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Hopscotch stepping stones
Hands-on time: About an hour per stepping stone. Materials & Tools
Make a summer game for the kids while creating a path to your garden or deck. Plain garden stepping stones purchased for about $2.00 each are transformed, painted, and decorated with texture or embellished with mosaic designs. I call these "cheating" or "faux" stepping stones because they take half the time to make, at half of the cost as compared to making stepping stones from scratch. Using the different variations and possibilities described below, kids and their friends can also get involved in the creation fun, at home or at the cottage. Cover your work area with newspapers. Sand the stepping stones to smooth all rough spots and then wipe them with a tack cloth. Painting the stones (easy)Paint the tops and sides of stepping stones using Patio acrylic paints for the base coat and let dry. Once dry, they can be painted freehand with pretty flowers, scenes, or animals (frogs, turtles, bugs, etc.). Younger children prefer stencils, rubber stamps and sponges. Make hand print impressions on the stepping stones - one of each family member or of a child's circle of friends. Simply paint a palm in your choice of colour and press it onto a stone for a minute. Paint the stepping stone numbers using contrasting colours and let dry. Apply a coat of acrylic sealer and let dry. Apply a second coat if needed, allowing each coat to dry between applications. Wait 24 hours before placing the stones in the garden. Using textured media (moderate)Apply a layer of textured medium using a spatula to one section of the stone at a time. With a damp sponge go over the just-applied medium and spread it around further creating a light textured pattern. Continue until the stepping stone is completely covered. Draw patterns such as brick lines, design outlines, text, or the stone's number in the textured medium using the tip of a pencil or a stick. Textured medium can also be used to add dimension to a design such as a flower pot shape. Wait 24 hours for the textured medium to dry completely. Paint as desired using acrylics, let dry and apply the sealer in the same manner as above. Wait 48 hours before exposing the stones to moisture. Creating mosaic style stones (moderate)You can achieve beautiful mosaic-style stepping stones directly onto plain garden stones and save on time and cement mixture. Create fruits, flowers, butterflies, or your own original designs using glass beads, beach glass, river rocks, mirror or ceramic tiles, china, pottery and stained glass pieces. (A great project to recycle your favourite broken china pieces!). Assorted objects from around your home can be incorporated into your creations such as keys, coins, costume jewellery, buttons, and metal house numbers. Draw the outline of your design onto a stone. Apply silicone glue to the back of the assorted mosaic pieces and press them onto the stone. Let them dry and set for 6 hours or overnight. Apply a cardboard stripe border of about 5 cm with duct tape creating a box shape around the exterior of the stepping stone shape. Next make a patch at a time of cement, stepping stone or grout mixture as per manufactures directions. Using a spatula apply enough mixture to cover the thickness of the mosaic items to fill in the background. Wipe the surface to remove excess mixture with a sponge. Cover the stones loosely with plastic and let them set for 48 hours. After 24 hours, spray them with water to avoid cracks. Remove the cardboard border. Clean the stone with a damp sponge. Let the stones cure for 5 days. Once cured, grout, cement, and stone can be painted; once dry, protect them with sealant. Create a path and set up the patio stones in numerical order. Bury the stones into the soil. To embellish the hopscotch path and also to prevent tripping, apply decorative wood chips or peat moss around the edges. Hopscotch, anyone? Variations
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