Fall is the perfect time to get outside and have fun! The colorful changing fall leaves add an extra flair of excitement to the mix and create endless possibilities for outdoor fall leaf fun! Today, full-time RV mom of two, Katie Fox is here sharing all kinds of ways we can explore fall leaves and have fun (and maybe even learn something) while doing it! She’s sharing fall leaf craft ideas, fall leaf outdoor activities, science experiments, fall leaf jokes, books, and more! So, jump in our pile of fall leaf fun for kids! There’s room for all!
Fall leaf fun for kids
Fall arrives every year and demands our attention and awe with a beautiful display of colorful leaves. Children are particularly drawn to the vibrant colors of individual leaves and the tempting piles of leaves that can be found this time of year. The colors, sizes, and shapes ignite their imagination. Tap into this fascination and help your little nature explorers discover the magic of fall leaves.
Do you need some ideas on how to have fun with fall leaves with your kids? We’ve got you covered. This post is filled with clever craft ideas, science experiments, books, jokes, and more all about LEAVES!
Fall leaf crafts for kids
One great thing about fall leaves is that there is virtually an endless supply of them! And they’re completely free. That’s right as the beautifully colored leaves fall from the trees, you can gather them right on up and get your craft on with your kids.
There are so many fun fall leaf crafts to do and make with kids. We’ve included a few crafts below, but don’t stop with this list. Let your children’s imaginations run wild and find new and exciting ways to create fall leaves crafts and have fall leaf fun with kids.
Foster some creative play with fall leaf crowns. There are a few simple ways to make fall leaf crowns and because most fall leaves have varying shapes and colors, the crowns are bound to be absolutely beautiful.
Option 1: Upcycle a paper bag or scrap paper and cut a 3-5 inch wide strip in a length that will fit around your child’s head. If your paper isn’t long enough to fit around your child’s head, just cut as many as you need and tape, staple or glue them together to make the right length. Once you have the right length, glue or tape it together to create a paper crown. Then it is time to add all the beautiful leaves you collected. There is no wrong way to decorate these crowns with leaves. We used a stapler to adhere the leaves on the crowns featured in the photo above. Line up the leaves, tuck the bottoms/stems under the crown, and staple to secure! So easy, even kids can do it!
Option 2: Use duct tape to create a crown. To do this, you simply cut the duct tape in the length you need to fit around your child’s head with an inch or two extra to stick it together at the end. Lay it flat on your work surface, sticky side up. Help your child lay their fall leaves on the sticky tape, being careful not to let the tape stick to itself. Make sure to not stick leaves too close to the ends of the tape. Once your child is happy with the number of leaves, take match up the sticky ends of the tape, with the leaves on the outside of the crown.
Another fun way to encourage pretend outdoor play is by making a leaf fox tail (pictured above). Our friends at @unlocking.fun say you simply need leaves, some cardboard (upcycling a paper bag would work too), white paint, and string.
To make the fox tail shape, cut the cardboard in the shape you want. Then, paint the tip white, and then glue or tape leaves over the rest of the tail-shaped cardboard. Once it is dried, help your child add a string to the top of the tail and then tie it loosely around your child’s waist.
Dipping your fall leaves into beeswax is a wonderful way to preserve the colors of fall leaves. All you need is some plain beeswax, a way to melt it, some leaves to dip into it, and a place to let the leaves dry. It really is that easy, though it is also a bit messy when doing it with children, so prepare for a mess. Let the leaves dry on a large piece of wax paper to catch all the drippings. A nice thin coat should work just fine!
4. Fall leaf wall hanging
Need something to do with your preserved beeswax leaves? Or maybe you just have a ton of fall leaves scattered around your nature shelf or kitchen table. Make a fall leaf wall hanging with them! This is a beautiful way to keep them off the table and shelves, while also displaying them for all to see and admire.
All to need to do to make a wall hanging is to attach your leaves to a piece of string or twine. You can hang them all at various lengths from a longer branch or tie them all together and attach to a pinecone. Or, you could even thread them and make a colorful leaf garland for the mantle. If you preserve your leaves in beeswax, your wall hanging will last a long time. If you prefer to create it without preserving them, it will still last a couple of weeks.
5. Painted leaves and funny face leaves
Painting leaves is a neat way to use up all the fall leaves you collect, while also creating fun holiday-themed decorations. You can create ghosts and pumpkins with ease and oak leaves make excellent Christmas trees and reindeer. These painted fall leaves make excellent decorations and even a fun annual activity to add to your holiday decor.
You could also make funny faces on your leaves. Add expressions with paint or use stickers or googly eyes. Funny face leaves are so much fun to make and display. They could even be made into gifts! Paint, markers, cut-up leaves, googly eyes, crayons, construction paper, and pretty much any other craft supply you can think of would be perfect for creating these funny face fall leaves with kids.
