And the fun isn’t just for children. I have found many parents paint up rocks for hiding once the little ones are in bed. And it is a great activity to get grandparents involved in, whether it be the painting, hiding or finding. I have taken my two year old hunting a few times now, and while she may not grasp the concept of “lets go find some rocks,” which is typically answered with “noooo…..” as soon as we find one, she turns to me with a delighted look on her face and with great enthusiasm proclaims “find mooooore” which of course is then said over and over again until you find another one for her. And herein lies the reason of me writing about this. As a parent, I want to teach my children in a way, that when they grow up, they will be a better person than I am. I have found there are a few great lessons I can teach her when we are out rock hunting, that I would love to share.
Firstly it is a great tool for teaching the joy of giving, and also thinking about others. The children get so super excited when the find the rocks. All they want to do is pick them up and keep them. But, at least with my child, the rock will be forgotten by the time we get it home. Ok, sometimes it may be played with around the house, but it will never bring that same amount of joy as when it is first found. If we re-hide the rock, then another child will have the opportunity to find it, and they are giving others the gift of joy that they had when they found it. My little girl may be a too young to understand it yet, but I try to explain it to her. “You were so excited when you found this rock weren’t you? Did it make you happy? Well if we re-hide it, then someone else can find it and it will make them happy too. But if we take them all home, then some children may not be able to find any, and they will feel very sad.”
I can already hear the comments. “My child just can’t let them go.” “There will be massive tantrums if we don’t let them take the rocks.” “ I don’t want to take away that happiness and leave the
adventure on a real low for both the children and I!” I can totally understand all these comments and feel the same. This is where the next tool for teaching comes in, so everyone can be happy (well,hopefully).
My daughter has two hands. She is also very small, so this helps me out. She can only really hold one rock at a time. When she finds a new one, she can pick it up with the empty hand, and then she has both hands full. Then what happens when she gets to the next rock? When she finds her first rock on the adventure, she can pick it up and carry it with her. When we find a second rock, she has the
choice to either keep the one she has in her hand, or swap it for the new one. At her young age, she just loves to swap the rocks over and ‘hide’ the first one she had. We do this the whole time, so she only has one rock in her hands at a time. I’m sure it may be harder to get children to adhere to this when they are older, but that is the point. In life, they will constantly be faced with choices. They cannot have everything they want. This is a great foundation to teaching them choices when it comes to money in the future. “Am I going to buy this thing, or that thing? I don’t have enough money for both.” Monetary wisdom is not something taught in schools. If we want our children to be wise with money, we need to show them how to be wise ourselves, but that is a whole other article! And in no way am I saying I or my children are perfect.
We always let them take one rock home
home that we found on the adventure,
home that we found on the adventure, as I do not want to deal with the tantrums. Then in a few
days, I can hide it in the car and drop it off somewhere on our next adventure.
Then there are the more obvious lessons of taking care of the environment. Things like not hiding
rocks where plants can be damaged when people are looking for them and picking up rubbish made
from the picnic we had and putting it in a rubbish bin or taking it home if there are no bins.
There will be many other teaching opportunities we will come across when rock hunting, I’m sure. It
is a perfect time to talk with our children. Ask them why they are choosing the other rock over the
one they have. Talk about the environment they are in. What do they see? What time of year is it?
What does this mean for the landscape? What is the picture on their rock? Do they think the rock is
ugly? Remind them that someone painted this rock, they took the time to do this so others would be
able to find something. It may have even been a little two-year- old that doesn’t know how to paint
pictures yet, but they probably had a lot of fun painting it.
Rock hunting also encourages the children to get out of the house and get in some exercise without
even realising they are doing so. It will probably teach us as the adults some patience, especially if
you have little ones, and it provides us with the opportunity to spend time with our kids, to put
down the computer, turn off the tv, put aside that magazine and go on an adventure with our kids.
Trust me, it can become very addictive. Paint the rocks with them. Hide the rocks with them. Have
fun seeing the joy on their faces. And remember, as a parent, you are the first and best teacher your
child will ever have.
So, will you join in on the fun and excitement of rock painting and hunting? We hope to see you out
searching sometime!
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