Therapy and Mindfulness

How to Make Worry Stones

by

Worry Stones

I recently posted a photo of some “worry stones” I made on Instagram and I received a lot of positive feedback, as well as questions about how to make these magical stones.

I cannot take credit for the invention of worry stones. I learned about worry stones while working in a partial hospitalization program for adolescents. We made worry stones as a group activity and also gave them out as a distress tolerance tool for the teens.

A worry stone can be used as a grounding tool if you are feeling “up in your head”, angry or anxious. Rubbing a worry stone between your index finger and thumb can be a way to bring you make to the here and now.

A great thing about these worry stones is that they are small enough to fit in your pocket and the movement of rubbing your fingers together is so subtle that no one will even know you are using a coping skill! Also, the process of making worry stones can be therapeutic in and of itself.

Here is what you will need to make your very own batch of worry stones:

I purchase everything on Amazon but you can also go to your local craft store

Assorted colors of bakeable clay (I use Sculpy)

Sculpy glaze (optional)

Sparkles or Sparkle dust

An oven

A baking pan

Your hands

That’s it!

Okay, now how to make them….

  1. Preheat the oven to 275 degrees.
  2. Break a few pieces off of 2-4 colors and swirl together. (There is definitely a sweet spot in terms of when to stop mixing. Too much mixing can make the color turn out muddy).
  3. Roll your clay mixture into a ball a little larger than a quarter.
  4. Press your thumb into the ball so the piece of clay forms into a bowl shape but also gives you a nice spot to rub your thumb. (You can make as many as you want!!)
  5. Once you have made your worry stones you can place them on your baking sheet about 1 inch apart.
  6. Bake for 15 minutes.
  7. Once you have allowed your stones to cool, you can choose to add sparkle dust or your glaze.

Now that you are done, you can keep some for yourself or give them out as gifts!

Please send me a message and let me know how they turn out 🙂

Namaste.

 

Filed Under: Child, coping skills, mental health, Mind Body Connection, Mindfulness, parenting, parents, Self Awareness, teenagers, teens, Therapy Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Comments

    • Amy R says

      I make these with my students every year. I only have 25 students. The modeling clay cost me around $12 for a large multicolor pack, but I’m still using it three years later. So that means I’ve made about 75 per stones and I still have a lot of clay left . I gave each child three different colors but I only gave them a large pinch of each. It doesn’t take much!

  2. Michelle T says

    When did you add on the Sculpey Glaze? After you baked and let them cool? Does the glaze make them shiny? I’m going to try and make some!