Painting on Rocks – Great Activity for Kids!

If you’re looking for a fun, cheap activity for kids, it’s time to try out painting on rocks. This activity is a great natural art form, where the canvas can come from anywhere and changes based on which rock you decide to use. You’ll learn how to choose a rock, what materials to use, and some helpful tips for making your masterpiece.

Choosing your rock

You can find rocks anywhere. Keep an eye out around your house. Or if you really want to, you can purchase them online. The best rocks are smooth, with a solid surface. River rocks work well. Ones with lots of holes, like pumice stone, don’t work well because the paint gets soaked up. Finding the right rock is half the fun. Take your kids out and hunt for rocks and have them search for the right rock for their project. Collect lots of rocks and play around.

Start with small rocks. They take less material and time to paint, and the kids can paint multiple rocks and make one big painting of all the rocks.

Collecting your supplies

The basics your kids will need: some rocks, a cup of water, some brushes, some acrylic paints, and some newspaper to work on. Acrylic paints work best because of their quick drying time. Look for synthetic brushes because they better weather the toughness of the rocks. When the kids are ready to get more involved with painting on rocks, you can get a painter’s palette, some more paints and better brushes.

A few helpful hints

* Rocks are great for kids to paint on, because you can’t mess them up. If something goes wrong, kids can just paint over the mistake or wipe away the paint before it dries. Or they can just throw away that rock and pick up another one.

• Clean off the rocks before they start. A nice, clean rock is the best canvas.
• Let them mix and match the paints however they like. Don’t let paint dry all over the brushes; clean them up in your cup of water.
• A paper plate or the lid from a sour cream container works as an artist’s palette for mixing paints.
• Use some old clothes for painting it. This lets the kids focus on painting and saves expensive dry cleaning bills!
• Have fun with the kids. If you get involved searching for rocks and painting along with the kids, it can be a great bonding experience.

Once you get your kids started out painting on rocks, they’ll be hooked on this natural art form. With a little investment in the painting supplies and a few adventures out hunting for rocks, they’ll be creating masterpieces in no time at all. Once they’re ready to move on, you can start looking around for some books that detail specific techniques for moving from a beginning rock painting student to a skilled rock artist.

Now, if rock painting looks like fun for you too, here is a book that will teach you how to Paint Houses, Cottages and Towns on Rocks. This way you can share in the fun with your children.

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