Everyone needs a rock. Enjoy endless hours of play in the forest, in your back garden, at park, on the beach. Here’s some suggestions…
Pebble Toss
Create a hole. Each player needs 5 stones. Take it in turns to toss a pebble into the hole. The person with the most stones in the hole wins.
Shades of Grey
How many different colours of rock can you find? Build up a rainbow of rocks, sorted according to colour. Is the colour related to size, hardness or any other property of a pebble?
Trails
Make a trail of stones that lead to something interesting. Put a little treasure or surprise to let others know they’ve found the spot!
Which Hand?
Hide a pebble in one of your hands. Hold out both fists. Let a friend guess which hand the pebble is in. Take turns and let your friend hide the pebble in one of her hands too. (NB Dogs love this game too when played with a treat they can eat each time).
Stone Stacks
Build a stack of stones. This can be extra interesting if they are built near the sea and the tide comes in around them. Will yours survive?
Returning Rocks
Go for a walk and collect stones. Then go back and try and remember where they all came from.
Sound Keeper
Find two pebbles and tap them together to create a simple rhythm. Play hide ‘n’ seek but guide people to where you are hidden by your tap-tapping. People who find you should sit quietly beside you and wait for the others. They should tap the same rhythm too.
A Pebble Walk
Take a pebble for a walk. Photograph it hanging out in different locations. Where does it look most at home? On a wall? On the beach? Or some other place? Can you recognise it when hidden amongst other pebbles?
Make a Miniature Drystone Wall
This is a wall that is made without cement. The stones carefully laid together keep the wall stable. Experiment with small flat stones. Look at brickwork in houses and garden walls to see how which patterns and stone placements make a strong wall. Put those jigsaw skills to work!
Finding your perfect rock
Read Everybody Needs a Rock by Byrd Baylor. It’s got a great set of suggestions for finding your perfect rock, which is a life long quest. Here’s some basic rules and questions I adapted from the book:
- Your stone is special to you. You don’t have to explain why and never let anyone choose a stone for you.
- Your stone may appear in the most unexpected place, os start searching when you have a moment, even if it doesn’t seem a rocky place.
- This is fun – it is not a “do or die” situation to finding your rock. It could take you years!
- What did you think and feel when you found your rock? Was there a stillness and silence or did the world erupt with sound?
- How closely did you look at your rock? Check it out with a magnifying glass. You need to be really sure this is your stone.
- Is your rock the perfect size? Can you close your fingers over it? Does it jump about in your pocket when you run? How does it feel when you hold the your stone against your cheek?
- What’s the perfect colour? How much does the colour matter to you?
- Put your rock in the middle of other rocks. Then stand it on its own. Does it look good and special in both instances?
- What does your rock smell like? Which part of the earth did it come from? What stories does it whisper to you?
- What game can you play that involves just you and your rock? Are there games you want to play with your friends too?
Care with collecting
I am lousy on the identification front and always have been. But I like the idea, that one can hold a lump of desert sandstone and imagine the time when Scotland was situated around where the Saraha now lies, 270 million years ago. It’s a bit like working on an archaeology dig…once I had to sieve and sort soil that was 2000 years old and it was amazing to think that the shards of pottery within were being used when the likes of Jesus was alive. It makes me realise what little wisps of time and spirit we actually are in the whole of everything.
A friend asked me what sort of rocks I collect. I had to admit the answer is sentimental ones. I pick up rocks, shells and other objects as mementoes of places (local guidelines and codes of practice permitting). My favourites go into a strange-shaped glass vase which I fill with water to magnify and enhance the colours and it sits in between plants in my conservatory. If you are requested to leave your rocks in the place, encourage your children to think carefully about where they would like to leave their rock so they can re-visit it another time.
I also collect polished gemstones. This is a childhood habit that I got from my father who had a tumbler – a machine which polishes rocks – and I grew up listening to the sound of rocks being tumbled that he found when out and about. I still have a ring made of green veined agate that he made. Again, I try to be mindful of the sources and the implications of this.
Useful websites:
- Scottish Geology Fieldwork Code
- Rockwatch UK – a geology club for children
- Backyard geology post – from US with surprisingly good advice.
Rocks are great inside, too! I almost always have rocks in my classroom, often in the sensory table. If they are not in the sensory table, they are in the kitchen, in the block area, or the writing area. I agree, everyone needs a rock.
Some fun and interesting ways to inspire rock play, will try some out on our children. Thanks for linking to Country Kids.
some nice ideas here, will provide lots of fun for free.
Some great ideas and our dog loves to play find it
Oh I like the idea of the pebble walk, I’ll try that some time :0)
we have a very pebbly beach near us and the boys love picking them up and trying to bring them home but they are too big!
there are some great ideas here for when we visit next thank you x
Thanks everyone for your nice comments. This is much appreciated. I think there are infinite play possibilities with rocks… and yet I’ve suggested only ten… !
Use a finger or brush to draw designs / letters / numbers / secret messages on dry pebbles using water. It acts like disappearing in, especially on a hot sunny day when their message will vanish very quickly as the water evaporates.
One child could draw a 2D shape, for instance, which another must remember and reproduce after it has vanished.
Could make an interesting science investigation into evaporation times linked to ambient temperature.
They could time how long it takes for the message to vanish.
Use them to make a treasure trail that they have to follow before it disappears forever.
Simply pouring a wet path with a bucket of water could quickly create a trail to follow.
When my own children were young, creating and recreating dams with pebbles providing hours of fun in shallow streams in France.
We have been trying to make our playground more boy-friendly so decided to introduce stone/rock play. within the first month we have had two injuries, despite close supervision in the garden. First a river stone was dropped from a height(jungle gym) onto another boy’s nose (fractured), then boys were banging small stones with bigger river stones to make “cement” and a finger got caught and fractured. Have other schools experienced the same? What rules to you have in place to avoid accidents etc. We have strict rules and a designated area for stone/rock play but it seems like boys will be boys (and girls will be girls) – breaking rules while experimenting and exploring – another opportunity to sustain injuries?? Looking forward to hearing from other schools.
Rocks, pebbles and stones are lovely However since 2012 legally stones, pebbles and rocks have to be sourced legally
Thanks Lone
It would be helpful to know in which country you live and a link to the relevant law. That would be most helpful for other readers. I’m based in Scotland where the Scottish Outdoor Access Code is our legal guide and beach combing rights apply to the foreshore, providing no by-laws request otherwise.