5 Imaginative Rock Painting Ideas

"Rock Art! Painting and Crafting with the Humble Pebble" by Denise Scicluna inspired me for a 5th week of rock painting.

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An imaginative idea is painting a colorful circle first and then adding the mandala design. (I need more patience & practice to make mandalas on rocks! They always end up lopsided and become doodles instead.)

Making Mandalas: inspired by "Rock Art!" by Denise Scicluna

Your imagination can run wild because colorful ladybugs are one of the simplest designs to paint on any shape or size of rock.

Brilliant Bugs: inspired by "Rock Art!" by Denise Scicluna

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As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

These pebble messages are tokens of faith, peace, and love and can be carried in a pocket. Any meaningful words, names or quotes can be painted on pebbles.

From Me to You: inspired by "Rock Art!" by Denise Scicluna

Black and white paint gives this imaginative owl design a clean, graphic look and complements the pebbles' natural colors.

Hoot Your Pebbles: inspired by "Rock Art!" by Denise Scicluna

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As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

These colorful fish rocks used two of my favorite things - dots and metallic paint.

Fish Tails: inspired by "Rock Art!" by Denise Scicluna

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.

Useful Links

• "Rock Art! Painting and Crafting with the Humble Pebble"
• Pretty rock painting ideas from "Rock Art!"
• 5 fun rock painting ideas from "Rock Art!"
• 5 creative rock painting ideas from "Rock Art!"
• 5 easy and colorful ideas from "Rock Art!" 
• A Rock Painting Book Perfect for Beginners (Blog Post of May 19, 2015) 

© Cindy Thomas Painted Rocks 

Painted Rocks: Garden Critters Before & After

I was inspired by a true story to paint a mouse hitching a ride on the back of a frog. Note how each stone's shape and size were transformed into the frog and mouse. Read more about the frog and mouse painted rocks.

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Learn how I used "black glue" to paint a butterfly with a stained glass effect on this rock.

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I like to use the rock's natural shape and characteristics whenever possible as illustrated in this ladybug before and after photo.

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More before and after painted rocks

• Various
• The Beatles
• Furry Pets 
• Machines 
• Wild Animals  
• Things with Wings
• Christmas Holiday 

© Cindy Thomas Painted Rocks

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

How Rock Painting Produces Great Joy

I never thought rock painting would give myself and others great joy, but I've been able to warm hearts and brings smiles to faces worldwide with this unusual art craft.

It's given me even more joy to share my rock painting techniques, ideas, and projects on this blog, Pinterest, Facebook and now Amazon.com. 


The joy of a new grandson inspired me to create these ladybug color counters and write a how-to guide for painting them.

Ladybug Color Counters

You can learn more about my rock painting how-to books on Amazon's Cindy Thomas Author Page.

Find your joy! 

© Cindy Thomas Painted Rocks

Painted Rocks: Teaching Your Child Colors and Numbers with Painted Ladybugs Stones

Ladybug Color Counting Stones

Daylight savings time is here for some of us, Spring arrives next week, and Summer is not far behind.

Collecting and painting rocks is a fun activity to keep kids busy during Spring and Summer breaks. Why not combine fun with a learning experience by teaching young children their numbers and colors with painted ladybugs rocks.

Teaching concepts using the painted stone ladybugs are:

• Color recognition
• Number recognition
• Counting skills
• Small to large concept
• Basic addition and subtraction

Get the kids outdoors and start collecting smooth round or oval rocks, counting as you go. As an added bonus, you will all get a little Vitamin N (nature).

Learn how to paint ladybug color counters on rocks.

© 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.

3 Free Rock Painting Lessons - Bees, Ladybugs, and Frogs

Today's 3 FREE lessons are courtesy of Patty Donathan.

All of Patty's free PDF rock painting tutorials include:

• A list of the supplies you'll need
• How to select the rocks
• Detailed illustrations and instructions for painting both simple and detailed bee, ladybug, and frog rocks

How to Paint a Bee

I painted this rock bee using Patty Donathan's free how-to guide

Every artist has their own style and you'll see a slight difference between my painted rock and those in Patty's lesson. I also added something extra to my painted rock bee - a toothpick painted gold became the bee's stinger.



How to Paint a Ladybug

This simple, ladybug how-to guide is perfect for those round rocks in your yard and easy enough for children to do. At the time I painted the ladybug, I did not think to take a photograph of my finished product.


How to Paint a Tic Tac Toe Frog & Koi Pond Game

This tic tac toe painted rock project is more involved, however, it's a very clever idea. Instead of playing tic tac toe with X’s and O’s on paper, two sets of frogs are painted on rocks - one set of frogs with orange spots and the other set with yellow spots. Patty also includes instructions for painting the pond tic tac toe board. One day I hope to complete this tutorial for myself. 

Thank you, Patty Donathan for generously sharing your free rock painting instructions and giving us rock painting ideas and inspiration.

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