Over the past 3 years we’ve shared many kid’s craft projects with you that utilize smooth river rocks or large seashells. You can find our past kid’s craft projects right here on the blog. This time around we’re utilizing smooth river walks that we’ve collected down by a local river. This project is best suited for children ages 5 years and up with adult supervision.
Kid’s Craft Project: Painted MOUSE River Rocks
Smooth River Rocks (oval shape)
Silver Metallic Acrylic Craft Paint
Black, White and Pink Acrylic Craft Paint
Paint Brush, Water Dish, Paper Towels
Round Wooden Toothpicks
Old Newspaper Sheets
Clear Acrylic Spray Sealer (glossy finish)
Cover your work surface with old newspaper. Use an old plastic margarine/butter bowl for your water dish and the lid as your palette.
Base coat your oval shaped river rock with 2 coats of silver metallic acrylic craft paint, allowing 30 minutes to pass between the 2 coats. Let dry thoroughly before proceeding.
Use the photographs for reference. Paint a swirly, curly tail using black acrylic craft paint. Dip the back end of the paint brush into black paint and dot on 2 eyes. Use that same paint to make 2 ears. Use pink paint to add a small triangular-shaped nose. Use black paint to add 3 whiskers onto each side of the nose.
Once the black dotted eyes are dry, you’ll want to dip the end of your paint brush into white paint and add the inner portion of the eyes. Make sure this dot is smaller than the first black dot, so that the black shows through. Once the white dots are dry, dip the end of a rounded toothpick into black paint and dot on the inner eye (pupils). Let thoroughly dry before proceeding.
After all of the paint has dried…take your rocks outside and lay them down onto newspaper. Have an adult give spray on a light coat of clear acrylic spray sealer. If you’re going to be displaying them outdoors, you’ll want to add 2 coats of the sealer to protect the painted finish. Let them dry for 4-8 hours.
Notes: For this project we had three children ages 5, 7 and 9 years of age work on this project. The 5 year old needed a little more assistance than the other two kids. We found it best to use long, oval-shaped river rocks that had a really flat bottom. If you don’t want to use silver metallic paint, you could use regular gray colored acrylic paint. The metallic paint does take a little longer to dry as compared to regular acrylic paint, but we really like the “metallic” finish that we get when we use it.
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This is a wonderful painted river rock project for preteens to prepare. I think that they would really enjoy painting them. Younger kids would need help with painting the rocks.
There are certainly more rocks than seashells here in Colorado. This project will be fun.
I love rock projects. I have one a dear fiend painted of a very realistic cat many years ago. It is a tabby cat and is done so well.Love you mouse, so easy and rocks you can find anywhere,
Oh, this is a good easy first painting craft for the little ones. Thank you for sharing.
This would be cute to have around the plants in my garden. I know that my granddaughter and her friends would enjoy this project and a good excuse to get them on a walk.
What a cool way to really have a “pet rock”, haha! This is super cool 🙂
This is the cutest kids painting project yet! I love the painted rock as I think it may be easier for children to manage in their little hands. The painted mouse is so cute and no doubt would be a big hit with children.
We have a lot of painted river rock projects coming up after the holidays. River rocks are more readily available and they’re free! Everyone needs to go out for a few nature walks & collect some rocks!