Paint several of rocks with inspirational words and leave them at random places for people to find.
Word Rocks – This summer we had a really neat experience being introduced to word rocks. We were staying at the lake when my friend texted us early in the morning to come for a walk. My daughter had a very late night the night before so I really didn’t want to wake her up. About an hour or so later my persistent friend texted me again saying “it’s so amazing, come for a walk.” It was a foggy, drizzly morning so I assumed she meant that the forest looked quite beautiful that morning, again, nothing I was interested in waking up my daughter for and I couldn’t leave her unattended. Eventually my daughter slowly popped her head out of bed and I was thrilled she’d had a nice long sleep. Later I made my way onto Facebook and saw that my friend had posted a collection of amazing photos of kids holding these beautiful rocks with messages written on them. She had stumbled on a treasure trail of rocks that had been decorated and adorned with lovely, inspiring messages – they were everywhere in the forest, dozens of them. Later in the day Noelle and her friend went for a walk and found tons of these little beauties. On the back of each rock was written #wordrocks. I popped on the internet and found the origins of the word rock story here. A simple and sweet project started by a mother and her son in San Diego, California.
There is so much I love about this little project. I’m a big fan of random acts of kindness and the look on the kids faces when they found the rocks was priceless. It gave them a chance to make some big decisions too…leave the rocks for others to find or keep them for themselves. We also had an opportunity to talk about what all the messages meant in depth and what that meant personally to each child. In the end, each child kept one rock that they identified most with and then took the other rocks back to hide again for others to find. It was all the kids talked about for days.
Summer has now (sadly) passed but the joy and excitement that came with finding these word rocks remains. After continually talking about it, Noelle and I decided it was time to make our own word rocks and find a place to hide them for others to receive as much fun as we did finding them the first time. We collected rocks, painted and decorated them. One afternoon while Noelle had her friend Griffyn over we decided it was time to hide our word rocks. We are blessed to live on the side of a beautiful hill called Christmas Hill in Victoria, BC. We made our way through the trails and up towards the top of the hill, hiding rocks along the way. The girls had so much fun and I really felt like they were reflecting on what they were doing. I highly recommend this fun activity to everyone. It’s fun for kids and adults alike. You never know, someone could find one of your word rocks on a day that they were really struggling and needed a little bit of kindness in their lives. Positive messages have the ability to inspire, brighten your day and enact change. Here’s a local news story from this summer about word rocks here.
How to make word rocks
Supplies:
- rocks
- acrylic paint
- paint brush
- sharpie
- decorative pens
Directions:
- Wash all your rocks so that they are free of dirt and debris. Allow to dry.
- Apply a layer of paint to one side of your rock. Allow paint to dry.
- Decorate rock using more paint, sharpies and decorative pens.
Are you looking for some ideas for words and phrases to use on your word rocks? I assembled this great list of 200 positive words and sayings. Download the list here.
Looking for more…Kids (and their parents) will love these fun 40 projects that include simple beading, sewing, felting, bookmaking, and so much more in the book Craft Camp: Over 40 Fun Projects for Kids
List of 200 positive words and phrases.
Hand painted word rocks – hide and leave them for people to randomly find.