6. Leaf masks
Leaf masks are another way to have fun with fall leaves. The masks can be as simple or as complicated as your children desire. Search for big leaves and simply cut eye holes into them and suddenly your child is camouflaged and can hide in plain sight. You could also use a variety of fall leaves to create elaborate masks with your kids. Create a mask shape with cardboard or a paper bag and then let your children glue the leaves on to create whimsical leaf masks.
7. Leaf confetti
Need something to keep little hands busy? Or are you needing confetti for an upcoming party or celebration? Fall leaves are perfect for making all-natural DIY biodegradable confetti! Plus, it is so very easy!
Hand your kids some dry fall leaves, scissors, and a hand-held hole punch. Let them cut up and punch holes in the leaves to their heart’s content. If you have decorative edge scissors, kids can experiment with how it makes the leaf confetti look too. This is a wonderful way to enjoy throwing confetti, but without using plastics and glitter, which are harmful to our planet and are typically found in store-bought confetti.
8. Pressed leaves
A lot of the fall leaves kids collect quickly begin to dry and curl at the edges. An easy way to prolong the life of a fall leaf is to press it. If you have a flower or leaf press, use it. Sticking the leaves in the pages of a book will do pretty much the same thing. Pro tip: If you use a book, be sure to put a piece of paper between the leaves and the book pages to protect the book. If the leaves were not entirely dry before being placed in the book, you may find unwanted mold.
9. Outdoor leaf art
While you are out exploring your neighborhood or local trail, gather some leaves with your kids. Once you have a few (or a ton), use them to create a work of art on the ground near where you found all the leaves. Make a heart, spiral, funny face, maze, a blob, a line, a giant number (for how old they are), or anything else you and your child can think up. Not only will your artwork brighten someone’s day, but the supplies were literally collected right there so cleanup is not required.
Ever heard of the book Leaf Man by Lois Elhert? The leaf art in this book is so wonderful and so much fun to try and create yourself. Creating leaf people and animals is a fun way to utilize fall leaves, while also incorporating family reading time. Bring the book outside and read it under a color fall tree and then collect some leaves to create your own leaf animals and people. You can try to recreate some of the scenes in the book or make up your own story.
11. Leaf lantern
With it getting dark earlier and the ground covered in fall leaves, there is no better time to make a fall leaf lantern with your kids. Check out this leaf lantern tutorial on how to do it. Use your leaf lantern to go for a night hike or even just a twilight stroll around your neighborhood. Making your own lantern will make any evening outing that much more fun and magical!
12. Leaf rubbings
This is probably an activity you are familiar with, but it is a classic for a reason. It is fun (and educational)! All you need to do to make leaf rubbings is put a piece of paper on top of a leaf and then rub the side of a crayon over the area of the leaf to make a rubbing of the leaf. You can try with different media (like oil pastels or colored pencils), experiment to see which colors work best, try out a variety of leaves, and see what several leaf rubbings look like together on one piece of paper. Once you have leaf rubbings, try identifying the leaves. Are they from a maple, oak, ash, aspen, dogwood, hawthorn? For extra credit, find the tree the leaf came from and make a bark rubbing as well! There are so many ways to take this classic activity and make it your own.
13. Leaf bookmarks
Looking for a fun craft that can also make the perfect gift? All you need is thick paper, leaves, and glue. You can use cardstock or upcycle paper bags, construction paper, or thin cardboard. Cut several rectangles in the general size of a standard bookmark (approximately 3 x 8 inches). Gather any fall leaves you want to use for your bookmarks and press them in a book or leaf press before you use them (see more on this below). Flat leaves are easier to glue down.
After you have your paper bookmarks and your pressed fall leaves, all you do is glue them onto the paper. The best way to do this is to have your kids paint the glue on. Then, glue the leaves onto the paper and then paint the glue over the top of the entire bookmark. Once they are dry, you can trim the edges or leave them how they turned out. They really do look beautiful no matter what!
If you have Modge Podge, this will work better at sealing the bookmarks to help preserve them.
Fall leaf activities for kids
Even if you are not feeling crafty, there are so many other ways to enjoy some fall leaf fun with kids! A lot of these activities are just good old-fashioned outdoor play! Here are a few of our favorite outdoor fall leaf fun ideas to get you started on your adventures.
1. Collect leaves
While out exploring nature in your local park or neighborhood simply collect some leaves. Some leaves are just begging to be admired! There are leaves that are mottled and polka-dotted. Some are so vibrant it’s crazy. Others look almost tie-dyed! You can collect one leaf that you found absolutely stunning. Or heck, collect a whole basketful! There is no wrong way to do it. Just make sure you have permission to collect them, as some parks (especially national parks) ask that you not collect any form of nature. You can put them in a collection bag, carry them or put them in a backpack to bring home and enjoy.
