Painted Rocks: A Painting Project for Teaching Your Child Colors and Numbers

Put your child on the road to learning success using this fun, skill-building, rock painting project.

Painted Rock Ladybugs - A Fun Way to Learn Colors & Numbers

Perfect for preparing youngsters prior to their very first day of school, these colorful ladybugs teach and reinforce basic skills, such as color & number recognition, counting skills, small to large concept, and basic addition & subtraction.

The learning process begins even before you pick up a paintbrush when you and your child find 10 ladybug-shaped stones, counting as you collect them. Collecting rocks and stones is a fun activity too!

Stone shapes perfect for painted ladybugs

You can use this project in two ways:

1. An adult paints the stones and uses them to teach and reinforce colors and numbers
2. An adult (or older sibling) and child do the project together allowing the child to learn colors and numbers as the project progresses 

This rock painting project is available as an Amazon Kindle e-book and is FREE to borrow for Amazon Prime members.

Painting Step by Step: Teaching Colors, Teaching Numbers Using a Ladybugs Painting Project

Don't have a Kindle e-reader. No problem. Amazon offers FREE Kindle Reading Apps for smartphones, computers, and tablets. (I used the free computer app months before I purchased my Kindle e-reader.)

This Amazon Kindle e-book also includes access to the FREE PDF version of the project so you can download it to your computer and print the pages. 


Start painting ladybug color counters now.
 

Painting rocks is a fun, creative, inexpensive project for both children and adults. You'll be amazed how plain, ordinary rocks come alive with a little paint and imagination and can be used as teaching and learning tools.


© Cindy Thomas Painted Rocks

Inspiration for Painting Owls on Rocks

Calendars are a great resource for rock painting inspiration.

This free owl calendar is chock full of owl designs created by various artists. (Respect the artists and use the images for inspiration rather than copying their work.)

If you love owls but don't paint rocks, check out the calendar anyway. It's fun to customize by choosing from 43 different owls.

How to Make Paint Palettes Using Everyday Household Items

Here's how to easily make paint palettes from items you use every day around the house. And you're reusing an item that was headed for the trash anyway.

Use plastic lids from margarine tubs, yogurt cups, coffee cans, etc.

Lid from a 32 ounce yogurt container

Use plastic bottles - any size works. In some cases this may not be cost-free, as you're losing the bottle deposit. I used a 2-liter seltzer bottle.

2-Liter Seltzer Bottle

Cut the bottom off the plastic bottle. (I was able to use regular scissors to cut around the bottom of my seltzer bottle.)

You now have a paint palette which is best for using individual colors without mixing. This works especially well when painting with children.

Soda Bottle Paint Palette

I drink more water than soda and found my favorite palette is made from plastic 1-gallon water jugs.

Plastic 1-Gallon Water Jug

Similar to the soda bottle, just cut the bottom off the jug.

I love these paint palettes made from plastic water jugs because the colors can be mixed yet there's a divider if you want to keep them separated.

Water Jug Paint Palette - My Favorite

If you have ideas for other inexpensive, DIY paint palettes, please leave a comment.

© Cindy Thomas Painted Rocks

Four Free Rock Painting Projects

These four, free rock painting projects (provided by two rock painters and a craft store) will help you create cute painted rocks of your own.


Thanks to Lee Wismer for sharing these two rock painting lessons:

Strawberries

Koi Pond on Flagstone

Thank you, JoAnn Fabrics, for sharing this cute, PDF rock painting tutorial:

Tic Tac Toe with Ladybugs

The free projects mentioned in this post along with their links were viewable on the date of this post. I cannot guarantee how long the projects will remain free and available online.

How to Paint Flying Bugs, Pigs, and Fish on Rocks Using Free Tutorials

Today's FREE lessons are provided by Ernestina Gallina.

I would categorize Ernestina's how-to guides as intermediate skill level. My feeling is "practice makes perfect" and even if you're a beginner rock painter, you can improve your skills by trying these free, rock painting projects.

These free tutorials (in PDF format) include:

• A list of the materials you'll need
• Guidance on the type of rocks suitable for the project
• Detailed step-by-step instructions and illustrations for painting cute flying bug rocks, baby pig rocks, and little Nemo rocks

Flying Bugs

Here's my first attempt at using the flying bug rocks tutorial

Once you learn a technique for painting rocks, you can change up the colors and add your own special touch and creative ideas to differentiate your painted rocks from those of other artists.

I altered this project by using metallic acrylic paint for the flying bugs in the photo below.

Metallic flying bugs painted rocks

Baby Pig

Two pigs I painted using the free Baby Pig tutorial

I learned the importance of choosing smooth rocks when I painted these two baby pigs. Smooth rocks allow paint to be applied and lines to be drawn easily. Pitted rocks are definitely more challenging to paint. Doesn't my little piggy look like he's been in a barnyard fight or just escaped the meat grinder? 

Little Nemo

Little Nemo I painted using this free tutorial

I had the perfect rock for painting a Little Nemo. By varying the acrylic paint colors, it's possible to create an aquarium full of unique, painted fish rocks. One of Ernestina's clever ideas for this project was to add gold glitter paint to "simulate sparkling scales on the body."

Thank you, Ernestina Gallina, for generously sharing your creative, rock painting how-to-guides.


The free projects mentioned in this post along with their links were viewable on the date of this post. I cannot guarantee how long the projects will remain free and available online. 


© Cindy Thomas Painted Rocks