Monster Rock Painting

Hands up if your kids love rock painting? We do and this monster rock painting activity was great fun! (PS- You can get the printable monsters sheet for inspo on our Freebies page)

Rock painting is such a relaxing craft to do on a lazy afternoon or over the weekend. We love finding smooth rocks in nature, “seeing” a picture in the rock, painting it, and then hide it in a local place where someone else can find it and find joy in it.

These rocks called to be monsters, so I looked for some pictures to help us visualize the monsters looking at the shape of the picture and then the shape of the rock. You might have your own process on how you decide what to paint, but this is how we do it, perhaps for beginner rock painters, this could be helpful?

First, find the rock you’d like to use and find a picture that is more or less the same shape.

Then, color the background if you wish, it is not always necessary to paint the background, this is up to you. It does “pop” more if you do use a contrasting color. After it dried, draw your outlines on the rock. Younger children might need help with this step and remember not to make the coloring lines too intricate for your young kids. Finally, color in the drawing.

The ones below are examples of rocks that do not have a background color. The spooky one looked great on the light grey rock. And the monster below took up most of the surface, so I did not deem it necessary to paint a background.

Here are some of the monster rocks in different stages of completion compared to their actual pictures. Working from a picture might be easier for some children, just to get the basic idea onto the rock. Then they can add more personalized details.

These rock monsters make great “rock pets”. Extend this creative activity to more learning and give him/her a name, write up a bio for your pet monster, and even write down his favorite food etc. Make a little house for your monster using recyclables. There are many ways to extend this fun activity.

Find the monster sheet on our Freebies page under the “Monster” category.

Have fun painting rock monsters with your kiddos and let the creative juice flow!