Making and hiding painted rocks

I’ve mentioned a few times now that my kids have totally embraced the painted rocks phenomenon. They absolutely love decorating rocks and hiding them. It’s a fun hobby, a bit like geocaching but without the grid references.

My children have been painting rocks at home. I bought a huge bag from the local garden centre and gave them a quick wash. My children love being creative so have been happily decorating rocks – first drawing their designs with pencil, then colouring them in with Posca pens. When they’ve finished I varnish them to make sure the designs don’t come off in the rain. We’ve had everything from Paw Patrol to Sylvanian Families, Star Wars and more.

As well as decorating them at home they recently made more at Beavers. On Monday we went out with Beavers to go and hide all the rocks we’d decorated the week before. They’d been varnished to make sure they would survive any weather. We found lots.

And we left the ones we had decorated. We hid them up trees, and amongst tree roots. We hid them behind bushes and in plant pots.

The kids all had a great time, and of course burned off loads of energy running around! They love dreaming up their next designs and even making little series of rocks, such as the Diary of a Wimpy Kid ones, to hide around the local playground.

We have a local Facebook group which is a great way to see if anyone has found our rocks, as well as show the rocks we’ve discovered. We’ve even discovered painted rocks when we’ve been away on holiday!

Have you taken part in making or looking for painted rocks? If you are in need of inspiration then just type in “painted rocks” to Pinterest and prepare to be amazed!