What You'll Need
Rocks
You can purchase a bag of 60-70 river rocks at your local home-improvement store for a little over $10 per bag. These stones are generally large enough to accommodate a single word or phrase. Guests are also welcome to bring their own found stones to paint - the larger ones may even provide enough space for an inspiring quote! If you are hosting a medium-to-large event, it's worth asking your home-improvement store if they'd be willing to donate the rocks. Many large chains have a discretionary budget to support community events and causes. A logo on your flyer or social-media shoutout is great PR for the company.
Paint
You'll first be painting the rocks with colored acrylic spraypaint (gloss finish looks best) and, after allowing about 10 minutes to dry, inscribing them with your messages using oil-based Sharpies. Once the rocks have been inscribed, you'll apply a coat of clear acrylic spraypaint to "seal" the rocks. All of these items are readily available at your local craft store. Again, for larger events it's worth asking if these materials might be donated.
Plastic sheeting
(or some other appropriate dropcloth for spraypainting).
A Few Tips Before You Get Started
- Depending on the age range of the kids you're expecting at your party, you may consider spraypainting a selection of rocks in advance. That way the littlest ones can get straight to decorating with Sharpies (and their parents won't have to worry about mess).
- Follow the instructions on the spraypaint cans! For best results, shake the cans for at least 60 seconds before using and aim at the rock from a few inches away using a side-to-side sweeping motion. Too much paint will take longer to dry and create a more difficult surface to write on.
- Watch out for the black Sharpies. Black lines have a slight tendency to run when you seal with the clear spraypaint. There are many other colors to choose from - including metallics - for a nice "pop" against your background color.
- Consider where and how you'll be displaying the finished rocks. Small parties can create "inspiration gardens" together on-site or at a nearby park, for example. School-based events have a natural location for public display of the kids' artwork. For larger community events, you have the option of finding an installation site for the entire collection (you'll likely need to obtain official permission for this), distributing the rocks yourself and posting online, or encouraging participants to take their rocks home with them. If you opt for make-and-take, ensure that there is a central online location for participants to post their pictures once the rocks have been placed outside - it's a great way to stay connected to other partygoers.
- Write the hashtag #TheKindnessRocksProject on the back of your rocks so that the people who find the stones will know where to look for more information. You can also now upload the location of your "inspiration gardens" to The Kindness Rocks Project website so that others might locate them that way.
- Post your pictures online! Use the hashtag #TheKindnessRocksProject when posting to social media.
Are you hosting a local Kindness Rocks event? Tell us about it and we'll help spread the word!