2. Rake leaves for a friend or neighbor
I always like adding a few acts of service/kindness to any seasonal activity list. A great way to pay-it-forward in the fall is to rake the leaves out of the yard of a friend or neighbor. If you have an elderly or disabled neighbor or just know someone that could use a few extra hands, send the kids over with the rakes and leaf blower to help out. Not only will they feel good about helping, but they can make piles of leaves and have fun in the process (see below). Join forces with other neighborhood families and your good deed will go even faster with extra fun and laughter!
3. Jump in a leaf pile
If your kids are little, rake a pile of leaves into a safe location for them. Make sure the ground underneath is relatively soft (grass, not concrete) and remove any long/sharp twigs, sticks or branches. And then, let them jump! If your kids are older, hand them the rake and put them to work making their own piles! Raking leaves is a great gross motor activity and good for coordination.
What to take it up a notch? Here are some other ways to make leaf raking and leaf piles extra fun for kids:
Make leaf raking a competition. Who can make the biggest pile the fastest? Ready, set, go!
Rake a pile of leaves into shapes (a number that represents their age, the year, or the grade they’re in) and take a photo of them next to the pile from above as a keepsake.
Take a photo of your child from above and try to capture the same shot year after year to document how much they’ve changed.
If you’ve got a large space, use the leaves to create a maze. Add obstacles and blocks that you have to go around. Or even a circular spiral leading to a prize (a giant leaf pile).
Make a leaf rainbow. Different trees make leaves of different colors. Sort your leaves into piles by color and then use them to make a rainbow!
The ground is lava! Instead of one big pile of leaves, make a bunch of smaller piles and let the kids jump from pile to pile without touching empty spaces.
3. Throw leaves in the air
Throwing leaves up into the air is a fun and super simple activity. It can also make for a great photo opportunity, though it can be hard to capture* sometimes. Plus, this activity couldn’t be any more simple. Gather some leaves, or better yet use an existing pile of leaves, and toss the leaves into the air. And yes, mom, YOU need to do it, too! It’s fun and you can do it until your kids tucker out or get bored.
*Pro tip: Make sure your shutter speed is quick and your depth of field isn’t too narrow or you’ll get a bunch of blurry and out-of-focus photos.
4. Go for a fall leaf walk
You do not have to collect leaves, craft, or do any sort of activity to enjoy fall leaves with your kids. Simply taking a fall hike is a great outdoor activity and a way to take advantage of the leaves. You can simply meader along a trail or through your neighborhood taking in the vibrant colors of the season. Hiking during the fall months is extra fun and beautiful! You usually don’t have to deal with the heat or mosquitoes, plus, there’s all that beautiful scenery to take in!
Lying under a tree is a great way to enjoy fall with your kids. This is an especially fun activity when there is a gentle breeze knocking the leaves off the trees. Watching the fall leaves flutter to the ground is relaxing. And if your child is bored or needs to burn energy, they can see how many leaves they can catch before they hit the ground.
Fall leaf science for kids
Just because we’re having some fall leaf fun, doesn’t mean we can learn while we’re at it! Fall leaf fun can be both a blast and educational. If you want to throw some learning into your fall leaf exploration, there are so many ways to do it. Here are a few easy science-based fall leaf activities you can do with your kids.
1. Parts of a leaf
Labeling the parts of a leaf is a simple way to add in some learning with your kids while out exploring nature. You can get formal and tape the leaf to a piece of paper and have your child label it, or you can simply do it verbally while you explore. Have your kids identify the stem, veins, lobes, base, and any serration. There is no wrong way to integrate this easy science activity.
2. Compare leaves to seeds
Autumn brings fall leaves, but it is also the season of acorns, conkers (horse chestnuts), pinecones, and more. Go on a hunt for both the leaves and the seeds of the trees. You can use both in crafts, plus matching them up is a great way to learn the lifecycle of a tree and learn to identify trees in your area. This science activity is fun to do year-round. If you have an abundance of conkers in your area, check out this post for some ideas on conker crafts to do with your kids.
3. Leaf identification
Different trees create different shaped and colored leaves. A fun science-based activity is learning how to identify a tree by its leaves. In the fall, it’s even more fun because the leaves are not just green, but a variety of colors. Use nature books or apps and walk and explore and learn about trees together. Match the leaves to the tree and then identify the species.
If you have a kid who really enjoys science experiments, this activity may be perfect for your family. A Little Pinch of Perfection provides a detailed tutorial on leaf color and chlorophyll. You really just need fall leaves, boiling water, rubbing alcohol, and a couple of jars. It’s a super easy experiment and one that will likely delight most children and their grownups.
