Make a Stress Toy

Are you so stressed from your parents, siblings, school work, soccer practice, or your friends? Whatever it's from, you have been feeling tension and that is not a good feeling. Stress leads to an unhealthy and unhappy lifestyle. To express your stress in a healthy way, there are many options. This article will show you the most popular option (to make a stress toy).

Make a Zen Garden

 * 1) Find a box
 * 2) * Get a box to make a good zen garden. The requirements are very simple. Make it sturdy and made out of wood, porcelain or something pretty and withstanding. It can NOT  be a regular box you use for mailing things or smaller versions of that. It can be any length or width.
 * 3) *A simple one would be the size of your fist (the easiest one) but another nice way is to get a skinny width box the length of your fore arm. That way it will be stored easily and will have the best use.Your box can have a magnetic clasp to close, a sliding top, a chest like closing, or just no top at all.
 * 4) Find sand/glitter
 * 5) * Buy sand from a local craft store or just bring some from the beach. If sand isn't an option, you could get a large amount of dry, sparkly glitter or thick powder. Get enough sand or glitter so that it will fill to the top of your box. Your sand or glitter should be a simple color
 * 6) **Some good options for sand are tan, black, and dark brown. You want calm, deep, soothing colors. For glitter or powder I would use white or black. It should be soft so that you can run your fingers through it. If you want, you could just use some clean, soft soil.
 * 7) Place plastic covering
 * 8) * A good thing to do (although not necessary) is to place plastic under your box. It could be a sheet of soft plastic pressed against the outside of your box or a plastic box that your regular box fits in. This is to catch any sand that happens to fall out of your box.
 * 9) Use a rake
 * 10) * The one thing that makes the zen garden a zen garden, is the rake. This part can be tricky. The easiest option would be to use clay or playdo. With clay/playdo you can cover one side of a fork in clay and then slowly peel it off. Then with that mold you can shape it to be the perfect little rake. Your rake should be the length of your pinky. IT MUST HAVE SPIKES ON ONE SIDE AND A ROUND CYLINDER ON THE OTHER.
 * 11) Get fancy
 * 12) * Find little pebbles to put in your zen garden. You should only put three, so they can easily and cleanly be taken out in no time. They should be plain, smooth, and identical. They should be the length and width of your thumb nail.
 * 13) * Use little figurines. If you have any swan or bird figurines you could place those in your zen garden. They should be the same size as your pebbles. If you don't have those little figurines on hand, you can make some out of clay or playdo.
 * 14) * Another popular figurine would to be of a house (chinese style home). Or you could do a building with a triangle base and three pillars holding up the triangle ceiling. This should be around the same size as your other figurines and pebbles.
 * 15) * That should be enough to fill your garden. If you want, you can add a special touch. A little bowl with clean water. The bowl should be the same size as everything else in your zen garden.
 * 16) Enjoy your new garden.
 * 17) * Now rake! When you are stressed head over to your garden and rake. When you first start, start with the spike side to claw your anger out and then the cylinder side to smooth it over when you've calmed down.

Make a Stress Ball

 * 1) Get clay. A simple molding clay will work. Smooth it down into a creamy soft, yet thick ball about fist size. Make sure to store it in a humid place. For example, in a plastic bag that has just been rinsed with warm water. That way, your ball will stay soft so you can release your anger.
 * 2) Get creative. If you'd like mold it into a cube. Then on each side you can put a letter. Find six things that stress you out. For example: brother, schoolwork, mom, friends, teachers, soccer coach. If you can only think of a couple things, think of which ones stress you more than others
 * 3) *Using the example above, label your cube. On one side put B for brother, on another side put S for schoolwork, etc. If you can only think of sister and coach and your coach stresses you the most, put S on two sides and C on four sides. This way, if you are stressed from your mom, you can poke, claw and prod at the side with an M.
 * 4) * If you want, you could put a velvet ribbon through your ball as if you were going to hang it. Then, after clawing at the ball and releasing your stress, you can calm down by running your finger down the velvet.
 * 5) Try it out! See if you like it!

Magnets

 * 1) Make a double magnet. Take two identical magnets and put them together. If you are angry, you can flip one so that they are trying to separate each other. To release your stress, fight the magnetic force and force them together.
 * 2) Try it out. This will only work if you do it the right way. Try it for the first time to see if it suits you. This is probably the easiest stress toy. If this isn't right for you, make a stress ball/cube or a zen garden (the methods above.)