Kindness ROCKS!

Happy Summer, everyone!  It's always such a great feeling to rest and reflect after the school year is over.  This summer, my sister and I have discovered such a fun way to do just that- and I couldn't wait to share it with you, because it's a great idea for the classroom, too.  (Of course- doesn't that happen with everything you do- your mind instantly goes to, "How could I use this in the classroom?!")

The latest trend in our area has been painting rocks.  Basically, people have fun painting rocks, hiding them, and waiting for other people to find them and be happy!

We have two groups locally since we are close to two counties-  Broome County Rocks! and Tioga County Rocks! Each group has a Facebook page where people upload pictures of rocks they paint and/or find, and then relocate for someone else to find.  We write, "Post to Broome County Rocks," on the back of our rocks, so people know where the rock is from.

We figure we don't have fun things like seashells to find in Upstate NY- we may as well paint rocks for people to find!

It's addicting.  And relaxing.  And just makes me smile.

We painted, watched my sister's dog sleep by us, and watched the rain outside.  It was my perfect summer afternoon.

Some rocks people paint are simple- and some are little masterpieces! Some are quilt rocks where someone starts a "square," hides it, and then the person who finds it completes another square, hides it, and keeps the quilt going.

Here are some rocks my sister and I painted:

It's so much fun to  check the site and see if someone found one of your rocks.  We might be a little addicted...

Hiding them is so much fun!  We drove around like we were on a mission!  We can leave some as we walk, but we wanted to spread the rocks around a bit.  We left some outside restaurants,  on benches, on playgrounds, and outside of a church.  They are fun to leave by hospitals and nursing homes, too, hoping to bring a smile to someone's day.

We MAY have seen a post on the site from a mom of a student I had in class a couple years ago, who was looking and looking to find his first rock, and was so excited.  And we MAY have hidden a rock or two on the steps to his house.  We may have...

I thought this would be such a great character education lesson for a classroom or an entire school. Kindness Rocks!  There are several Kindness Rocks programs around, which I found as I was writing this post, and which I just love. This one is from Crafts Unleashed.

This one is in Cape Cod.

Children love to paint rocks.  You can print pictures from Google Images or Pinterest to find sample rocks that would be simple for the children to recreate.  Just type in "painted rocks" and you will see more than you know what to do with.  You can spray a protective coating on the rocks after they are painted.  And... they are good to go!  I think it would be fun to send the rock and a note home to each family, so they could hide the rock as a Random Act of Kindness.  This would spread the rocks out a little better. You can put an email address on back to notify if the rock is found, or just know you've made someone's day and not put anything on the back of the rock.

I thought these would be fun for the kids to make.

OR you can keep the beauty at your school, like students from Sharon Elementary School in Newburgh, IN.  They painted rocks inspired by the book Only One You, by Linda Kranz, and made a beautiful stone pathway outside the school entrance.  I just love this.

The beautiful part is that every rock is special- no matter how it is painted. And even more beautiful is seeing the smiles and reading the sweet stories that go with the rocks that are found.

Have fun spreading kindness and joy!