Have you found a painted/decorated rock and not known what it is?
Or maybe you have and posted that you found it and re-hid it to bring joy to someone else.
There’s a nationwide craze going on in case you haven’t heard of it, or seen it, but people are painting rocks to help spread joy and kindness to others. When I first saw this idea, all I could think was how much happiness it must be bringing to people who find these rocks. I, Jessica, and my mom, Jana’, saw this started in our home state of Washington and decided we needed to start a group here in Elko. So became Elko County Rocks on Facebook where we added some of our friends that we thought would be interested in it, asked them to spread the word about our group, and started painting and hiding rocks for other people to find. It quickly took off and we soon had many members and many people actively painting, hiding, and finding rocks. You wouldn’t think much of painting a rock, but weirdly, it’s quite addicting.
We have a wide range of ages painting rocks to hide to help spread joy to others. We have little kids who love to get messy with their paints who are amazing artists, and we have adults who are amazing artists. We have had rocks hidden here that have traveled from other states, and have had some of our rocks travel elsewhere like Washington, Idaho, Utah and even Montana. It is truly an amazing thing to see how much happiness it can bring to someone to find a rock. I know that I get as excited as a little kid when I find one and if my mom and I are together, we race each other to the rock, but end up sharing anyways.
It’s a great activity to get your kids doing something besides electronics, and get them outside hiding and finding rocks. It’s become such a great family activity for many of our members. We try to keep our rules simple and the fun continuously going. So, what do you do if you find a rock? Search our group “Elko County Rocks!” on Facebook, request to join, post that you found it and hopefully join in on the fun! Do you have to re-hide that rock or can you keep it? It’s up to you! If you’d like to re-hide for someone else to find, please do. If it was just one of those days and that painted rock helped brighten it a bit, keep it for a while to remind you to stay happy and positive! We do ask that if you do keep a rock, please re-hide one of your own creations in time. Where can rocks be hidden? For the most part, anywhere. Ask a business before hiding it inside, don’t hide a rock in the grass at the parks or in a tree where it has potential to fall into the grass as it can ruin the lawn mowers, avoid hiding near drinking establishments (bars), avoid placing a rock at the police station, and if it’s a hot, sunny day, please try to hide the rock in the shade.
The supplies needed are pretty easy.
You need a rock of your choice, some acrylic paint (craft section in stores), some brushes, and we do recommend some sealant, like Modge Podge, so that your paint stays on during any weather conditions. We do ask that something be written on the back of the rock so that people will know what it is, what it’s for, and can find our group. Something along the lines of “Please post pic to Elko County Rocks! on FB”. There is quite the variety of art supplies that you can use for your rocks, but to get started, that’s all you need!
We hope that our group of rock painters continues to spread joy to others, and that we can continue to have many members of our community join us and paint and help spread the joy. We hope to see you painting and hiding rocks soon!
Here’s what some of our members have said what they love about the group, and painting and hiding rocks:
