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Oh, the joys of stress relief toys. When I was a kid, my friends and I used to get together at recess and fill balloons with all-purpose flour. Those were good times. Until my dog got “stressed.” I always liked the idea of stress toys–basically capitalizing on the chewing-gum-with-your-hands reflex–but somehow, when I’m really stressed, I never end up resorting to any of these toys. I usually just seethe in privacy, but hey, I’m working on it. Here are a few derivatives on the classic “ball” template…Let me know if you’ve gotten some decent mileage and/or tranquility out of any of them!
Thinking Putty: “Slightly harder than other putty. This is the true original. For those with strong hands.” (Also available in glow-in-the-dark)
The Noodle Ball: “Bright colorful noodles are encased in a clear plastic skin.” Hmm. Sounds like a spring roll.
The Fortune Water Ball: Filled with liquid and a mysterious floating cube-oracle. This ball “will give you answers to your most important questions like ‘Will I get a raise?’, ‘Will my co-workers stop bugging me?’ or ‘Does Becky in accounting like me?’ (Um, yeah, maybe not…that last invoice was kinda botched.)
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As a professor who teaches both a freshman year experience class and a senior capstone course, I find I have a lot of stressed-out students, so I have kept stress toys around my office for years. One of my former students, who is now a friend of mine, collected a grocery sack full of different promotional stress toys — from a hotdog to a cell phone to a smiley guy — for me for Christmas.
posted by lleachie on 5-11-2007 at 5:47 pm
This is from Becky in Accounting (seriously), one of my co-workers had one of these fortune water balls which she queried, squeezed, and tortured til it developed a tumor. At this point she brought it into my office to show me and gave it one final squeeze to really show off the protrusion. It promptly exploded all over my desk, covering every piece of paper with pink, glittery, sticky water. It was lovely.
And speaking of promotional stress toys, I work for a urology medical instruments company and we have a squishy rubber prostate that we give out as a stress reliever (no joke).
posted by Becky on 5-14-2007 at 8:54 am
My desk is covered in toys… Cranium Cosmo, Rubiks cubes and snakes, puzzle boxes, burrs, origami and paper airplane calenders, etc. Needless to say, when people around me feel stressed, they stop by my desk to chat and play…
posted by Jason! on 5-14-2007 at 10:29 am
Does sidewalk chalk count? When I’m really stressed, nothing’s better than a big barrel of sidewalk chalk.
posted by Janel on 5-15-2007 at 12:00 am
Hehe… I found this site at work. I’ve stopped playing with my fortune water-ball because I’m afraid of it breaking (another of my co-workers has already had this..) but I’ve gotten a lot of fun from a spikey squishy ball. The only problem that I have with a lot of these toys is the icky rubbery smell it leaves on your hands. ew.
posted by Megs on 5-15-2007 at 11:43 am