25+ Creative Rock Painting Ideas

What’s not to like about painting rocks? Browse these creative rock painting ideas, you and your kids will love this art activity.

Rock painting has been a popular activity for children and adults for generations. This is an easy and rewarding art project that can be adapted for all ages – be it toddlers, preschoolers, kindergarteners or older! You can’t go wrong with this activity, because no matter how you paint a rock, it will look great.

Another thing we absolutely love about rock paintings is that you can hide your work in a random place for someone else to find – it’ll make them happy!

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Getting Started – What supplies do you need?

This goes without saying – you need ice. Smooth stone is best; If you get a chance to pick them up on family walks, especially near rivers, this is a good way to get some. If that’s not an option, check out your nearest garden store, home improvement store, or craft store – they all have rocks suitable for rock painting.

For paint, acrylic paints are best because they are waterproof by default. For fine details, you can also buy acrylic markers – they work like any other marker, so they’re really easy to use.

You can absolutely use any other medium to color your stones – from crayons to pencils, watercolors, paper mache… Anything! But if you want your painted rocks to last, you’ll need to apply a coat of varnish to waterproof and protect them.

Ideas for painting on rocks

Without further ado, here are some of our favorite rock painting ideas for you or your kids to make.

ladybug

One of the simplest projects to make is ladybugs. Paint the stone red. Let the paint dry (do more coats if necessary). Once dry, paint the head, the line between the wings and the 7 dots. Draw on eyes or use googly eyes. Tip: you can also use a black Sharpie instead of paint.

Big-eyed bird

Another fun and easy rock painting idea. You can make them colorful or stick with a single set of colors.

Paint the stone with your chosen paint and let it dry. With white acrylic paint, create two large round eyes. We recommend using an acrylic pen for the next steps, but you can also use a regular brush. Draw the details on the eyes, and also draw the beak (you can paint different shades of yellow or orange to give it dimension). Add dots if you want – this gives them an even more “birdy” look.

buzzing bees

Kids will love this rock painting idea. Just paint the stones yellow, let dry, paint a few lines black and let dry. Paint on the wings, eyes and mouth, and you’re done!

Piet Mondrian or creations inspired by other artists’ styles

You can teach children about different art styles with the help of rock paintings. Piet Mondrian is perfect for this. Paint the rocks white (you may need more than one layer), draw a few black lines, and fill in some squares with the base color.

Snowman

Making a snowman is extremely fun. If you have round rocks, just make the head, but if you have oval or pear-shaped rocks, make the whole snowman. Paint the rocks white and let them dry. Add in the details (again, acrylic pens are super handy here).

hedgehog

To make these, first paint the rocks with beige paint. Next comes a brown coat, covering about 3/4 of the rock. Also, give the muzzle a little dot. For the sharp points, we used a Sharpie marker (acrylic markers are a better choice if you’re not applying varnish).

colorful dots

One of our favorite ways to paint rocks is to paint dots on them. Kinda easy! Paint the stone with a darker base color – like black or dark blue. Grab your dotting tools – q-tips, pencils with erasers, anything that can actually stamp a dot. And make some dots! Use different shades of a single color and add complementary colors.

Cactus

If you’re not good at keeping real plants alive, you’ll love this one – find a few long flat rocks, paint them green and paint them on the thorns (you can see the full tutorial here ).

The flowers

When painting flowers on stone, using a brush is best, as the uneven strokes and lines the brush leaves behind will give your flower a more natural look. Paint the rock (blue) – if you want a gradient background, dip a sponge in lighter paint (light blue or white) and dab onto the painted rock.

Turtle

This will require the use of hot glue to complete – you can see the full simple instructions here.

Silhouette stone painting

This is probably our favorite idea for painting rocks. The ball always turns out great. Start by drawing the background; Using a sponge is quite good because it will be easy for you to blend all the different paint colors. Once done, you can draw your silhouette with a pencil and simply fill it with black paint.

Silly monster

One of the coolest rock painting ideas for kids, as they can’t be broken no matter how hard you try! After all, they are monsters so anything goes.

Emoticon

If you have emoji lovers in your house, this is the project to do. Lots of yellow paint and black, white, and red acrylic pens, and you’re ready to go.

Cute bugs!

They are drawn using chalk markers. It’s easy, but you’ll need to coat them with varnish if you want them to last.

Fairytale House

You can create magical little worlds with painted rocks. See instructions for making this fairy house here.

Silly pet kicks

Did you have a pet rock growing up? Super fun. Just draw a silly face on a colored rock.

Bats

Although these won’t work well outside, they’re still a fun rock painting idea – paint the back of the rocks, add a pair of wings made from paper, eyes and a mouth.

Ideas for painting fish on rocks

Painting fish on rocks (and leaving them near streams) is another great idea. We want to leave the background colorless for these. Start by drawing the outline of the fish with white paint. Let it dry. You can use a pencil to sketch details or draw freely.

Jack-o-Lanterns

This is perfect for the scariest season of the year! Paint the rocks orange, let them dry, and draw the faces (easiest to do with an acrylic pen or black Sharpie marker).

Draw a butterfly on a rock

Butterflies are amazing, and drawing one on a rock and dropping it somewhere for someone to find is definitely a way to make someone happy! Paint the silhouette black and add details.

Spooky rock painting ideas for kids

A super simple rock painting idea for kids – just ask them to paint the rocks white and add details with a black Sharpie marker.

colorful owl

Owls are one of the most rewarding painting ideas when it comes to rocks; you can use as many colors as you want, add patterns and just add two big round eyes with circles around them and a beak and you will have an owl-like creation.

Animal faces

Painting animal faces on rocks is also quite easy, with some animals with distinct characteristics like leopards and tigers being great options.

Small houses

Stones can easily be turned into magical little houses. You can choose realistic or cartoon style.

doodle heart

Paint the rocks black and draw a white heart. Then paint another layer on top of white – any color you like. You can add dots around the rocks. Add some doodle details with an acrylic pen.

Black and white design

This is one of the most beautiful rocks you can create – either fill it white or paint it black and use the opposite color to draw some intricate line art illustrations.

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Categories: Activities for Kids
Source: fetb.edu.vn