Halloween Rock Painting Kids Art Project

By Spramani Elaun

One of my favorite art projects in my art classes and workshops around Halloween an American tradition is paint fun spooky  rocks.

In this blog post I want to share some of my rock painting set-up and tips.

Depending on the child’s age and time exposed to painting results will vary.

One of the things I’m expert at is painting rocks with kids!

I’ve painted thousands of rocks with kids in San Diego where I host many public rock painting events regularly by the beach.

For kids to have a positive Halloween rock experience here’s my top tips and materials list.

Kids Acrylic Paint

Acrylic paint is the best option for painting natural rocks, it will stick on it long term.

Please only use kids non-toxic acrylic paint bands when working with children under 12 years.

You can make lots of fun Halloween rocks with just a few colors of paint.

Rock Painting Colors

 

You don’t need many colors to make fun spooky rocks, a few colors will work just fine.

White – Ghost, Mummy, Skull, Eye Ball, Spider Web Rocks

Black – Jack O’ Lantern, Black Cat, Bat Rocks

Orange – Pumpkin & Jack O’ Lantern Rocks

Red – Eye Ball, Blood Drips

Green – Witch, Monster, Frankenstein Rocks

Purple – Monster, Spider, Witches Hat Rocks

Yellow – Candy Corn, Scary Eye Rocks

 

 

 

Find Halloween Rocks Outside to Paint!

Collecting rocks outside is so much fun for kids.

You can find rocks everywhere!

If this is not an easy task, go to garden stores and see if they sell small landscape rocks.

Natural rocks come in different sizes and shapes.

Have kids imagine what they would like to paint, then look for rocks similar in shape.

You can also use beach or river rocks too, they have nice flat surfaces to paint.

 

 

Halloween Rock Painting Set-up

What you will need:

Acrylic Paint – safe non-toxic acrylic or craft thick paint will work great.

Paintbrushes – very small brush for making details, medium brush to paint full surface of rocks  (2 paintbrushes).

Water Jar – to clean paint off paintbrushes in-between colors.

Napkins – for wiping water and paint off paintbrushes.

Palette – if you don’t have a small palette you can use a small paper plate, or recycled egg carton. This is  where you will pour paint.

Newsprint – to protect working surface and catch paint.

Smock – to protect child’s clothes from getting paint on them.

Here are some fun Halloween painted rock ideas we rounded up from online sources and rock painting artist.

These can be simple designs for kids to mimic.

My Rock Painting Top 3 Tips!

 

I’ve published these tips in several of my teaching art books. Check Out Books Here!

Tip 1. Rocks are not paper and they don’t absorb paint easily.

Be sure when kids are cleaning their paintbrushes they wipe all the water off paintbrush before they dip into paint.

You don’t want runny paint when painting rocks.

Paint will just drip and the image will get runny looking.

Tip 2. Paint rock back ground first and let dry completely.

If you want rock to have a solid background color, paint first, then let paint dry before painting anything else on it.

This will help image come out really nice and clear, and keep from smearing paint colors together.

Example: If painting a ghost rock, paint white first, let dry, then paint black eyes and mouth after white has dried.

 Tip 3. Painting rocks in direct sunlight is helpful.

Acrylic will dry quick if it has a heat source.

Rocks won’t dry for a long time if they are in a cold or cool temperature.

When kids are done painting rocks to put them in the direct sun to dry.

 

Read pumpkin painting for young kids, click here!

Read how to pick paints for kids art projects, click here!

All rights reserved © 2023, Nature of Art®

No part of this blog may be used or be reproduced in any manner whatsoever including reproducing, publishing, performing, and making any adaptions of the work – including translation into another foreign language without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. Nature of Art® Publishing P.O. Box 443 Solana Beach, California 92075.