While my daughters were home from school last week, we got inspired by illustrator Aaron Zenz and his creative children who blog at Chicken Nugget Lemon Tooty. The Z-Family recently collected rocks and sticks, painted them, and planted them around their town to brighten the day of unsuspecting locals.

We decided to do the same—give rocks some smiles and let a neighbor stumble across a fine-lookin’ paper weight. Or new pet. Or objet d’art.

While the Z-Family collected beach pebbles, we live on a mountain (those from the Rockies would call this a hill), so we collected small boulders. My littlest child picked the largest rocks and had to drag her bag home.

Here’s the family of rocks we painted, each with its own unique personality. (Yes, we named them.) Later this week, we’ll stash them in nooks and crannies around town and see if any lucky folks decide to adopt them. Stay tuned!

Materials: rocks, acrylic paint, multi-purpose sealer, imagination!