Painting Rock Pets for Friends

We love Rocks! This time of year, my kids seem to collect hunders of Rocks for Crafting. We have many DIY Rock Crafts for you to check out. Including some lovely DIY Heart Rocks.

Today we have a love inspired Painting Rock Pets craft for you. These are perfect as friendship rocks for back to school or as pocket buddies for any child feeling anxious.. or save them as a Valentine’s Day Craft for preschoolers later in the year!

There is nothing nicer than making something fun and nice for a good friend. We love making these little rock pets and giving them to our friends as a little rock pet to carry around in their pocket. Then if they are having a little lonely moment, they can pop their hand into their pocket and pull out their little friend made with love… you could also make a set and pop them around your local park or playground for people to find and make them smile!

These Pocket Pets where originally created for The Clangers!! Check out the website – head to the Activities tab and scroll down for all their handy PDF activity sheets. So many cute projetcs to share with you there!

Painting Rock Pets with Kids – Materials

• Rocks of any shape or size
• The best paints are acrylics or enamel paints, but you can use ordinary paint with some PVA glue mixed in. We love these gloss enamel paints US/ UK (Affiliate links)
• Googly eyes
• A little felt or fabric for the heart
• Marker pen (e.g. sharpies)
• Strong PVA Glue

How to paint rock pets for your friends or back to school

Get a piece of scrap paper or card to paint on. Then paint your rocks in your chosen colour. Don’t worry about “painting underneath”, your fingers will get messy if you do.. or if you DO want the whole stone covered in paint. Let them dry first and then do the underneath.

Once dry you can stick on your googly eyes. Experiment to see what position you want them in. You will find, different locations will give your pet a different character and look! It is fun to experiment!

Cut out a heart (get a grown up to help you) and stick it on.

Finally, get a black marker pen and add any details you would like – such a big happy smiley mouth and eyelashes.

Ta-daaaa. They are finished.

Be sure to take them along the next time you see your friends and hand them out as gifts to make them smile!

Fancy more great Rock DIY Ideas – including our other adorable Stone Pets (that live in matchboxes..) check these out:

More fabulous DIY Heart Rock for Valentine’s!