Kindness Rocks Project with the Grandkids

Painting rocks with the grands to spread good cheer and encouragement. What a great craft idea!

I get so many great ideas from my readers. I got this one from my good friend Tricia in Albuquerque. She knows I'm always looking for craft ideas to do with my grands, and she suggested this one. I think it's a great one. 

If you're like me, I wanted to know exactly what this was. So I googled it (of course!), and this is what I found: ​The Kindness Rocks Project was created to spread inspiration and a moment of kindness for unsuspecting recipients through random inspirational rocks dropped along the way.The Kindness Rocks Project encourages people to create inspirational rocks and leave them for others to find. It's the idea behind The Kindness Rocks Project, a pay-it-forward service project created by life coach Megan Murphy in hopes of sparking joy in people's everyday lives. Anyone can participate.

I'll let Tricia tell the rest of her story:

​"My first encounter with a painted rock was in Big Bear, California, when we took our newly purchased motor home to our local national forest campground for a trial run. After setting up our RV, I stepped down on the ground, and next to the step was a rock with smiling eyes. It was so unexpected, and my husband and I laughed so hard when we saw it. We took it with us when we broke camp. It stayed in the RV for several trips. Over a year later we moved from California to New Mexico, and  went camping with our visiting daughter, our niece and her three children in the Pecos National Park in New Mexico. The kids saw the rock and wanted to know the story, so we told them how we found it. They also loved it so we decided to leave the rock for the next campers.

I have a dear friend who is an artist and a grandmother. She started painting rocks. She and her adorable four-year-old granddaughter (who usually is always dressed in a tutu) would take walks and hide the rocks. Then she would post pictures of their walks on Facebook. I loved the precious pictures of her grandchild in her tutu dropping her happiness rocks hither and yon.

I was reminded of our camping rock, so I googled rock painting and found #kindnessrock project. It described doing it just as we did with the camping rock!  Hide painted rocks to make someone smile, keep it or hide it for someone else to find and enjoy. The Instagram post also said  to post online  when you found one.  Next I went on Pinterest to get ideas. Of course, I will never live long enough to paint all that I posted to my Pinterest account! 

I have now painted many rocks and enjoy being creative.  My husband and I take them everywhere we go. It’s fun leaving them on ledges, top of trash cans and even on ground and  curbs at restaurants, stores, etc. We  gave some to our great nieces to hide in the park. We plan to take some with us when we go to California next month. This summer I’m planning a rock painting party for the kids. 

To paint rocks it’s best to get lighter colored, non-porous as possible, smooth rocks. Wash rock with soap and water and let dry. Acrylic paint is best. After painting the rocks, let dry completely and then  spray or brush with a clear sealant or even Mod Podge matte-mat. Rocks dry pretty fast. If painting a rock a solid color, let it dry completely. Then you can write or paint over it. Permanent markers also work well on rocks that have been painted first and are great for lettering or finer lines! 

Last words from Tricia:

"It is really fun to do and as with any craft, it gets those creative juices flowing. There is a calmness that comes over you when you're painting. Lastly it gives you a sense of accomplishment."

Final words from Gigi: Doesn't this sound like a GREAT idea? I love it. I plan to do it with my grands as well in a couple of months when they are out for summer. And Tricia and I share it with YOU!

Thanks so much to my friend and fellow high school classmate, Tricia! Our team was the Rebels,  and we consider ourselves, "Rebel girls with a cause!" Join us!

Tricia's precious nieces and "spreaders" of kindness rocks.

You can do a search for Kindness Rock Project on Facebook and Instagram. And here's a website:

​www.scarymommy.com/the-kindness-rocks-project/

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