When I deliver courses and workshops, one set of resources particularly liked by participants are my painted stones:

Using stones to demonstrate the value of natural materials in learning and play

When I work in schools, they seem to be just as popular:

This was a piece of artwork created during a free play session with 4 and 5 year olds
Nursery children following a trail of stones laid by a couple of children which lead to treasure!
This area was left for 3-6yrs olds to make natural artwork as they wished. It can often help to have light coloured sheets that highlight the objects. In grass or woodland areas often the materials are quite well camouflaged.

If you look at the photo above, the stones are stored in grass baskets. Natural materials seem to be best presented in baskets and other natural storage containers. They look less attractive when kept in plastic boxes:

Painted stones are an asset to any stone collection. They can be made by children by painting stones and varnishing them. The detail that older children can achieve is lovely. These stones depict local life in a fishing village in NE Scotland:

A useful resource for decorating stones are acrylic deco pens that do not require varnishing. Unlike permanent marker pens, they have bright colours, are waterproof and are great for stonework:

The painted stones are great for story telling. For instance, if you look at the stones in the photo below:

In turn a child picks a stone and helps make a group story…

Once upon a time there was a ladybird called Lucy.
She lived in Scotland.
One day Lucy decided to go for a walk over a hill.
She wanted to see if she could find the end of a rainbow.

Many children also like playing with letters. They can be used in free play and many structured activities to aid the learning of letters and sounds. For example, letter stones can be hidden in an outside area and children can see which ones they can find. If your school is using a synthetic phonics approach then this is a useful way to reinforce the letters and the sounds they make.

The next possibility is to create word stones. Paint whole words on stones. Children can do this for each topic! Again these can be used in different games to help children develop literacy skills. For example, stones can be placed in a school garden. The children have to find the words and use them to make a poem or write a sentence – the level of difficulty depending upon the age and ability of the children.

Many maths activities can use number stones. Again, the range of activities is huge. Feel free to make some suggestions….!

I’m wondering whether I’m going through a rocky time…this is my third post in succession about stones. I think I’ve been quite inspired through visiting other blogs and websites. For example, the Victoria and Albert museum have launched a World Beach Project that encourages you to submit beach art to their site. There’s lots to see already.


Gwynneth Beasley recently blogged about outdoor art and this reminded me about some lovely artwork 6 and 7 year olds at Kinellar Primary School created as part of an outdoor art lesson last November. The photos have been kindly supplied by Lucy Brydon, Visiting Teacher of Art:

What I particularly like is that the stones used are the gravel from nearby paths! The children had to find a clear surface upon which to work, or create one by clearing away the leaf litter in the school garden.

Naturally using whatever happens to be lying around is great for art work, creating minibeast habitats and many other activities. This Zen Garden in a Czech infant school is a lovely example of an attractive gravel pit. Children can make large scale stone art by drawing and raking in the gravel and moving around the stones. The ones on the side are actually green potatoes left over from a potato harvest.

I frequently get queries from course participants about my collections of painted stones and other rocks and how to source such material. In Scotland it is important that the Scottish Outdoor Access Code is followed. Always check by-laws at beaches and observe the Fossil Code. It is important to never remove rocks and stones from walls, no matter how derelict, without the landowner’s permission.

DIY stores and garden centres are often good places to look for a variety of rocks and stones. Decorative pebbles can also be bought from stores such as Ikea or Hobbycraft.

The pebbles used in the maths activity in the above photo have been bought from Au Naturale. They are semi-polished river stones.

Many children love throwing stones. This worries a lot of teachers who are put off using stones for play and learning purposes. The trick here is to teach children to throw stones safely. This will help them judge distances between themselves and other objects in space. Let them take turns to throw stones into a bucket of water, puddle or large body of water. This almost always works as a focus. Ensure there is plenty of distance between the child and other people, buildings, windows, cars, etc. In the UK it would be sensible to write the rules and routines around using pebbles into a risk benefit assessment.

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