Googly Eyes Rock!
I’ve been trying to think back as to when my love of googly eyes started and I don’t actually know but it’s definitely peaked in the last few years (which coincides with when my motherhood era began!) They are just so fun, and googly eyes put on anything instantly makes the thing more fun.
I love collecting things when out on walks, be it leaves to press, sticks or pine cones to craft with or pebbles to paint. I am rarely at the beach these days without Posca pens in my bag! At the beginning of the summer my children and I began drawing on and painting some pebbles we’d collected. My son painted his in the theme of the Paris Olympics and unsurprisingly I painted mine as 6 sets of googly eyes!
I thought it would be fun to hide them in our local park for other children to discover and so contacted Friends of Heaton Moor Park to ask their permission. Fast forward a few months after deciding to turn it into a bigger community event for Heart of The Heatons festival, there are now well over 50 sets of eyes hidden all around the park, in bushes, trees, walls and drainpipes for the two week festival running 21st October til 3rd November 2024!
My children and I have had a lot of fun with our rocks that we painted in the summer, taking silly photos and making faces using other natural things we collect when out on walks. It’s surprising what equates to smiles, ears, hair and moustaches when you start looking!
If you wanted to have a go at painting your own googly eye rocks to have fun with at home then here’s how:
You’ll need:
two rocks; round/oval and similar size
5mm white posca pen and a 3mm black posca pen
Mod Podge All-in-one glue and sealer spray (if you have the spreadable version, then that’s completely fine, it’s just because I was having to seal so many the spray saved me a lot of time.)
Wash the rocks and allow to dry. Draw and colour in your white area first and allow to dry before outlining in black and drawing in the pupil. Once dry, spray with the Mod Podge sealer (so they are waterproof for being left outside) and allow to dry for 24 hours. If you wanted to tie any to bushes or trees for spooky season (or just for any season!) as I did for the park trail, then I attached wire to the back using a glue gun and then secured them to branches by twisting the wire.
I have had an idea for the eyes to go on tour to other parks when their Heaton Moor stint is done, so get in touch if you have a new park home in mind for them! I would just need to work out logistics as rocks obviously weigh alot!
If you have a go at painting your own googly eye rocks, or make it the Googly Eyes Rock painted rock trail at Heaton Moor Park please share your photos with me by tagging @beaulongings on Instagram as I’d love to see and it would be great to be able to spread the word!
Me taking silly photos with my children with the painted rocks!