Santa Painted Rocks
Santa rocks (literally)! These Santa painted rocks are SO CUTE and super simple to make! Paint these charming Santas on flat stones using acrylic paint, then add in the finer details with a paint pen. It’s an easy, kid friendly Christmas craft — perfect if you’re just getting into rock painting!
Tuck these Santa Claus painted rocks into planters, leave them as festive surprises for others, or gift them to the Santa fan in your life. They also make adorable paperweights, or you can display them in a shadow box for some holiday cheer!
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How to Make Santa Painted Rocks
Materials:
- Smooth rocks
- White acrylic paint
- Peach acrylic paint(or other skin tone acrylic paint)
- Red acrylic paint
- Black paint pen
- Small white pom pom
Equipment:
Instructions:
Step 1: Find what you need
- Gather your supplies and materials.
Step 2: Paint your rock white
- Paint one side of your rock white. Let it dry, then paint the other side.Repeat, adding 2 to 3 coats of white paint total (until you’re happy with the coverage).
Step 3: Paint Santa’s hat and face
- Paint the top 1/3 of your rock red. Remember to paint both the front and back.
- Paint a small peach coloured oval in the middle of the rock (on one side only). Make sure you leave a strip of white paint between the red and the peach. This is Santa’s face.Allow the paint to dry.
- Paint a round red nose at the bottom center of the peach oval, overlapping into the white a bit.
- Draw 2 eyes in the peach oval using a black paint pen.(If you feel comfortable using a fine tip paintbrush you can use regular black acrylic paint.)
- Draw a smiley mouth just below the nose.
Step 4: Add a pom pom to the hat
- Add hot glue to a small white pom pom. Press it to the top of the red painted section, finishing off Santa’s hat.
- Your Santa painted rock is complete!
Helpful Tips:
- Acrylic paint pens come in many different sizes. Keep this Santa painted rock craft low mess by using larger paint pens for the base colours as well!
- Add some sparkle to Santa’s beard or hat! Simply brush a thin layer of glue or Mod Podge overtop of the dried paint and sprinkle with glitter. Allow to dry and shake off the excess glitter.
What kind of rocks should I use for these Santa painted rocks?
Flat, smooth rocks work best for rock painting. You can gather rocks yourself (be sure to wash and dry them!), or you can buy them at your local dollar store, craft store, or on Amazon. You can also buy rock painting kits!
“Caribbean beach pebbles” work really well for rock painting. If you’re looking for a larger quantity of rocks you can find them at landscape supply stores, or at a big box hardware store like Home Depot.
What kind of paint pens work best for Santa rock painting?
You can use acrylic or oil based paint markers for rock painting. Both types give excellent coverage. The oil based paint is more durable when dry, but if you’re keeping your Santa painted rocks indoors, the acrylic paint should be fine.
Do I need to seal my Santa painted rocks?
You don’t have to seal your Santa stones, but it’ll help preserve the painted rocks for years to come. A sealer ensures the paint won’t chip or flake off.
Once the paint is totally dry you can brush the painted Santa rocks with Mod Podge or spray on some acrylic sealer.
These Santa painted rocks are sleigh-ing it as the cutest holiday DIY! Each jolly little Santa will have its own unique look, and they’ll be adorable lined up on a shelf, displayed in a shadow box, or tucked into stockings for a fun surprise!
Here’s even more Santa craft ideas:
Our book Low-Mess Crafts for Kids is loaded with 72 fun and simple craft ideas for kids! The projects are fun, easy and most importantly low-mess, so the clean up is simple!
