My painted stones remain a much treasured resource that I continue to adapt and refine. Children like them and are happy to spend time looking and talking about the simple illustrations.
Some are themed. Below is my minibeast collection. Here is is fairly easy to work out what is what. Each stone has a fairly fixed definition. The ladybirds will always be ladybirds, for example.
I have a lots of stones, where the illustration is more open-ended. For example, children may surmise long and hard about what type of animal made the paw-print. The yellow dot could be the sun or it could indicate something else. The eye has been used to suggest someone is watching another character or event. It may be God’s eye. It might be an adult one. Can you work out what’s amiss with the footprint?
I also have some abstract designs. When these get pulled out of the bag, initially there’s confusion over what the patterns mean. People have to decide their meaning. This calls for a little bit of imagination.
I find having open-ended illustrations makes for much more interesting story telling that has twists, turns and variations. And there’s power and control here too. For suddenly a child has to attach their idea to the stone. It becomes what they want it to be.
A little stone can give a lot of empowerment in a funny sort of way. Little tweaks can transform an experience.
This blog post was originally published in September 2011. I love finding older blog posts where I feel the concept or idea remains true.
I love it! These story stones are so delightful for inspiring conversations, stories, and creative thinking skills. I also love the mini beast theme.
The opportunities are endless and I agree-stones do give empowerment in a funny sort of way.
Thanks Renee
Yes – the themes are great for subjects and the abstract illustrations really get the conversations going.
Best wishes
Juliet
I love that some of the story stones are straight forward and others abstract, allowing children to affix their own meaning to the stone – it’s a wonderful way to meet children where they are. My communication center has not been enticing children this year and I think these stones would be a wonderful, exciting provocation. Thanks for the inspiration!
Hi- thanks for your response, Miss Merril. Stones work especially well if children also paint their own designs too.
I LOVE the idea of doing abstract patterns and shapes on the stones. I don’t know why I didn’t think of this myself!
Thank you for taking the time to comment about this on my blog.
I LOVE the idea of doing abstract patterns and shapes on the stones. I don’t know why I didn’t think of this myself!
Thank you for taking the time to comment about this on my blog.
Thank you! I so appreciate your insights and creativity! Happy to share with others.