Fall leaf jokes for kids
Everyone can use a little more laughter in their life. Here are a few funny child-friendly jokes all about fall leaves.
Q: What did one autumn leaf say to another? A: I’m falling for you!
Q: What is the cutest of all seasons? A: Awwwtumn!
Q: What happens when winter arrives? A: Autumn leaves!
Q: Why do trees like to try new things each year? A: Because every autumn they turn over a new leaf!
Q: What did autumn say to summer? A: Make like a tree and leave!
Knock Knock
Who’s there?
Iva
Iva who?
Iva bunch of leaves that need raking!
Knock Knock
Who’s there?
Olive
Olive who?
Olive looking at the autumn leaves!
Fall leaf books for kids
Books are such a wonderful addition to any activity. Take a book with you on a nature walk and read it under a tree. Read a book while your children paint fall leaves or cut them up into tiny confetti pieces. As the seasons change, having seasonal books on hand for your children to explore and for you all to read together as a family can be fun. If you have personal libraries you are growing, here are some wonderful options all about fall leaves.
Katie lives in a tiny home on wheels and travels full-time with her two mostly wild children, tech-minded partner, two well-traveled pups, and adopted pet snails. As they wander the North American continent, Katie explores as much as possible, with a particular fondness for the adventures her family enjoys in state and national parks. When not trekking through the outdoors, Katie enjoys baking, homeschooling, consuming mochas from local coffee shops across the continent, practicing her photography skills, and soaking up as much knowledge as she can.
As an advocate for families exploring the great outdoors, Katie co-founded a Hike it Baby branch in her hometown in Northern California and tries to encourage families to get outside whenever possible. Katie has a Master’s degree in human development from the University of Missouri, Columbia, but her passion is really history and humanities (which is coincidentally what her Bachelor’s degrees are in). She currently volunteers on the Hike it Baby National team as a contributing blogger.
Have you ever found a conker? Conkers are the nuts from the horse chestnut tree (not to be confused with the chestnuts that you can eat). Also called buckeyes, conkers are ripe and ready for fun in the fall. Today, UK mom, teacher, and YouTube host Hannah Martin shares her family’s favorite conker crafts for kids. She’ll tell you where to find conkers, when to look for them and how to use them for fun fall crafts that you can do with your little ones. Let’s get crafty!
Conker season
It’s that time of year where we lose the warmth of summer and the long evenings. But, nature has a lovely way of reminding us of the beauty of the next season. Autumn appears and shows off her loveliness, with colours changing every day on a woodland walk, cool crispy air, fewer pesky bugs, and so many treasures falling from trees.
Our favorite fall nature treasure by far the round, brown shiny balls called conkers! (In the US, you may call these “buckeyes” or “horse chestnuts.”) Conkers are not only good for the fun traditional game of “conkers” but are great for fall-themed crafts and activities with your children. Once you think of one idea, if you are like us, you will get carried away in creating an array of conker animals, insects, reptiles and spooky decorations for your house or garden!
Finding conkers
One of the best things about using conkers for crafts is that it’s basically a whole day’s activity! Before you can start crafting, you have to get outdoors to discover and collect the conkers. Finding them is definitely a big part of the fun! And Autumn is by far the best season for woodland walks and exploring. There is so much to entertain little minds; colorful leaves, piles of crispy brown leaves to stamp in, fruits, nut,s and seeds from trees.
Horse Chestnut trees
Your first mission is to find the right tree. Horse Chestnuts trees are easy to spot in the autumn, as they are one of the first trees to change colors. Horse Chestnut tree leaves turn brown slightly before all the other trees around them, which is a great way to get kids paying attention and observing the colors. This is especially the case if there has been a wet spring. Horse Chestnut trees are usually pretty big, growing up to 25m tall and in their own space. They’re frequently planted along roadsides. The Horse Chestnut leaves have five or more lobes whose midribs come from one point.
When and where to find conkers
In the UK, conker season starts in August and continues through September and October. However, the climate and weather in any particular area can have an effect on the conkers and when they’re ready.
The best place to spot conkers is looking at the ground for their green, spiky capsule close to Horse Chestnut trees. Conkers are ready when fall from the tree. This is when they’re harden and ripen in the middle. But if you leave them on the ground for too long, conkers can become weak and soggy.
On our conker quest this year, we discovered that we were quite late to the party. By the time we went out, lots of the Horse Chestnut trees in our area had already dropped their conkers and had been found and collected by someone else. We had a very dry, windy summer, so we think they dropped their nuts earlier than usual.
*Note: Don’t get confused by a Horse Chestnut and a Sweet Chestnut. Sweet Chestnuts are the nut that once cooked you can eat (a la “chestnuts roasting on an open fire”), they have a much softer, pricklier shell than conkers. Conkers are notedible. Both come in green shells, but conker cases have short, stumpy spikes all over.
