Kids love to paint rocks. If the weather is nice take this craft outside and enjoy the sun before it’s gone for the winter. If you want to make them water proof you will need to spray the finished rock with clear varnish. I skipped the step because I personally dislike the smell of varnish enough not to bother, but you can find it at any hardware/ craft store.
- Gather your materials, you will need some large rocks, painters tape, orange paint, a jar, white glue and a paint brush.
- Tape off a cool face for each- press the painters tape down carefully so there are no bubbles. * Edited to add this is an adult job if you want it precise, tape is frustrating to cut and even I was having a hard time. I offered one rock to my son, but he declined. Have extras on hand if they want to do it themselves but you think they will be disappointed or frustrated if they don’t make one look like a jack-o-lantern.
- Mix you paint with white glue. I am mixing them together to stop the washable paint from “dusting” off the rock. In the past washable kids paint has all but fallen off the rocks. If you are varnishing them skip this. The glue does not make it waterproof, so don’t pop it in your garden.
- Start painting!
- Let dry for a few minutes and add another coat.
- Let dry and peel off the tape. I used a paring knife to carefully peel it off.
Halloween Books !
All book lists include affiliate links.
Mouse’s Halloween Party 
Halloween Day
Moonlight: The Halloween Cat
Pancakes For Recess says
Love this. Simple but effective. I imagine cutting the face out would be tricky for little hands?
admin says
Yes very. It is an adult job for sure.
Vanessa says
Really great idea for Halloween! Thanks for sharing. I love the books you’ve added, too 🙂
Erin says
Oh for cuteness sake! We don’t have any painter’s tape on hand. I wonder if it would work doing it as a crayon resist type of thing, drawing the face on with white or yellow, or even black crayon first, and then painting. Or would the glue make the paint go over the crayon too? Hmm.. may be experiment time here.
welcome to our wonderland says
those are adorable, we have to find some rocks to make some this week!! 🙂 we made clay pumpkins if you want to check them out
Jenae @ I Can Teach My Child says
Great idea!!!
MamaGames says
We’ve done this before… last year, when my daughter was 2 1/2, we used foam shape stickers for her to make a face on the rock – she found circles for eyes, triangles for noses, and we used crescents or ovals for mouths, mostly.
These are, of course, harder to peel off than painter’s tape, but they let my daughter feel like she was the one designing the faces. I think this year I’ll have her do stickers again while my 8 year old son and I experiment with painter’s tape. 🙂
anonymous says
Thanks so much for sharing all your ideas! My son will love this one! I really appreciate the book suggestions as well. I check your site almost every day and often add the books right to my request list at the library. Thank you for making it easy to keep our book bins full of fresh books!
Trisha says
Allie,
At Easter time I noticed a tutorial for cut-outs for egg-dyeing that involved putting the painters tape on wax paper then cutting out the shapes with scissors or a paper punch. (I think that is roughly how it went. It was on lolly chops if you feel the urge to dig.) That might make it easier to shape the face. I think my son would enjoy doing this. Thanks for the idea!
Toddler Approved says
Love this!! I shared it over at our blog today. I love the idea of going on a rock hunt for the rocks and then making these. They are so cute
http://toddlerapproved.blogspot.com/2011/10/31-ideas-for-active-october.html
Tiffany LaGrange says
Thanks for this! Wonderful! I linked to it and used it as my inspiration for my Fun Jar Friday activity this week! http://www.craftinterrupted.com/2012/10/fun-jar-friday-23-spooky-stones.html
Heather Johnson says
My daughter loves rocks, and my daughter loves pumpkins. This is a perfect craft to make with her!
Jody Cowan says
I love this! It’s so easy and fun (it looks like)! I have a Halloween LInky going now, if you would like to add it or anything recipes. I promote it every day! If you do, thank you!
http://momndaughtersavings.com/halloween-linky-crafts-recipes-add-yours-find-some/
The Teacher Treasury says
Great alternative to carving real pumpkins! What a mess that can make.
Monica says
Where do you find cool rocks like this??
Allison McDonald says
My yard 🙂