DIY Candy Rocks for a Pretend Candy Shop

Who knew crafting with rocks would be so relaxing?! The kids and I spent a morning painting rocks for this month’s kids craft stars challenge. It was great because it’s simple and you can enjoy conversation together since the only directions are to wait in between coats for the paint to dry. We turned ours into DIY candy rocks for a pretend candy shop play activity. Be sure to see how our crafty blogging friends turned rocks into something fun at the end of this post!

Both kids love imaginative play ideas such as a grocery store, smoothie cafe and restaurant. Not only are these play activities a great sibling or playdate activity, the kids learn to take turns, share and build up communication skills.

DIY Candy Rocks Tutorial

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Supplies:

• rocks/stones
• paint
• paintbrushes
• washi tape
• tissue paper
• glue
• scissors
• glitter/glitter glue; optional

Instructions:

You can usually find a small bag of rocks at the dollar store or in the craft aisle of other stores. Of course you can use ones you’ve washed from the beach or anywhere else you stumble across them.

Start by painting the rocks. I found acrylic paint works best so I had the kids wear clothes that we didn’t mind getting paint on permanently. We painted 2-3 coats each. Once dry, we added details with different colors of glitter glue and puffy paints.

A few of ours are covered in washi tape which is fun too because of the wide variety there is available in different colors and designs. On a few of the rock candies, I folded a strip of washi tape together and then taped it to the bottom of of the stone. To make it look a bit more like real candy, make triangle cuts along the edge.

With the remaining painted rocks, some were left as is while others got scrunched up pieces of colored tissue paper glued (or taped) to the sides. That’s it!

Now the kids’ pretend candy shop can open for business. I printed a ‘Candy Shop’ sign for them to use and plan to make more printables to go with it. Little Sister always adds her candy Shopkins characters too… hehe. (Shopkins Food Fair Candy Collection)

Rock Crafts & Activities

• Patterned Rocks Snake Craft – I Heart Crafty Things
• Painted Rock Bugs – Easy Peasy and Fun
• Watermelon Rocks – Glued To My Crafts
• Lovely Yarn Wrapped Rocks | Pink Stripey Socks
• Painted Rock Fish Craft | A Little Pinch of Perfect
• DIY Alphabet Rocks With Free Printable Letters | hello, Wonderful
• Rock Owls | Crafty Morning

If the kids enjoy dramatic play activities such as these DIY candy rocks, they might like or Smoothie Cafe (free printables!) and these cupcakes made with the softest playdough.

Amanda

Artsy Momma

Amanda is an ‘artsy momma’ to 2 kids who love making crafts just as much as she does. Follow their creative journey over on the blog titled Artsy Momma. Besides crafts, they share fun food ideas, hands-on learning activities, mommy DIY, + lots more! If you love handprint art, head over to their Fun Handprint Art blog where you will find hundreds of their projects all made with little hands and feet.