What you need
Birdseed
Funnel
Latex Balloons
Instructions
Step 1: Use a funnel and fill a whole balloon with the bird seed. This is a slow process but well worth it.
Step 2: Cut the neck off the filled balloon. Cut the neck off a second balloon and place it over the filled balloon covering the open hole. Now you should have a completely covered ball with no bird seed popping out. If you want them to be super strong add another solid balloon with the neck removed.
Step 3: Take a balloon and cut some holes in it with the tips of your scissors. Remove the neck of the balloon then open it up and place it over the ball. The colored balloon underneath should be showing through the holes and giving it a nice colorful pattern.
Repeat this with several layers of balloons and holes adding to the effect and also the the strength. Try to arrange it so the original birdseed hole is always covered by a firm piece of balloon and not a balloon hole.
Optional: For a Yo Yo stress ball add a piece of elastic by tying it around one of the holes. Then it can be bounced like a yo yo.
My daycare kids made these as Christmas gifts for their dads two years ago. We made exactly as the original instructions call for. I did remove the black sun flower seeds so it would be less likely to rip and I did use three balloons. Some of the dads still have them in their desk at work. Awesome craft for the kids to make. I love this site. Many great gift
making ideas for kids.
I heard that play dough is a good alternative to the bird seed. Do you think the play dough would dry up and harden the ball?
i think flour iz better…
you should do it whith flour it way sqwishyyyy
this is a wonderful idea! i love the idea of adding balloons with holes to make a pattern! does anyone have any alternative ideas for children who may have latex allergies? i’d love to use this for therapies, but i want to make sure i have something safe for those who are irritated by latex balloons. Thanks!
I make mine with ballons and rice
cute…and you should use the smallest size of balloon you can find!
Other possible fillers are flour or sand. Both go thru the funnel much easier than bird seed and give a “squish” feeling all their own!
I like the idea of adding more than two ballons for color as well as strength.
wow it like it better filled with flour though it works faster
My childcare center made these today for Christmas gifts for Dads and Grampa..cute idea but really needs to be an outside project. I used wild birdseed and the different size and shaped seeds gave it a great texture. I used a total of three latex ballons for each. The first one the kids used a funnel to fill with seed. The second I put over the first as in the instructions. The third I did for security but chose to leave the neck on and tie a knot in it so that the kids could add a decorated tag. I would recommend good latex balloons. A lot of the dollar store balloons are just to thin to make this project work. Thanks for a great idea!
I’ve made these for my patients, but I used salt; it’s less expensive, but if the balloon breaks, it is rather messy! Great project!
Pretty Cool.I never thought of birdseed as a filler.Have seen those plastic pellets at local retailers.This is a good idea for people with tendon injuries or to mature a dialysis access.
Brilliant
great group activity then trade
LOVE IT, but i’ve also seen it with flour and water instead of birdseed.
Brilliant Idea, seems inventive and fun. Who knows, maybe they’ll even sell at a craft fair!
This was a sweet project!
great idea,i think it’s well…. great
much needed and easy!
Cool craft!
Great
Really relieves stress!
i also want to know, what size of balloon??? And, is it ok to use latex.. is mylar better. How do I get my questions answered. Thanks
I’m wondering if I shd use special ballooons, like helium ones, maybe(?) so that they are stronger.. Does it matter? And, what size balloon? Definitely shd be round, of course, but how large???
colorful and cute!
I’ve done this craft before using rice, works well!
whatever you do, do NOT get the bright idea as posted elsewhere on other website of using cornflour or the similar, especially with excitable children. you end up with a volcano affect with the flour and snow effect across the classroom.stick to birdseed!
very creative
KoOl iDeA
this is something i cuold use all the time!
kids wikk love this
Flour CLogs the birdseed make it like a hacky sack. Much more fun
hi instead of filling the balloons with bird seed you should try flour
I thought this was a great craft though I thought flour worked much better then Bird Sead!