"Mom, what can I do?"
Yesterday I was riding along, going to one of my homeschool sessions and I saw two young children in at a little make shift "Lemonade Stand" the only thing is they were not selling Lemonade. The two girls at this stand were pleased as punch to sell me a bottle of cold water. Their mother also thanked me. Bottled water was an awesomely profitable idea, someone thought of. It took a creative thinker to say, hay, lets take something that everyone has running in their home, bottle it up and sell it! I don't know who thought it up but you can bet it was a creative person. America actually bought water that they already had, and sometimes it even came from the same places that they were already getting it! I make it a point to stop and buy from little kids who are trying to sell something. As an art teacher I encourage entrepreneurship because it is creativity. It takes a creative thinkers to produce and and to go about advertising and working out the details of selling things. These two little girls who sold me the water were not bored, they were having a blast. Next time your children are bored have your kids think of a good idea and try it out. Here is what I have done with children - It helps introduce Gary Dahl's 15 million dollar creative mind and encourage small children to be just as creative!
Sell Pet Rocks Like Gary Dahl!
Tell them the story of the "Pet Rock Ridiculously Rich Person" named Gary Dahl.
Gary made a Profit of about $15 Million in just the first six months of his pet rock idea! The idea of selling a rock was thought by some to be about as ridiculous as it gets! I remember my dad saying what a dumb idea this was! But Gary Dahl didn't think so, he figured out how to market rocks and made millions in just a few short months. Gary Dahl was a former advertising executive who sold the rocks as " A Pet" that didn't take much by way of maintaining. He created an old fashioned type pet carrier, and a card telling the "owner" of his new "Pet Rock" how to take care of it. He sold his rocks for about $3.95. The rock (which was not painted) and the straw they sat on and the box they were sold in along with the training manual only costed him .95 cents to produce per product sold.m Each sale earned him a net profit of three bucks! The rocks were an instant hit and turned into one of the greatest fads of all time!
I love to paint rocks with children! We have done many. They are not plain pet rocks but they are the type that you create with acrylic paint. They really do look like a pet!
Materials Needed
1. Rocks about 2 or 3 inches diameter. Find them in a gravel driveway - works good.
2. Acrylic Paint - a wide variety of colors. Delta is a good brand.
3. Good Paint brushes - synthetic that come to a point.
4. Sponge Brush -for the base coat.
5. Clear Coat Spray Gloss Acrylic
6. An empty clean margarine or sour cream container. (pet carrier)
7. Shredded Colored Paper - from a paper shredder. (to rest the rock on)
8. A cup of water for each child.
9. Paper Towels for clean ups and spills and brush cleaning
10. Paper Plates - use as a pallet to put wet paint on (makes clean up easier)
I usually tell the children how important it is to clean brushes and to do it often while painting with acrylic paints because if the acrylic paint drys the brushes are ruined.
Clean up the rocks and let them dry. I use a garden hose, this is a good outside activity all around. Next, let the rocks sit and dry. The rocks need to be dry to work, don't let the kids paint them wet.
Now, choose a color that is the base coat of the rock. I tell the children a base coat is the color that most of the rock will be. ie if they are doing a red lady bug then most the rock will be red. Don't add water for the base coat. The base coat needs to dry so is a good idea to do about 3 rocks at a time. Children can paint another rock while the others are drying. Depending on the color and the quality of paint you may need to do 2 or 3 base coats.
The next step is to add details. Tell children to work from the largest amount of color to the smallest amount. Also, let the colors dry between each application. This will stop mistakes and smudges. This is why doing three rocks works well. Cleaning the brush between each application of color also helps with impatience.
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Add one color on one rock and move to the next and then the next, cleaning the brush completely in the cup of water each time with a water and then drying it with a paper towel. By this time the last rock is done the first rock will be dry. Explain that big blobs of paint won't dry! It is a fine line for the kids to make sure to add a bit of water to the acrylic paint when detailing but not add too much. Too much water will drip! The key is just a titch of water to make the brushwork smooth, but not too much because it will run. The transparent color on this bee's wings are done by adding more water. Have the kids practice on a newspaper making smooth thin lines with the right amount of water.
I usually do eyes last. For the eyes of whatever animal simply have the child dot the end of a brush in a color and then place it on the rock where they want them. A smaller brush end or a pin head can be used to make the dot for the center pupil. Lady bugs are easy because the dots for the bugs are also made with the back of the brush. Even little ones can make dots. If your child is younger simply make a dotted rock.
Work from one rock to another until the rocks are finished. When the rocks are dry spray with Gloss Spray Coat Acrylic. Let that dry for about an hour and Volla! A pet rock! While the rocks are drying clean up.
Place rocks in margarine container on a bed of shredded colored paper. Your child may want to keep their rock, give it away as a gift or even design a pet rock stand to sell their wares. If I am around I will have my quarters ready to stop and buy one!
