the holidays. You can even order balloons with you school mascot or name printed on them. It is not as messy if you work over a large mixing bow. I poured part of the flour into a bowl. Then I put the funnel into the end of the balloon. Make sure the long pointed opening of the funnel is wide enough so the handle of a wooden spoon will easily slide through it. I used a measuring cup and poured about ¼ cup of flour into the funnel. You will use about 3 or 4 scoops for a balloon this size. I used my wooden spoon to tap the flour into the balloon. Tap lightly at first and try not to hit the sides of the balloon when the handle goes into it. While you are stuffing the second scoop of flour into the balloon you will notice the balloon looks full. It is actually not. This just means you need to change how you are filling it. Set the bottom of the balloon down on the table and continue tapping the flour down. It should pack down enough to only fill the bottom half of the balloon. You want to get as much flour packed into this balloon as possible. The packed flour is what gives the balloon the ability to be squeezed in your hands. When your balloon feels pretty packed and is about 25% bigger than it was originally, it is finished. One way you know it is full is when you can squish it into a shape and it stays that way. Also, if you smash the bottom flat it will stay standing. Keep the balloon upside down and remove the funnel. Stretch the neck of the balloon to make sure the remaining flour drops into the rounded part. Then tie a knot in the end and it is done. If you wanted to add locker decoration for this you could blow up balloons to tape to lockers and add a sign that says "Blow em Away". When you give the players the stress balloons let them know they are filled with flour and will burst if punctured.