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:

  1. Your stone is special to you. You don’t have to explain why and never let anyone choose a stone for you.
  2. 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.
  3. This is fun – it is not a “do or die” situation to finding your rock. It could take you years!
  4. What did you think and feel when you found your rock? Was there a stillness and silence or did the world erupt with sound?
  5. 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.
  6. 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?
  7. What’s the perfect colour? How much does the colour matter to you?
  8. Put your rock in the middle of other rocks. Then stand it on its own. Does it look good and special in both instances?
  9. What does your rock smell like? Which part of the earth did it come from? What stories does it whisper to you?
  10. 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.

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