The Grumpy Old Story stones

You’ll need

Access to water
Paint
Paint brushes
Something to protect surfaces (for example, newspaper or tablecloths)
PVA glue
Scissors
A4 paper
Pens or pencils
Copy of The Grumpy Old Stone
Painting The Grumpy Old Stone Twinkl worksheet
Device with internet access (optional)
Stones

Before you begin

Use the safety checklist to help you plan and risk assess your activity. Additional help to carry out your risk assessment, including examples can be found here. Don’t forget to make sure all young people and adults involved in the activity know how to take part safely.
Make sure you’ll have enough adult helpers. You may need some parents and carers to help if you’re short on helper.

Setting up the activity

You’ll need enough large stones for everyone to have their own. You could collect them yourself or you could ask everyone to bring a stone to the next session.
Print enough copies of the ‘Painting The Grumpy Old Stone' Twinkl worksheet for everyone to have their own or to share.
Ask everyone to bring their favourite stories to the meeting.

The Grumpy Old Stone

Everyone should sit in a large group.
Tell everyone that you're going to make some story stones to tell the story of The Grumpy Old Stone. If they are not familiar with the story, you can read it to them or play the audio book (link from Twinkle website).
In the story, the Grumpy Old Stone gets turned into different things by the different children that find him. A cake, a pet, a gem, a bone, a weight and a dinosaur egg. They should choose which one is their favourite and they will decorate their own Grumpy Old Stone.
Before starting, cover the floor or table with newspaper or a tablecloth.
Everyone should get their stone or a set of stones, depending on how much time you have.
People should now turn their stones into characters that The Grumpy Old Stone is turned into.
Once finished, everyone should help to tidy away all the paints, glue, and paper and leave their stone(s) somewhere safe to dry.

Reflection

The Grumpy Old Stone helped children explore feelings like grumpiness and how kindness can create change. During the stone painting activity, we explored the changes that the Grumpy Old Stone goes through.

The activity encouraged everyone to talk about feelings and think of kind ways to help others.

Safety

All activities must be safely managed. You must complete a thorough risk assessment and take appropriate steps to reduce risk. Use the safety checklist to help you plan and risk assess your activity. Always get approval for the activity, and have suitable supervision and an InTouch process.

You must run your activities in line with the Safeguarding Code of Conduct for Adults (Yellow Card) and report any concerns to the UK HQ Safeguarding Team.

Scissors: Supervise young people appropriately when they’re using scissors. Store all sharp objects securely, out of the reach of young people.
Glue and solvents: Always supervise young people appropriately when they’re using glue and solvent products. Make sure there’s plenty of ventilation. Be aware of any medical conditions that could be affected by glue or solvent use and make adjustments as needed.
Online safety: Supervise young people when they’re online and give them advice about staying safe. Take a look at our online safety or bullying guidance. The NSPCC offers more advice and guidance, too. If you want to know more about specific social networks and games, Childnet has information and safety tips for apps. You can also report anything that’s worried you online to the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Command. As always, if you’ve got concerns about a young person’s welfare, including their online experiences, follow the Yellow Card to make a report.

Make it accessible

All Scout activities should be inclusive and accessible.