As I mentioned previously, we had a camping week at the preschool earlier this month. The kiddos had a blast, as did Mary Poppins and I. One simple craft we did during the week involved making pet rocks! I’d love to share the preschoolers’ take on making pet rocks below.
Related: 14 Preschool Camping Theme Printabes
Supplies
- Rocks of varying sizes
- Googly eyes
- Paint
- Paintbrushes
- Permanent markers
Directions
1. To begin with, gather up the rocks. These can be rocks found on a nature walk, on a camping trip, from the backyard, or even store-bought rocks. Make sure the rocks are cleaned of dirt and debris before moving to the next step.
2. Choose your paints. We used acrylic paints leftover from our Mother’s Day fingerprint flowerpots. Tempera paint works, too, but doesn’t give you the same color saturation. Set out the paintbrushes with the paints.
3. We had each child’s rock on disposable plates. This worked out well for containing some of the mess and moving the wet rocks when the kiddos were done.
4. Let the children have fun painting! Some of my students really, really got into this part of the activity! 🙂 When they’re done painting, let the pet rocks dry.
5. Once they’re dry, set out googly eyes. Mary Poppins and I tend to have a stash of googly eyes of different sizes and colors! Let the children add the googly eyes they want.
6. If they’re interested, they can use permanent markers to a nose and a mouth. We had a few who did this, but most opted for painted rocks with fun eyes!
7. Let the kiddos play with their “pets” once everything’s dry! The students had a good time with this before the rocks went home. They were especially amused by the antics of Bob, my pet rock. 🙂
Related: “Quick as a Cricket” Fun Art for Kids
Some ways to extend the pet rock play . . .
- Add the pet rocks to a fun sensory bin. Perhaps smaller rocks or plain rocks. They’d be great in any environment really.
- Play a game of “pet rock hide-and-seek”. Take them outside, hide the rocks, then let the children run around and find their rocks.
- Use the pet rocks as place markers for board games (like “Chutes and Ladders”).
- Make a play set for the play rocks. I LOVE what Childhood Beckons did in their post “Art and Play: The Nature Way – Rocks”!
Shared at Mom’s Library, We Made That, Kids Co-Op
Done-for-You Preschool Resources
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If you loved our camping week activities and the rock craft, head over to Preschool Teacher 101 for our camping and rocks lesson plans! Click on the images below to learn more.
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Cute pet rocks! My kids like decorating rocks too, and I haven’t even brought out the googly eyes yet! Thanks for sharing at Mom’s Library!
There’s just something fun about painting and playing with rocks. Yes, the googly eyes add even more fun and cuteness to this! I’m still so amused by the colored eyes with eyelashes.
Aw, so fun and cute!
Thanks, Ann. 🙂 I think so too, but I’m rather biased.
Pet rocks are awesome! I forgot about pet rocks! Hide & seek with pet rocks = genius!
Thanks so much, Amy!! Sometimes those “old school” crafts are the best, aren’t they?? 🙂
What a fun idea! We have a few camping trips (one a group camp trip with preschool) and this would be a super fun activity! Thanks for the post.
Thanks so much, Rebecca! 🙂 I think it would be so much fun to link with an actual camping trip! Let me know if you make any pet rocks this summer!
I love your pet rocks. I am honestly a sucker for any activity that utlilzes googily eyes! It was really a great idea to have a theme! I pinned this!
I am such a sucker for googly eyes too! I think it would be fun to randomly put them on things around town. 🙂 Thanks for stopping by Eric!
this is something we do to waste lots of time. it’s great for rainy days
Yes, I think it would be a lot of fun for rainy days at my place too! 🙂 We always seem to have random rocks that just appear here at home.
My son is sitting on my lap right now saying “Do that! Do that!” I think pet rocks are in our future 😉
Hahahaha! Stephanie, I love it! 🙂 I have to be careful of letting my son check out what I’m doing sometimes. He likes to make me lists of what he wants to try “from the computer”. Let me know how your pet rocks go!
These are just too cute! Pinning and sharing on facebook 😉
Aww, thanks so much Jen! 🙂 I appreciate the pin, the share, and the kind words! 🙂
Love these rocks. I will be featuring this on mom’s library on iGameMom. http://wp.me/p2t50R-1B9 it will be live around 12 mid-night.
Wow, thank you! 🙂 I’m so excited to be included!
Oh my goodness! We have a big canister of saved rocks, and I just bought some googly eyes. I think I know what I am doing with my kids this afternoon! Thanks for this inspiration.
Wonderful!! Let me know how your pet rocks turn out! We have fun painting rocks and using them for so much play and learning. 🙂 Thanks for popping by!!