These homemade rocks would also make awesome party favors for a rock climbing party, “you rock” themed party or shape them like an egg for a dinosaur party.
How to make a Blarney Stone with a hidden treasure
Tradition says if you kiss the Blarney Stone you will be given the gift of gab. You will be able to talk eloquently and convincingly. I don’t think these girls need any help with the gift of gab, but we still thought we would make these Blarney Stones. A treasure can be found in the middle of each stone.
Homemade Rocks Recipe
Mix up:
- 1 cup used coffee grounds (or used dry espresso grounds–what we had) If they are too wet I am sure it would change the color of the mixture
- 1/2 cup salt
- 1/4 cup sand
- 1 cup flour
- 3/4 cup water
- (I think it would be very easy to tint this mixture with tempera paint—they might be dull colors when dry)
Mix together dry ingredients and then slowly add enough of the water to make a stiff dough—you might not need all off the water, so add slowly.
Knead the mixture on a floured surface until fairly smooth.
Break the dough into desired sizes. We divided it into 4 equal pieces. Hide your trinkets (super balls, small plastic toys, etc.) or money in the center of each ball of dough.
Bake at 150F degrees for 2 hours (I turned them over half way through) and then air dry 2-3 days (or longer). If you make smaller rocks I would dry one hour in the oven and then air dry 2 days or more. The size of rock and the amount of humidity in your home will affect the drying time. They will look and feel like rocks when dry.
I had hoped to paint them with green and white paint for fun and wait to open them on St Patrick’s Day, but nobody was willing to wait to crack them open with a hammer— let alone wait for paint to dry.
I think we might make some egg shaped ones for Easter.
This is so cool, I am going to have to have some fun with my girls this weekend. I love finding activities we can do as a family that don’t always involve TV, video games, or movies. My oldest is going to love this idea!
Thanks for this great tutorial! I threw an “Around the World” birthday party for my daughter. We travelled to 5 different countries and did a craft and an activity from each country. We did this as part of our “trip” to Egypt. They did an archeological dig to find these stones and crack them open to find their treasure. I posted a link to this on my blog: http://www.cindyscreativecuts.com.
hello! this is awesome, I will enjoy making some stones for placement it’s a great idea. I wonder, do you know if it’s possible to coat a large object with this mix and let it air dry? or does it require baking? I am making a garden pedestal, and themore stone like the exterior, the better. (to weatherization, coat it with yacht varnish.)
I have a great idea! Insert an invitation in the rock, coming with instructions to break and find a clue inside. This party Rocks!!! These could be given out at school, dropped off on doorways with a note connected, or it could be tossed out with other rocks in the garden which some unsuspecting person would accidentally break and have a surprise.This could start a chain reaction of thrown rocks to find other messages-Oh Oh, what have you done!!!- Thanks SL>
Oh little ones painted black for coal in a stocking….awesome ideas.
I love this!! I can’t wait to try it out!
this is a great Idea to use ,used coffee grounds and have fun too my grandson will love it. You can also mix used coffee grounds into the soil in your garden worms are attracted to them somehow and helps the ground
That is a super cute idea. Love it!
I love this idea especially for easter! I featured it on my fun (and thrifty) Spring ideas blog post: http://creativecarissa.blogspot.com/2011/03/countdown-to-spring-more-great-and.html
Thanks so much for sharing. I’ve never seen anything like this. I think this post has single-handedly changed the way we will be doing easter egg hunts in our house for years.
I love, love, love this idea!
To Nicole above: you can usually get used coffee grounds at your local coffee shop. I know Starbucks and other chains have coffee grounds available for those who compost.