10 Rock Painting Projects for Kids

If you're new to rock painting, a helpful resource is Lin Wellford's "Painting on Rocks for Kids."

Whether you're a kid, parent or grandparent, you'll find all the information you need to get started with rock painting.


You'll Learn About

• Tips for painting rocks
• Types of brushes, paint, and other recommended supplies
• Where to find rocks

 Each Easy-to-Follow Project

• Lists the supplies you'll need
• Illustrates the shape of rock to use
• Guides you step-by-step with clear, color photos, drawings, and written instructions
• Gives you ideas for variations of the project

Project How-To's Included in "Painting on Rocks for Kids"

1. Go Fish
2. Rocky Roadsters
3. Lazy Lizards
4. Flower Power
5. Rockosaurs
6. Go Buggy!
7. Sandbox City
8. Playful Food
9. Mystery Eggs
10. Bookend Bears

Find out more about Painting on Rocks for Kids

Other Rock Painting Guides by Lin Wellford

• Painting Zoo Animals on Rocks (Paperback)
• Lin Wellford's Painted Garden Art Anyone Can Do (Paperback)
• Painting Pets on Rocks (Paperback)
• The Art of Painting Animals on Rocks (Paperback)

Note: When you click on certain links in this post, I may receive a commission for the purchase of products. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

© Cindy Thomas Painted Rocks 

Rock Painting Idea: Animal Prints

A fun, easy rock painting project is animal prints.

Animal prints painted on stones

The easiest animal print to start with is a black and white cow. Just base coat a stone with white acrylic paint then add black splotches of various sizes and shapes.

A tiger print is easily painted also. Base coat the stone with orange acrylic paint then add long, black squiggly or wavy shapes. Make sure the black squiggles go in the same general direction. (Switch the orange paint to white and you'd have a zebra print.)

Click here to see a size comparison for this stone

A fun variation of an animal print is to paint hearts on a stone base coated with pale pink.

For an animal print that shines, use metallic craft paint.

Click here to see a size comparison for this stone

You can paint various sizes of paw prints on a stone too and stay within the animal print theme.

Click here to see a size comparison for this stone

With practice you can paint more detailed animal prints on stones.

Have fun and get creative with painted rock animal prints. Small stones can be used for paper weights and larger rocks make colorful door stops.

© Cindy Thomas Painted Rocks

Painted Rocks - An Experiment with Shaving Cream and Acrylics

Coloring eggs is a traditional Easter holiday activity that children enjoy and I wondered if something different could be done using rocks instead of hard-boiled eggs. 

I came across this idea using shaving cream and acrylic paints and decided to experiment with stones instead of paper.

This video also shows the process.

My 1st try using shaving cream & acrylic paint on paper

 My 1st result using a stone (smeared by my finger)

My 2nd stone with a little peach color added (streaked by squeegee)

 
I experimented a second time using different stones:

Primed, egg-shaped smooth stones and natural, flat porous stones

and a new shaving cream/acrylic paint color combination:

Shaving cream and acrylic paint swirled and ready to go

Here's the result of both attempts using the shaving cream/acrylic paint process on stones.

My results using primed and unprimed stones

What I learned:

• Stones are heavy and sink into the shaving cream so the finished design is not as pretty and marbleized as when done using paper
• If your stones are very smooth, you'll need to paint 1-2 coats of white, acrylic paint to prime them first
• Painting the stones white helps the other colors show up better 

• The stones are slippery when removing them from the shaving cream/acrylic and your fingers can "smear" some of the area when you remove them from the tray

• Removing the shaving cream with a squeegee left streaks on the rocks (I also used string and an index card and had the same results)
• This project is messy so you'll need to protect your work surface and have plenty of paper towels handy 
• Once dry, you can protect the stones with a clear, polyurethane or acrylic sealer

Even though the results weren't as pretty as I hoped, this would still be a fun painting project for kids whether you use paper or stones.

Do you have any ideas for making this work better? 

Please comment. 

© Cindy Thomas Painted Rocks