Make collecting conkers fun
Finding and collecting conkers on it’s own is a really fun outdoor activity for kids and families. We always like to spice things up a bit, so sometimes we’ll make concker collecting a competition! Who can collect the most conkers in a set amount of time, or who can find the biggest or smallest conker. While collecting, we also start imagining what we will make each one into. It’s so interesting seeing all the different shapes and sizes that you collect.
Conker craft supplies and safety
When you do crafts with children, it’s important that the child gets to be hands-on for the majority of the activity. This means you should choose tools that are safe, or just ensure you give clear, simple instructions for safe use.
When working with conkers, the hardest part of the crafting activity is usually making a hole in the conker. We find a child’s hand drill the easiest and safest way. Howver, you can also use a palm drill or just a skewer. Be advised that this requires strength and risk awareness, particularly thinking about hands in the right place and eyes if leaning over.
Conker crafts for kids
Conker crafts are fun for the whole family and really easy to make! You can turn conkers into so many different things; your only limit is your imagination! Today, we’re sharing a few of our favorite conker crafts for kids. All of these conker crafts have been tried and approved by my 5 year old! And the good news is, you don’t need much in the way of supplies other than what you can find in nature! So, let’s get outside, find some conkers and start getting crafty!
Conker spider
For our first conker craft, we are going to make a creepy conker spider! This is a really simple craft activity (and quite ironic, as old wives tales say that spiders hate conkers). These crafts make cute decorations for the corner of your house — and who know, maybe they will scare the spiders away!
Conker spider supplies:
2 conkers
1 cocktail stick/toothpick
hot glue
1-2 pipe cleaners
wire cutter
goggly eyes
Conker spider instructions:
Use your drill or skewer to make a hole in the head of the spider and the body. Cut the cocktail stick in half and put it into the hole on body. Squirt with some hot glue and attach another (smaller) conker as the head.
Make 4 holes on either side of the spider’s body. Decide how long you want his legs to be, and cut pipe cleaners to size. Squirt glue into the hole one at a time and insert the pipe cleaner legs. (Use parental supervision/help, as the glue is hot!)
Stick on your googly eyes and decorate your spider as you wish.
Conker spider web
Every spider needs a web so we decided to create our little conker spiders a home.
Conker spider web supplies:
1 large conker
8 sticks (you could use wooden skewers, whittled sticks or bamboo)
white string; twine
glue
Conker spider web instructions:
Make 8 holes the size of your sticks, equally spaced out around the perimeter of the conker.
If the sticks are slightly smaller than the hole, fill the hole with hot glue.
Tie one end of the string to the bottom (near the conker) of one upright stick.
Take the string and wrap it around the next stick once and on the second turn pull it tight and cross over the first wrap so the string stays in place.
Continue doing the same in a circular motion. When you get back to the first stick move up slightly and continue to wrap around each stick twice.
When you get to the outside end of the sticks on the one you started, tie off the string leaving a length to hang.
It’s that simple, but looks very effective, especially when you attach your conker spider and hang it from a tree or ceiling!
Conker bat craft
Conker bat supplies:
1 conker
black cardstock paper
half a pipe cleaner
googly eyes
string
Conker bat instructions:
Make two holes on either side of your conker for the bat’s wings.
Make two smaller holes on the bottom of the face of the conker for bat teeth.
Make a hole all the way through your conker and using string or wire insert a length and tie a knot at the bottom. This is to hang your bat.
Cut your wings out of the black cardstock paper making sure one end is narrow enough to fit in the holes. Gently create a crease long ways and fold in half widthways to make it look like a batwing.
Squirt glue into the holes and insert one end of the wing.
Cut your pipe cleaners for the size teeth you want, squirt glue into the holes, and insert pipe cleaners.
Add your googly eyes and using paint pens or permanent markers add any decorations.
We have our bat hanging from the web on a tree in the garden.
Making conker animals
As soon as you get started making conker crafts, I guarantee that your children will start coming up with their own imaginative ideas! My son wanted to carry on the “creepy” theme and do his own monster. That lead to us making conker pumpkins.
Next, we moved on to other animals. He has been studying the jungle at school, so his next idea was for the monkey, which I love. We just added some beads to his hands to give him some weight to hang.
We made porcupines with toothpicks. We made snails with playdough. We still had a lot of conkers leftover, so we made snakes! For the snake, you will need quite a lot of conkers. We used wire to thread them onto so that it would bend. We now use this snake as an arithmetic bead string when adding and subtracting up to 10.
Pro tip: If you want to paint the conkers, just add PVA glue to the paint mixture.
