The Kindness Rock Project is a viral trend where people, commonly children, paint pebbles or cobbles and leave them for others to find and collect. Photos of the painted rocks and hints of where to find them are commonly shared on Facebook groups. The trend originated in the U.S. and has spread to the U.K., Australia, and New Zealand as well as other countries.
Origin
The Kindness Rock Project was started by Megan Murphy in 2015 who wrote "You've got this" on a rock and left it on a beach on Cape Cod. After a friend found it, she started leaving more rocks with inspirational messages behind.
Derivatives
As the trend of painting pebbles has spread, it has many derivatives. Rocks are painted as a fun activity for kids, as well as to support particular charities, events or movements. Sometimes the name of a hashtag or the Facebook group the painter belongs to is written on it as well. Generally, rocks which are hid are intended to be picked up, photographed and put on Facebook, and then re-hid in a different spot. However, different rocks may have different rules; some might be asked to be taken as far as possible, and others hid in the same city or general region. The painting rock trend was revived during the COVID-19 pandemic.
#Islastones
#Islastones was a rock-painting movement in support of Isla Tansey, a girl diagnosed with DIPG, a terminal cancer. Isla asked people to paint stones with the hashtag #islastones, take photos of them, and hide them. Isla died on July 10, 2018 at the age of 7, less than a year after her diagnosis.
International Drop a Rock Day is an unofficial holiday celebrated on July 3rd, in which people are encouraged to leave a painted rock in a public space.
Reception
Some parks have objected to people leaving painted rocks on their grounds, including the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. Painted rocks were banned from several parks in the Marlborough region of New Zealand. Disneyland has banned painted rocks from entering the park and will confiscate them.
