Creating clay texture stones with nature

I'm a fan of any kid's craft that keeps little hands busy and has the potential to be educational as well. And a couple of years ago I discovered texture stones which, I'm happy to say, accomplish both.

The great thing about these simple stones is that the process of creating them can be divided over a couple days and involve the whole family. We like to do these on the weekends and take Saturday and Sunday to gather the materials and finish the stones. Its also one of those activities that is appropriate for a variety of ages with each child being able to get something different out of the process. We like to head out to our neighborhood park for the day, take a picnic, and explore the trails looking for fun bits and pieces to use in our stones. There are a variety of great Atlanta area parks perfect for this!

To create texture stones you'll need to take a trip into the park, the backyard, or anywhere rocks, leaves, acorns, and flowers can be found. Have the kids go on an informal scavenger hunt for things that intrigue them. Part of the fun is seeing what they find interesting in nature and talking about their discoveries.

The clay to make the texture stones can come from a variety of materials depending on the age of the children and how permanent you want the stones to be. For toddlers, you can choose to use Playdoh or even homemade clay. For our older kids, we use Sculpey or other modeling clay that can be baked into hard stones.

Roll the clay into 1-2" balls for the kids ahead of time. The Scupley and similar modeling clays are a bit more difficult to shape into balls so if you're doing this with very young kids you may need to give them more help with the clay.

Once the balls are rolled out, have the kids press the clay ball down onto the bits and pieces of nature they've collected and see the impressions in the stones. This will create a smooth flat stone with an impression from the leaves, flowers, etc. on the opposite side.

The great thing about the stones is they can be used later for counting, stacking, or even sorting activities. For older kids, you can easily poke a hole through the top to use as a necklace or ornament once they've dried.

For more inspiration on these cool stones, check out what other crafty parents have done with their stones!