Conker tic-tac-toe
Our last conker craft idea was to create a game of noughts and crosses (or tic-tac-toe). All you need is a solid base (we used a sliced stump of an old tree) and 4 sticks. Mark up to 5 conkers with a “O” and 5 with an “X.” We used acrylic paint pens for this. Place two sticks parallel and two stick perpendicular and your tic tac toe board is all set up and ready to play!
We love having this fun and easy game board at our disposal. It’s great for keeping outside and being able to access at any time with the family. We pull it out anytime we’re outside and have some time to play. BUT! Beware of squirrels stealing your conkers!
Conker crafts for the win
There are so many fun ways to use conkers. They’re fun to collect, fun to play with, and a lot of fun to use in crafts. So, next time you are out on a family, autumn woodland walk, don’t forget to keep looking down for conker treasures and enjoy making your conker crafts and creations together.
Have you created any other conker crafts?
Share your photos on Instagram and use the hashtag #runwildmychild to be featured!
About the author
Hannah Martin has worked as a PE Teacher in the UK for 15 years. She has always loved being active outdoors. However, she discovered a new passion for nature and appreciating the environment when she had her son Hobie (now 5 years old). Hannah and Hobie’s vision is to inspire parents to spend time doing fun, creative, nature activities outdoors with their children; no matter where they live and whatever the weather. They believe spending time together outdoors as a family will encourage future generations to love and care for the world, wildlife, and environment.
Are you looking for a way to encourage your kids’ creativity and keep their little feet moving on the hiking trail? Maybe those two things don’t seem related, but they are! Today, adventure travel and homeschooling mom of three, Rebecca Jimenez, is sharing her tried and true secret to getting kids excited about hiking – rock painting! Not only put all those rock nature treasures your children adore to good use, but your kids will have artistic and creative fun, and will be begging you to hit the trails so that they can leave them behind! This is a game-changer, my friends! Hiking with kids “ROCKS!”
Family hiking
Our family loves to hike. We are always looking for the best trails to hike and the best mountains to climb. If your kids are like mine, they have tons of energy, and they are always ready to run around, be loud, and explore their surroundings. Spending time hiking is a great way for kids of all ages to get outside in nature. Children need to exercise and breathe in the fresh clean air. Kids can be themselves outside! They can be loud, and they are free to run around, explore, and see what kinds of treasures they can find in nature.
Hiking with kids can be an amazing adventure and a great way to spend quality time as a family in the great outdoors. But, sometimes kids get bored on hikes, or easily distracted. A perfectly planned family hike can quickly become a literal uphill battle both mentally and physically. That’s no fun for parents or kids. Even my kids that love hiking only have “so much” they can take. Sometimes we need an activity to keep those little feet moving down the trail. That’s when we discovered the beautiful simplicity of leaving painted rocks on our hikes. This simple activity made our hiking adventures so much more fun for the kids. Let me explain…
Kids love rocks
My children have always been fascinated by rocks. Big rocks, small rocks, smooth or rough. It does not usually seem to matter. It makes me smile whenever my child hands me a rock, and says, “Look, mommy! Isn’t this the best, most colorful rock you’ve ever seen?! I bet it’s super old! Maybe as old as the dinosaurs!”
Sometimes I can see them feeling shy holding what they perceive as a “special rock” and they want to ask me more about it. My kids have sometimes asked me if the rocks could be “real gold” since there is often a fleck of shine to them. Maybe silver? Maybe a diamond? It must be a special mineral of some sort, right? Kids are always daydreaming of striking it rich with their miraculous finds.
“When a child gives you a gift, even if it is a rock they just picked up, exude gratitude. It may be the only thing they have to give, and they have chosen to give it to you.” -Dean Jackson
Rocks are everywhere
If you’re like me, you love everything your child gives you. I always want to “exude gratitude” when they give me a present. Since our family spends most of our time outdoors, the presents my kids kept giving me were rocks. Yep, rocks.
Lots and lots of rocks. Small rocks. Big rocks. Heavy rocks. Dirty rocks. Sometimes rocks with little creepy crawlies on them. Sometimes rocks with a unique shape, a smooth spot, a special color, or a cool fossil. Our pockets and packs are always filled full of rocks, and still… the rocks kept coming. I’m just as guilty – I love looking for unique rocks and showing them to the kids. Every now and then, one ends up in my pocket, too!
When we come home from a day outside, the kids empty their nature treasures onto the table. Sometimes we have other nature goodies like leaves, acorns, and sticks, too. But always rocks. They are a constant. Rocks are always fun and so easy for kids to find. We then and sort, count, and often times clean the rocks that the kids found.
What to do with all these rocks?
