Story Stones

Have you ever heard of "story stones"?

They're basically just rocks that have things drawn, painted or stuck on them.  Things like people, vehicles, animals and symbols.

The idea is that children (normally pre-school ages) play with the stones and make up stories using the pictures as imagination boosters (because, you know, kids these days have no imagination!).

I saw the idea last year and quite liked the concept.

One of the girls at work is just about to go on maternity leave and I was invited to her "baby sprinkle" on the weekend.  I've been thinking for a while about what to give her and had the brilliant thought on Friday night of making some story stones for her.

The idea was that her 2 year old daughter (who loves rocks) could play with them while she feeds the new baby, giving the daughter something fun to do while mum is busy.

So on Saturday I collected some rocks from the garden (I love that I didn't have to buy rocks!), washed and dried them, pulled out my paints and got started.

I quickly discovered that I'd need to paint a background because the paints weren't coming up very well straight on the rocks.

And I happily entertained myself for the majority of the day, fitting in a few loads of washing and making lunch.

Once I'd painted all my rocks, I took them outside and put several layers of clear spray acrylic over the painted surfaces to try to protect them.  I mean, I'd hate to have gone to all that effort (also known as therapy, by the way) and have the pictures come off the first time they were played with!  How frustrating would that be for my workmate's daughter???

On Sunday I bagged them up in a cute little bag I found in my stash and wandered around to the party.  I had to wait until right at the end to see if she liked them and I was almost busting out of my skin by then!

Would you like to see my little masterpieces?

I'm really proud of them and I hope they provide relief for my workmate and entertainment for her daughter (and maybe later, her son).