Well.. today we deWelcome back to today’s Kids Crafts! Today, we have a super duper simple craft, but it is one that my children never tire of.. Stone Monsters!! Nice and easy and lots of fun! They are tactile, bright and suitable for all ages to have a go (just moderate what paint you use). This is also a VERY special Kids Crafts post, as I am sharing this with the crazy and adorable lady over at Mammasaurus.
Mammasaurus has brilliantly creative blog and every Wednesday she challenges you to some Guerilla Marketing: Make something. Tag it. Hide it in public. Wait for someone to find it! And hopefully come and visit your site. She calls it #W?W (“What the? Wednesday”). She even got one at the top of a building site before! I love love love her cheeky onion and Pine Cone Man – the person who found him, even posted a picture of him in his new home on Mammasaurus’s FB page!
So we made extra stone Monsters… and then went and hid them in our park. I tried to make something that the animals wouldn’t nibble by accident. Hopefully the googly eyes will not be a problem!
First our book.
The Book
Well.. there is was really only one book we could choose: Two Monsters! We love this little book. It is great right now for Red Ted, as he is really appreciating the subtlies of a difference of opinion. It is about two monsters, sitting on either side of a mountain. They talk to each other through a hole that runs the length of the mountain. One day they start and argument: the one monster says that “day is departing” and the other monster says that “night is arriving” – who is right (both of course), but it takes a rock throwing fight that destroys the mountain for them to realise this! Great story about seeing things differently and reconciliation!
The Craft
Well.. if you have wee ones, than this is the craft for you. We used acrylics (as they stay on), but they are messy. If you are not quite brave enough for that (fair enough – not really sure why I do it!), mix normal poster paint with some PVA glue (a la Mr Maker) or paint normally varnish the stones after they have dried. One word of warning: be sure you finish these BEFORE bedtime. We waited for ours to dry overnight, then I got a 6am wake up call to finish off the googly eyes. Not fun.
Materials: Stones, acrylic paint, googly eyes, glue, sharpy pens (optional for decorating)
1) Paint your stones. We chose pink and blue (see book). I find if you mix a little white in with your colours, the paint applies more smoothly. Plus we like some of the patterns it creates if you don’t mix it up “fully”
2) Let dry. Glue on googly eyes.
3) With Sharpie pens add some details. Red Ted made a spotty one and a hairy one and decided to leave two plain. Pip Squeak made all of hers hairy and added mouths and noses (yes she did… I know where they are, honest).
4) If you are releasing some of yours to the wild… make sure you discuss this element of the craft. Mine are very reluctant to “lose” anything they have made. But they loved the idea of sharing them in the park. We made 8, so we could hide 4….. Mark the back of your stones with your website address, and a message. Ideally add #W?W – I confess to forgetting (and running out of space)!
5) Go for a walk and hide……… Oh.. and we had made some ladybirds previously.. one which decided to join us on our adventure!
We had so much fun in the park. Even the other children we met up with wanted to help us hide our monsters! Red Ted is now keen to go back and see whether anyone has found them!
So… fancy giving #W?W a go? A fun way to find a random new reader or two!!
For more Kid’s Craft ideas, click here for a full list.
If you have been crafty with your kid’s be it at home, in the kitchen or outdoors, I would love for you to link up:
Do you like crafting with stones? What stone crafts have you made?
I\’m very fond of pebbles and rocks for so many reasons! Thanks for the reminder to enjoy the simple things, because for kids, simple is the best!
Thank you MaryAnn, yes, they did rather enjoy it… and they went off and collected more stones the next day. Coloured them with pens and added more googly eys.. all of their own accord!
We love that book especially with 2 little monsters and what a great craft to go with it some rock monsters (and the essential ladybird 😀 which J would love to make for T as she\’s a T Bug)
Aaaaah we love bugs 🙂 and yes, a cute cute book!
Such cute pebble monsters & fab book too! LOVE the idea of #W?W will def be trying this! Thanks for sharing 🙂
Huzzah! They look so cute! I wish I would find one!!!
Really colourful – and they are bound to have made a few people\’s days a bit happier 😀
And I soooo want to find one of YOURS!
The monster stones look great and what a fun idea to hide them in the park! 🙂
Those are adorable! What fun to leave your website address on them for finders to see, too!
Those are so cute! Definitely want to make some with my little guy when spring rolls around.
Jenny – have fun making them 🙂
Would be great if we found a new reader or two that way!!
Ohmy! I love this idea! and the little rocks turned out way cute! Might have to do this sometime! Pinning these! 🙂
Aaah thank you so much for kind words and pinning!!
I love your little monsters, they are fantastic. I\’m not sure I am brave enough to hide things with my blog name on though. 🙂
Thank you 🙂 and I know.. was really weird to “put my name out there”….
That is a pure genius idea!
Noah particularly would loved this. We are going on an outdoor mission soon to do this.
Fab!
Thanks for linking to Science Sparks, Fun Sparks
Thanks for hosting! I love the rocks! Have a great week! 🙂
Cute rock monsters! Love the idea of hiding them for someone else to find. Reminds me of Color Me Katie. She makes all sorts of things and puts them in public places.
Aaah thank you Kerry & Brittany! And Keitha.. I will have to check out Color Me Katie! How fun!!!
I love that story too. And LOVE the idea to hide the rocks- how fun!!
Oh yes! We had fun. We enjoyed going back to the park a week later to see whether they are still there. They were not. So we made up stories as to where they may have gone (the preferred one was that they ALL went home with the bear).
This is AWESOME!!! My daughter loves to pick up rocks and she would love this activity… Such a great idea. Would really love it if you could share this with us at Sharing Saturday -http://www.mamamiasheart2heart.com/2012/01/sharing-saturday-3.html
Have a great weekend,
MiaB
Aaah thank you and yes, heading you way now!
Oh, how fun!! Thank you for sharing at Sharing Saturday!!
I\’m babysitting a young friend tomorrow – guess what we will be doing!!!
Perfect! You will be very popular!!
Love this idea! My kids made Rock Pets a few months ago and had a blast doing it! I love the idea of \”sharing them at the park\”!
I think that was the really fun bit!
What a lovely craft!Must have been great fun hiding the monsters ;)Thanks for linking up to Book Sharing Monday.x
Hi! I thought you might want to take this monster rock painting to the next level and participate in a free global art and collaborative storytelling project: http://www.rockthoughts.com.
So far, we have over 500 rocks in 15 countries. There is no age limit and no experience necessary. Just loads of imagination are required. This is a great project for little ones!
We hope you\\\’ll come play.
– K
Ooh sounds fun! Will have to take said monster rock photo on white background and send it to you!
Thank You for sharing these creative and fun ideas. I am sharing this on my latest blog.
What a great idea! I will have to tell all my teacher friends about this.
🙂