Painted Garden Stones {Crafty Kitchen}

Today I'm bringing you another low cost summer craft for the kids. Rock painting! Painted Garden Stones actually. This activity was next to nothing to make and the kids had a lot of fun not only painting the rocks, but having a little fun exploring as well. We started out our project on a adventure hunt looking for the perfect rocks.

Were lucky enough to have wooded area in the back of our house with a creek. This is the perfect place for rock hunting and exploring. It was kind of like a treasure hunt finding the perfect rocks to paint, we wanted ones with a flat surface, those seem to work best. When you find your rocks load them up and head home.

First off you will want to clean any visible dirt off of the rocks. This can be done by using a Brillo pad or sponge and the water hose. I let the kids do this part that way they could have a little fun squirting each other with the water hose as well. Once your rocks are cleaned off you will want to let the completely dry.
 
We just left our rocks out in the sun on the patio table. Now the fun begins. Let the kid use their imagination and paint whatever they want there's no rule of thumb here. Just let them have some fun and then mom can go and try and get a quick chore or two taken care of while the kids are busy.

Here we are starting out on our rock hunt. Freeway our dog wanted to tag along. It was such a hot day, thank goodness it was a bit shady in the woods.


Looks like Carson found one. There are so many to choose from.


Freeway is tour guide and supervisor for this project.


While the rocks are drying you can get the paints organized. We just used a empty egg carton to hold all of the different colors of paints.

lay newspaper down because this activity can get quite messy. We chose to do our painting activity outside on the patio table. This way if they got anything on the ground I could just use the hose and wash it off. Carson choose red with yellow poke a dots. Not sure what they have in mind just let them paint away.

Pink of course.............. Mackenzie's favorite color. When the kids are finally done painting their rocks let them completely dry. Don't worry about painting the bottom of the rocks no one is going to see that side anyways.

finally when the rocks are completely dry. With help from a adult spray on the clear coat finish to seal the paint on the rocks. I did a double coat just in case. This will help protect their little masterpieces.

Let the clear coat dry completely. When dry find place around you garden or yard to place you new garden stones.

Here is Mackenzie ready to add her stones to the garden.

Mackenzie put her pink butterfly rock in the garden with the roses. Perfect color match.

Here is mine not a masterpiece but it was fun.

Mackenzie personalized her second one with a big "M".


Here's Carson's, kind of reminds me of superman for some reason.

Painted Garden Stones 
(Material Needed)

large flat rocks (not to big)
Brillo pad or rough sponge
acrylic paints (assorted colors)
paint brushes
acrylic clear coat sealant spray
newspaper
old t-shirt to get paint on
and a little imagination

To start you will need to wash and sometimes scrubbed the rocks. Dry off the rocks with a old towel or let dry in the sun. Find a container or use a egg carton to store the assorted colors of paint that will be used.

Paint the rocks and let them completely dry. Finally finish off by spraying on a acrylic clear coat finish to seal your rocks. This will keep the paint from fading or running off when you water the garden or when it rains.

Place painted rocks in your garden and enjoy.