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Rocks. All kids gravitate towards rocks! Who knew they could be so fun? As a parent, it’s hard not to freak out when I see one of my children holding a rock. All I envision are windows being broken once the rock is thrown. Anyone else? In an effort to save your windows and provide some FREE family outdoor fun, I’ve put together the ultimate list of crafts, games, learning activities, and things to do with rocks outside!
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Crafts to Make with Rocks Outside
Rock painting
We have a painted rock garden under a magnolia tree outside of our home and my kids instantly go there the second we get outside! So grab a few rocks, get out some paint and brushes and let them decorate!
Although any paint will work, I like to use cheap nail polish as it is permanent and easy to make cool designs! …and you don’t have to worry about washing the brushes! It’s a great way to spruce up any rock garden!
Tip! Make kindness rocks (with kind words and phrases) and bring them to public places for people to find! It’s a great random act of kindness to teach your kiddos!
Shadow rock tracing!
Grab a few different shaped rocks, white paper, and a pencil! Go outside, find where the sun is and judge your spot for the best shadow to be casted. Place your rock in front of your paper and trace the outline of the rock. Once the shadow is traced, continue decorating your shadow pet. Faces, hair, make it a dinosaur… the ideas are endless!
Extend this activity! Make it into a writing activity! After tracing your shadow pet, write a fiction story about its adventurous life! You can use these FREE templates to add to the fun of it (and make it educational!)
Word Art
This is a fun one that can be differentiated among many different age levels and interest levels! Start by finding a lot of rocks (combine it with rock hunting to find all of the coolest ones!). Then head back to a flat spot and create a word with those rocks!
You could use this with younger kiddos to practice spelling or letter identification. To make it even easier, they could trace premade chalk letters!
If you have older children, they could make this a masterpiece by glueing the rocks in the perfect placement on a canvas or other strong background. Frame it and you’ll have beautiful rock art to display! pssshh…They even sell them for the big bucks on Etsy!
I can create a…
Who can make a butterfly? Who can make a dinosaur? Use different shaped rocks to try and create an animal. It should be interesting to see what everyone comes up with and to try to imagine the same image that the builder had in their mind!
Here are some fun free cards to give you ideas! Mix ’em up and take turns drawing!
Games to Play with Rocks Outside
Rock Hunting
A classic rock hunt! It can’t get much better than this. Set off on a nature walk and start collecting the coolest rocks! I always like searching for agates to add to the rock tumbler!
You could also make it a contest by setting an agenda and rules…Who can find a heart shaped rock? Who can find a rock that looks like an egg? Who can find the most sparkly rock? And the list goes on and on…
Tip! Here’s a FREE rock hunting checklist for all the ideas!
Rock car garage
Who has a boy that LOVES hot wheels? I do! We have inside cars and outside cars. There is a rule in our house that if it goes outside, it doesn’t come back inside. Toys, that is, not the kids….If they bring toys outside, they stay outside for the remainder of their toy life here at our house.
Well, we have accumulated a few hot wheels that aren’t going back in. So grab some rocks and make a garage for them! Cars need to be protected from the weather, so get creative! Will you have a one-story? 2 stories? We can’t wait to see!
Keep up the fun by making complete roads and a city with the rocks!
Switch it up! You could also use the rocks to make a maze for the car! Take turns driving the car through each other’s mazes!
Tic-Tac-Toe
This game is perfect for chalk, paint pens, and ROCKS. Grab you a few and a partner! Someone draw the board and get to playing!
Tip! Use the rocks you painted as the different players!!
Rock dominoes
Get your paint pens out once again and find flat and smooth rocks. Make the pips on your rocks, then start playing. Do you match numbers for your lower ages? Or do you play traditional dominoes? You can even make up your own rules. It is YOUR game! Have fun!
Skip rocks
Find a safe body of water, check your surroundings, and SKIP. Such a fun childhood memory. No devices, no batteries needed, just get outside in nature’s playground and make new memories. My kids and I could do this for hours!
Rock Towers
How high can you stack your pile of rocks? Does it look more like a tower or a cave? Who cares! This activity is so fun, it involves critical thinking and fine motor skills! Win!
Learning with Rocks Outside
Identifying Rocks
Bring the classroom outside and combine your nature walk with a geology lesson! Teach your child what to look for in igneous, metamorphic, and sedimentary rocks and how each one was formed! Then see how many of each you can collect. This video is perfect in helping to identify the different types of rocks!
Rock On Math
Have young kids? COUNT with them! Grab a few rocks. Ask how many you have. Add a few more. How many now? Take a few away. Now how many? Math CAN be fun, especially with rocks!
Spelling Bee time
Grab chalk or a paint pen and write letters on rocks. Start making words. Make it into a game by seeing how many words can you spell in 1 minute? Here’s a fun recording sheet for this game!
If your child is just starting out with learning letters/words you can have them spell out CVC words, or their spelling words for the week!
Clock of Rocks
Working on telling time? Write numbers on the rocks. Have them lay out the rocks in a circle formation with the numbers on a clock in the correct location. Want to make it harder? Have them lay out the minutes inside the circle of hours.
Use sticks as the clock hands and take turns changing and telling the time!
If my rock were alive…
After painting your new pet rock, write a story about it. What would your rock be doing if it were alive?
Here’s a fun writing worksheet to use!
Rock Classification
Another fun one that is great for younger and older kids! Classifying objects is an important developmental milestone so why not sort the rocks! You can decide to sort between small and large, smooth and rough, or make it harder by sorting by the types of rocks!
You can draw and label circles out of chalk or use this worksheet to make your categories!
These are just a few activities that we have been successful in having fun and making memories! We hope you enjoy these ideas and maybe we can agree that rocks and kids CAN go together! As always, BRING YOUR KIDS OUTSIDE. Enjoy Nature!
What other rock activities have you done with your kiddos outside? I’d love to hear them! Grab the bundle of the Rock Resources FOR FREE here!
