This Rock painting tutorial is perfect for kids wanting to paint on rocks and for kids wanting to play with painted rocks. These rocks create a play village scene, which enables children to use their imagination in outdoor or indoor play. Using these rocks Kids can tap into their pretend play imagination skills. Making up stories, games and scenarios as they play with the rocks.
These rocks are smooth to touch too, making them a soothing weighted tactile sensory activity. The links in this post are affiliate links which means when you purchase from those links we get a small kick back in change to fund our own painting habits. This is at no extra cost to you.
Supplies:
- Rocks
- Acrylic Paints
- Paint Brushes
- Paint Pens (optional)
- Mod Podge (optional)
- Dish Soap
- Pencil
Instructions:
Painting rocks is an easy and super relaxing activity! The instructions are pretty basic, so I have included several tips to help you along your way!
For our rock village, we painted a mix of cars, trucks, school buses, houses, buildings and stores (like the bank and grocery). We also painted a park, a ‘forest’ rock and a church. Of course, every village needs a few stop lights as well. You can paint your village to include whatever you want! Or pick things that are landmarks in your own community to paint and add to your rocks!
Gather your rocks. Look for rocks that have shapes that will lend themselves to what you want to paint. For example, a skinny longer shape is perfect for painting a street sign. A rock with several pointy edges on one side might make for a great mini-mountain range. You will also want rocks that are flat and will have a smooth surface for painting.
Once you have your rocks collected, use a bit of dish soap and give them a good scrub. This will get the dirt off and make your paint go on nice and smooth. Allow the rocks to fully dry. They shouldn’t take long! Especially if you have them out in the sun!
Gather your supplies. Acrylic paints
are my favorite to work with. They are inexpensive and there are so many colors available! Also, paint pens are a great option! You will also need paint brushes. A good paint brush can make a huge difference! Most of the rock painting will have smaller details so a fine brush is key. If you want to paint small dots or super fine details, I’ve even used a toothpick before!
Sketch out roughly your plan for your rocks with a pencil. For our village, I wanted a mix of cars, houses, and community buildings such as a bank, park and grocery store.
Begin to paint! Some people like to finish a rock at once. I like to pick a color and paint each part of the rocks that will be that color. I started painting with black, for example. So I went through and painted all of the tires first. This is totally just a personal preference. The paint dries quickly so there won’t be a lot of down time.
I find it easier to outline with paint first and fill in second. Work in layers on your rocks.
For super vibrant colors, paint a layer of white paint first. This is optional, but can help your colors pop! Especially on dark rocks.
Lastly, if desired, seal your rocks with a layer of Mod Podge. This can help protect your paint from chipping.
