10+ Rock Crafts and Activities that will “rock” your kids’ world!
Today, I’m sharing 10+ awesome rock and stone crafts and activities that kids of all ages will enjoy. You’ll find rock crafts for toddlers and preschoolers, painted rock art projects for pre-tweeds and teens and you’ll see how we use rocks for science experiments and a variety of fun and educational activities both indoors and out.
Rocks and stones are plentiful here. The beach is just a few minutes away, and our shoreline is an endless stretch of smooth, grey beach stones. We bring loads of them home every year, so we always have an abundance of rocks in all shapes and sizes to use for our crafts and I keep a supply of them in the backyard for the kids to play with.
With a little paint, you can turn a stone into almost anything, so they’re a go-to at our craft table. The kids also use them as loose parts in the yard and sandbox, and they come in handy for fun learning activities as well.
I’ve rounded up some of our favourite ways to craft, play and learn with rocks and stones. Hopefully these ideas will inspire you to go on a rock hunt of your own so your kids can enjoy some of the following crafts and activities.
Below, you’ll find:
- rock crafts for toddlers and preschoolers
- rock crafts for older kids
- cool painted rock ideas
- science experiments using rocks
- ways to use rocks and stones for sensory bins and loose parts
- fun learning activities with rocks and stones
Awesome Rock Crafts and Activities for Kids
Painted Heart Worry Stones
These worry stones are easy to make and a wonderful coping tool for kids who struggle with separation anxiety, stress and worries. Put one in your child’s pocket so they can give it a squeeze or rub it between their thumb and forefinger when they’re missing you or feeling stressed or upset.
Painted Rock PaperWeights
Kid of all ages enjoy painting rocks, and it’s easy enough that even toddlers can turn theirs into a beautiful handmade gift for a parent or grandparent. See how we made these beautiful painted rock paperweights here.
Homemade Story Stones
Turn a collection of smooth beach rocks into story stones for your toddlers and preschoolers to play and learn with. They’re terrific to use as story-telling prompts or to use for open-ended, imaginative play. See how I made our story stones here.
Painted Rock Easter Egg Craft
If you’re looking for a super-cool, super-easy Easter craft to make with the kids this year, gather some smooth round beach rocks and make our painted rock Easter eggs. You can make them in no time, and they look so pretty.
Rainbow Stacking Stones
The older kids in my daycare painted these rainbow stacking stones for the toddlers and preschoolers. They’re great for teaching kids rainbow order and size order and they challenge critical thinking, fine motor skills and co-ordination.
Pour-Painted Beach Stones
This is one of my favourite crafts involving beach stones. We turned a bunch of smooth beach rocks into these funky, vibrant stone paper-weights for Father’s Day. The process was amazing, and the results were stunning.
Water Displacement Experiment & Activity
The hooligans love to drop the small, round stones into a jar of water, so we did this fun water displacement experiment so they could see what happens to the level of the water when you add rocks to it.
Crystallized Rocks – Growing Crystals with Borax
It’s easy to turn ordinary beach stones into gorgeous crystallized rocks! It involves a simple but fascinating science experiment. Once you’ve crystallized your stones, they’re fun to colour and give as gifts! See how to make these crystallized beach rocks here.
Good Luck Stones
This is one of the easiest rock crafts we’ve ever done. These good luck stones are so easy to make, and can be used as good luck charms or as worry stones to comfort an anxious child. They’d be great for kids to make and sell at a school or church fund raiser too.
Stacking Large Beach Rocks
We always have a stack of larger beach rocks piled up in one corner of our back deck. The hooligans play with these almost every day. Most often they stack the rocks, but they also love scrubbing them with toothbrushes and soapy water, or simply “painting” the rocks with a paintbrush dipped in water.
Chalk Rock Paper Weights
We turned ordinary beach stones into gorgeous paperweights using liquid chalk markers. The process was really slick, and these paperweights make great gifts for kids to give to parents, grandparents and teachers.
Painted Rocks for Canada Day
Have the kids paint some patriotic rocks! Use them as paper weights or door stoppers or decorate your porch or patio for the nation’s holiday celebrations.
Painted Halloween Rocks
Speaking of holiday celebrations… Find some rocks that are kind of skull-shaped and paint them up to look like spooky skulls. Display them on your porch or in your garden throughout the Halloween season. You can see how we made ours here.
Put Rocks in your Sensory Bins
Adding rocks to a sensory bin, not only provides kids with the chance to explore and enjoy the rocks in a different way but they make your sensory bin look so much more realistic! Check out our deep blue sea sensory bin and our Dinosaur Bin to see what I mean!
Homemade Letter Stones
I painted uppercase and lowercase letters, with acrylic paints, on small flat beach stones. When the paint was dry, I gave them a quick coat of spray varnish to weather-proof them. Younger children can explore the letters through play, while older children can form sight words with them.
Loose Parts In the Sandbox
Rock Sorting in a Chocolates Box
Chocolate Box Rocks: Fill an empty chocolate box with a variety of small colourful stones. Toddlers will have fun simply putting the stones in and out of the box, and older children can pay closer attention to the shapes of the stones, trying to match them with a similar-shaped space in the box.
Young children will have fun counting the dots and making matches, while older kids can actually play a game of dominoes. Make your dots by dipping the end of a paintbrush handle in black acrylic paint and press it to an oblong beach stone. When the paint is dry, finish with a coat of spray varnish or polish with a bit of bee’s wax.
Tea Party with loose parts
Often we just mix up a bunch of loose parts like stones, pinecones, shells and artificial flowers, and we have a little tea party like this. It’s a simple activity, but there’s lots of opportunity for exploration, fun and learning in even the simplest of activities.
I hope you’ve enjoyed these simple but creative rock crafts and activities! Stay tuned… we’ll be sharing our painted Easter Egg Rocks soon!
More Rock Crafts For Kids:
Five Little Ducks by Red Ted Art
Shape & Colour Rocks by Fun-a-day
Pebble Puzzle by Strasilo
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Jackie is a mom, wife, home daycare provider, and the creative spirit behind Happy Hooligans. She specializes in kids’ crafts and activities, easy recipes, and parenting. She began blogging in 2011, and today, Happy Hooligans inspires more than 2 million parents, caregivers and Early Years Professionals all over the globe.