This one just rocks!

While this idea seems best for Spring, a piece of it is perfect for Summer and Fall. One year, my 3-year-old preschool class spent most of the year working on plants. When the ground finally became soft enough to dig in we put shovels in small hands and went to work building a 'backyard garden.' We were searching for a project to help include the classroom families and came up with the idea of decorating the beach rocks we were using to form a boarder around our plants.

Each family took a turn taking home a plastic bin with the following items:

3 paint brushes (approx 1/2" size)

3 tubes of heavy acrylic paint (red, yellow, blue)

1 small paint tray (mixing your own colors was encouraged)

1 child sized smock

1 set of directions taped to the inside of the lid

The only request we asked of the families was to work together to pick a word that meant something to them. The words were painted on what would be displayed as the 'top' of the rock. Some of the words were love, adventure, discover, chillax, play, and explore.

When each rock was fully dry it was sprayed with a sealer (all sides) and placed in our garden. We hosted a garden party breakfast when all of the rocks were complete and welcomed families in to check out our beautiful new garden, featuring their rocks.

Here's the part that is suitable for this time of year. On one of your summer beach trips pick up some extra flat beach rocks. Spend some time this Fall thinking of a meaningful word and paint it on. If you don't have a garden, you can use your rocks to outline a piece of your yard or as a fun addition to your block collection.