And we’re back with another colorful and fun painted rock project – this week, we’re making our own mini neighborhood! Even though we’re nearing the end of summer, we continue to embrace the warm weather as long as we can and love spending time outside as a family as much as possible. Going on nature walks, playing in the yard, or going even going camping are all perfect opportunities to combine creativity with nature, and painting rocks is one of our favorite ways to do that!

For these rocks, we went with bright colors and simple geometric shapes. Drawing the basic outlines of the houses, trees, and cars first with pencil can help little ones get started. Another fun thing to consider is the shapes and designs of your houses! Why not let your own hometown or an future vacation spot inspire the shapes? The painted ladies in San Francisco, Jellybean Row in Newfoundland, or the colorful houses of Copenhagen are all amazing places to start!

• Smooth rocks
• Apple Barrel Acrylic Paint
• Paintbrush
• Mod Podge

Step 1
Begin by gathering up some rocks! You can grab some from your backyard, take a walk in the park with you kids to scout out some nice ones, or maybe you already have some in your craft stash! We got these nice smooth black ones from the craft store. If you want your rocks to have a solid background color like these, you can apply a coat of paint first to achieve this. If you choose to do this step, make sure to let them dry completely.

Now that you have your rocks ready, it’s time to paint! We use a few of our favorite shades from the Apple Barrel Acrylic Paint set – we love how all the colors go so nicely together! Use the paint and a brush to make various houses and buildings on the rocks. As we always do when painting rocks, you can use the shape and size of each rock as inspiration for what you paint onto it. Bigger rocks could be schools and smaller ones could be cute little cabins! Once you’ve got the houses painted, paint a car or two, and add some nature to the neighborhood with some trees and greenery. Let dry completely.

Step 2
Once dry, apply a coat of Mod Podge onto each rock. You might want to cover your work surface with scrap paper before doing this to make sure you don’t make a mess on your table while Mod Podging. Let dry.

Step 3
Voila! It’s time to play with these friendly neighborhood rocks!

Mix and match as many houses, buildings, trees, bushes, cars, and trucks as you like! Lucky for this red car, there’s no traffic to speak of in this neighborhood, but kids who love cars, trucks, and tractors can have fun making even more vehicles to occupy the road. Or how about a farm on the outskirts of town, surrounded by a large green forest and open fields? The possibilities are endless.

Happy crafting!