Brighten someone’s day with kindness rocks

Rock painting is something we started when my daughter was a toddler and we’ve done it every year since. It’s such a fun and simple project to work on as a family.

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While our rock painting was more free form in the beginning, in recent years we’ve turned to creating kindness rocks, decked out in beautiful colours and uplifting messages. When our rocks are complete, we take them along with us on walks and bike rides and carefully place them around the neighbourhood for people to find. The hope is that when they’re found, someone’s day will be brightened — even if it’s just by a little bit.

Here’s what you’ll need:

• smooth stones (these can be collected or purchased at garden centres)
• acrylic paints (the dollar store ones work just fine)
• paintbrushes
• a jar of water and a rag
• permanent markers

You can paint your kindness rocks whichever way your heart desires. That being said, I’m going to show you our usual kindness rock decorating method, which creates the prettiest painted rocks, and is foolproof.

First order of business? Give the rocks a base coat of colour.

You’ll want to let them dry completely and then do another coat, which really doesn’t take long at all in the summer heat. If your kiddos have already gotten plenty of sun and you’re painting kindness rocks indoors, having a small room fan going nearby really seems to speeds things along.

When the two coats of base paint are completely dry, go ahead and add your designs, pictures and messages with paint and a small brush, permanent markers or a combination of the two.

And that’s it! Allow your kindness rocks time to fully dry once again and then head outside and tuck them under trees at parks, along sidewalks on your street and under structures at the playground.