All I knew about pet rocks is they were some big fad in the sixties or something, but when I read in my daily craft journal that my first project should be something simple, that fits in my hand and uses stuff around the house;[i] that was the project that immediately jumped to mind. Actually it was more like, a duh, pet rocks, why would anyone else think otherwise. For some reason only known to me and my very weird family, thoughts like this occur every so often. The utterly obvious which is never that obvious to everyone else.
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| LeeAnn and me with our pet rocks |
Anyway, back to pet rocks. As it turns out Gary Dahl, their creator, actually came out with pet rocks the year I was born, 1975. He and his friend came up with a genius marketing campaign which quickly made Dahl a million dollars in 6 months time. Their genius, pack these river rocks with googily eyes and pipe cleaner glasses in a pet carrier with a tiny training manual. It was so cute people readily handed over their $3.95 (that’s like $12 these days). By 1976 the Fad was over, but Dahl had already traded in enough of his rocks to be rolling in cash.[ii] Today you can find many websites on how to make your own pet rocks and even virtual pet rock sites. The original pet rock is still available at his own website, http://www.petrockpals.com/.
As far as making pet rocks with my toddler I tried to keep three watch words in mind; simple, colorful and easy for little finger to do. Since it was a beautiful day we decide to work outside. LeeAnn and I have always been rock hounds, we pick up pretty rocks on road sides, river beds, nature walks, and so on; so I picked out four rocks from our collection that were small enough to hold but too large to swallow. She likes more color than the tans and browns of our rocks so we painted our rocks with non-toxic paint. I had her position the eyes, noses and a crystal princess crown on her rocks, which I then glued down for her with a hot glue gun. To add a cute touch we used some insect stamps to put a bug on our pet rocks. At this point I wanted to coat them with clear coat to make them more durable. When I started on the first rock I learned quickly that googily eyes cloud over with the lacquer spray. So I let LeeAnn go play on her swing set while I dismantled the pet rocks and sprayed each one. Once dry I reglued the adornments and tada four really cute pet rocks. LeeAnn came back for pictures and the naming ceremony.
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Purple = Carlos, Pink = Princess Clarabelle, Blue = Daddy Yellow = Fred (Cataract Fred) |
How to Make Pet Rocks
Supplies Needed
Medium to Large River Rocks
Non-Toxic Paint
Paint Brushes of Varying Sizes (if you don’t mind the mess they can use fingers too)
Googily Eyes
Foam Stickers
Pipe Cleaners
Stamps and Ink
Hot Glue Sticks
Hot Glue Gun
Spray Lacquer Clear Coat
Directions (just suggestions, really its up to you)
- WORK IN A WELL VENTILATED AREA
- Paint your rock. It may require several coats depending on how dark you want the color coating to be. We left ours very translucent so the rocks texture could be seen beneath the paint.
- ADULTS ONLY - Once the paint is dry spray the rocks with the lacquer finish. Allow to dry until dry to touch.
- Have your toddler arrange the eyes and other decorations on the rock. You may have to help them shape things like glasses, wings, etc. Once complete an ADULT should hot glue each item down so they stay on while you child plays with them.
- Lastly you can use stamps to add small finishing touches, like tattoos or as with us small bugs found on our rocks.
- Let dry until the lacquer no longer smells, give your pet a name and have fun.
[i] Scanlin, Norah; A Daily Crativity Journal, 365, Make Something Everyday And Change Your Life! Voyageur Press 2010 Minneapolis , MN
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