My kids are collectors . . . . which explains this . . . .
. . . . their rock collections.
Since it’s summer break and they’re begging for crafts we decided to try hot rock painting. Super easy. Heat some rocks in a 350 degree oven for 15 minutes. Then “color” with crayons. The crayons actually melt really quickly on the rocks so it’s more like painting.
What we learned:
- The rocks are hot . . . . . REALLY HOT! This is the reason for the oven mitt you see in the picture on the left. Even though it looks like it’s just laying there it’s really on my daughters left hand. She used it to hold and move the rock.
- The wet wax is like paint and if you touch it with the oven mitt it will transfer … easily. You can see the smudges on the fingers of the mitt in the photo. Hopefully it will wash out.
- I would recommend putting the rock that's being colored on a paper towel or newspaper. The wax runs. I had to scrub the crayon off my cookie sheet (although it wasn't that hard to clean up).
- To keep the rocks hot without having to leave the oven on we just removed one at a time to color and left the rest in the warm oven after it was turned off. Each kid was able to color 5 rocks and they were still plenty hot.
- The colors will run. Less is better. When my kids tried to color too much they started to run together. Needless to say we have a few rocks that are just swirled colors. Still pretty, but not the original plan.
- Smooth rocks work best for drawing a picture, rough rocks still work but are easier to just scribble on.
Overall this was a great craft and my kids loved it. They plan on collecting a more rocks that are smooth to try again soon. I was worried about the hot rocks and burns but my youngest, who just turned 5, was able to participate with no problem.
This craft project originally appeared on the blog, "A Sprinkle of This …"
About the author: Denise Rudolph blogs at "A Sprinkle of This…" and is a self-proclaimed DIY addict who generally has about 4 projects going at a time. She loves anything DIY ~ sewing, scrapbooking, building, crafting ~ you name it, she'll try it. She does as much of this as possible - in between playing with her two little ones … and occasionally cooking and cleaning her house!