Our rock collection was starting to get a bit unwieldy. With so many rocks at home, this got me thinking about how could I make finding (and getting rid of) rocks even more fun for kids? I got the idea to paint the rocks to look like real gold, silver, or diamonds. More fun than that would be painting rocks with bright colors, fun designs, inspirational quotes. We’d seen “kindness rocks” around and loved the idea of making our own to place in fun spots on our hikes. I had a feeling my kids would love this. And I was right!
Creating rock art with kids is as easy as 1, 2, 3
Your kids will have a blast finding rocks (they probably already do).
Everyone has a super fun time painting rocks and coming up with unique designs.
It’s even more fun hiding, and (re-finding!) beautifully painted rocks.
Painted rocks and hiking
Now instead of bringing rocks home to live in our house forever, we were turning them into art and taking our painted rocks with us to leave on the trails. A hide and seek of sorts. Now the kids were actually asking me to go hiking! Yep! You heard that right. They were actually begging me to take them on long hikes to hide and look for more rocks!
Share the rock painting fun
Do you know what makes hiding rocks even more fun? Including others. People you don’t even know. We loved the idea other rock painters and rock painting groups did to brighten people’s days and share their painted rock art. So we started leaving messages on the bottom of the rocks for other people to take photos of the rocks! We make it easy by using a hashtag so we can see where the rock will ‘travel’!
If you’re impatient like me, the hashtag is #RunWildRocks, but more on that later.
Rock painting ideas for kids
What is your child really into right now? Maybe it is dinosaurs, cars, fairies, superhero characters, space, rainbows, unicorns, bugs, or monsters. Try easy ways to incorporate what your children love into your rock art.
You can also do seasonal rock art. Creating ghost rocks around Halloween or ladybug rocks in Spring are both super simple and they look cool too.
Remember, you don’t have to be a Picasso to have fun painting rocks! If drawing a dinosaur sounds like a daunting task, simple words work great! “Beep beep” for cars, “bam” for a superhero, or the word “magic” for fairies work great too. Write your favorite quote or saying. Paint rocks with words of encouragement for people to find on the trail – things like “keep going” or “you’re doing great!” You can also paint one letter on each rock and hide them in order to spell out a secret message!
If all else fails, it is hard to go wrong with a smiley face, heart, sunshine, cloud, or rainbow.
Getting started painting rocks with kids
Getting started painting rocks is easy! All you really need are some rocks, some paint, and some creativity! The main thing to keep in mind is these rocks will be outside. So, washable paint or other supplies that are easily cleaned up is not ideal. I also would not recommend using crayons, washable markers, watercolors, chalk, or colored pencils. If it can wash out of your clothes, it can wash off your rocks. So dress for mess and let’s get started!
Supplies for rock painting with kids
Rocks – Large, flat, smooth stones work best for rock painting. Include the kids when you’re finding/collecting your rocks. Make sure your rocks are also washed and dried before painting. Kids are great at washing rocks!
Waterproof paint – I like to use inexpensive craft paints such as acrylic paint. Acrylic paint comes in squeeze bottles, tubes, paint pens, and little paint craft kits. You could also use nail polish, permanent markers, or paint pens.
Brushes for each color – Acrylic does not wash off easily between colors, so I suggest buying a cheap pack of brushes to keep things simple and clean.
A paint holder – I like using plastic paint wells to keep the paint separate.
Paint smock or messy clothes – Painting can be fun, but let’s remember to dress for mess. Don’t dress your kids in anything that you wouldn’t mind getting ruined or covered in paint.
A flat surface that will be painted on – I suggest a paper plate, table cloth, or even a poster board. All these items can also be turned into works of art.
Stencils – Stencils are optional, but they can be a tremendous help if you are intimated by art or want to make something more intricate.
If you are looking for additional supplies suggestions or a full list of recommended rock painting art supplies, I’ve got you covered. Just click this link and see all my rock painting supplies suggestions.
Every child is an artist.” -Pablo Picasso
Tips for successful rock painting with kids
Rock painting with kids will be most successful if you ensure the following key points are met:
Make sure to have your “art studio” ready.
Have all your art supplies ready.
Dress for mess and tons of fun!
Come prepared with some creative ideas for art.
Spark creativity with a comfortable studio
Kids love to be independent. Especially with all things messy, right? Set your child up for rock painting success by creating an “art studio”. Get creative with your studio setup. An outdoor art studio on the back patio or on a picnic table at the park can be an amazing way to spend a day outside. Let your child take charge with their paint and creativity. I promise you will be rewarded with lots of smiles.
Where is your child most comfortable? Sitting in a chair? Lying on the floor? Bouncing up and down? Find the spot that works best for you and your child. Giving your child the space to stretch out may keep the creative juices flowing, and the rock painting fun lasting longer.
Ideas for rock art
Everyone enters creating rock art at different artistic stages. There is absolutely no wrong place to start rock painting. Younger children and beginning artists will likely fall under the beginner’s section below, but they may be interested in trying more advanced ideas. There’s no right or wrong way to paint rocks – it’s more about the fun than anything! Roll with it and enjoy painting rocks with your kids.
Beginner rock painting ideas
Small children love to get messy and create their own work of art. With your young artist, I’d suggest just letting them have fun making whatever they want. Super messy toddler rocks oftentimes are the sweetest rocks to find on the trail. Here are some examples of easy to do beginner rock painter
Thumbprint art works well at this age. You can assist by making thumbprint hearts, bugs, and butterflies.
Children who are beginner painters do great with simple art projects such as suns, hearts, smiley faces, and rainbows.
Simple words are always fun too. One of my favorite rocks we made had the word “hi” and a smiley face.
Splatter art can also be really fun for beginner painters. Jackson Pollock is a famous abstract expression artist that is famous for his “splatter art.”
Splatter art is easy! All you need to do to create amazing splatter art is:
Start by placing your rock in a shallow box to prevent mess.
Paint your rock completely in any solid color, and let it dry.
Splatter contrasting colors onto the dry painted rock!
Intermediate rock painters
For the intermediate painters, I’d suggest more slightly more elaborate painting and longer words. For example, add a cloud above the rainbow, snow on top of the mountain, a sparkle on the water, or trees in the forest.
Words of inspiration are also amazing on intermediate rocks. Some words we like to use are: love, hope, smile, dream, wish, peace, and happy. If you’ll be leaving your rocks on hiking trails, consider adding hiking words like: keep going, you’re doing great, almost there, hike away, or hiking rocks.
Extra decor on rocks is also fun! Don’t be afraid to add a little glitter, sparkles, feathers, pom poms, or glue on some google eyes to those little bugs or monster rocks!
Advanced rock painters
For the advanced artist, there are so many fun things you can do with your rocks. What inspires you? Longer quotes or messages of hope and inspiration can be a magical way to adorn your rocks. Intricate patterns, flowers, scenery, nature, and animals are also an amazing way to express your creativity. Draw your favorite cartoon character, book character, animal or portrait. Mandala-style rocks are a fun way to introduce intricate patterns onto rocks.
Hiding rocks for others to find – #RunWildRocks
A really fun aspect of painting rocks with kids and then hiding your painted rocks is leaving them for other people to find! I’m so excited to help you with that! Follow these easy instructions so that we here at Run Wild My Child can see your rocks!
Using a permanent marker or paint pen write the following on the back of your rock:
Take a pic and post to #RunWildRocks
If there is room on your rock, you can add: “Keep, move, or hide me!”
Take a picture of your rocks and use the hashtag #RunWildRocks on Instagram so we can see your beautiful works of art!
Tips for hiding painted rocks with kids
Once you’ve painted your rocks, hiding rocks is just as much fun as painting and finding them!
We like to leave rocks in obvious places so that the youngest hikers can easily spot them.
A child’s eyes are low to the ground, so make sure to leave your rocks so that a child can easily find them.
Avoid bushes or placing the rocks where they could easily fall over.
It’s fun to leave the rocks at the beginning, middle, and toward the end of the hike. That way the children feel that extra reward when finishing a hike.
We like to leave rocks at obvious bends in the trail, and significant stopping points or views.
Position the rocks so that they can be seen from far away.
We often prop our painted rocks on other rocks or trail signs.
Art book recommendations for kids
If you want some extra fun reading material about art, painting, and even rock painting, here are a few of our favorite art books for kids:
I hope you and your family are motivated and excited to make amazing rock art with your kids! Your family is going to have the best time hiding and finding your beautiful works of art outside! Don’t forget to use the hashtag #RunWildRocks on the back of your rocks so we can see your beautiful works of art! Post them to Instagram so we can share!
Are you ready to hit the trail with painted rocks?
About the author
Rebecca is a wife, and mom to 3 thrill-seeking, hiking-addicted, and healthy-living kids. But..it wasn’t always that way. This multicultural family was living the fast-paced city lifestyle outside of Miami, Florida. After seeing so many screen-addicted indoor kids, Rebecca and her husband decided to make some drastic changes. They began an epic homeschool road trip across the United States! Now, based in the Rocky Mountains of Utah, you can find Rebecca and her family exploring and seeking adventures in the great outdoors. They are always finding the best mountains to climb, and the most epic trails to hike. They particularly love finding adventures in the US State and National Parks. The family enjoys all outdoor activities and spending time in nature. They enjoy hiking, camping, rock climbing, paddleboarding, and looking for native plants and animals. She is passionate about creating an active and healthy lifestyle for her family and getting kids (and adults!) off screens and outside!
You can find Rebecca online in the following locations:
Instagram: @familyonthetrail
