Things You Can Do With Rocks

I started this book as a short story for a book making class during my graduate work in 2007. I've decided to pick it back up and complete more chapters. There's so much stuff you can do with rocks, it seems I'm only scratching the surface.

Copyright © 2025 by John Parker Dilworth.
All rights reserved.

Do stuff with rocks?

Don’t let anyone tell you that a rock isn’t exciting.

Certainly, you might think that there are more exciting things than the common rock, but if you open your mind a little bit, you might find that you have the ability to make the dullest of all rocks very exciting indeed.

If you don’t believe that, it might be that you are more dull than the rock.

The rocks appearing in this book have been most graciously borrowed from my daughter Klaire, who keeps a large box of rocks available and handy for purposes just like those contained within.

Collect Rocks

When you have more interactions with rocks, you'll find certain rocks more beautiful or more interesting than others and you'll want to take them home with you. Collecting rocks is a great hobby and it's always nice to have interesting rocks around that you can do other stuff with.

If you don't have a collection of rocks yet, now is a great time to start. When you encounter a rock with special qualities that happen to capture your attention, consider taking this rock to your home. One rock does not qualify as a collection. Two or three rocks is not quite a collection either, but eventually as you find more and more rocks, you'll have a collection.

You don't need any special materials for your collection, a unused shoe box will work. You can also place rocks in different places around your home, such as in windows, on tables, or around your desk. It is convenient to have rocks nearby to satisfy your attention, or even to give your hands something to do while you think or talk to people on a video call.

You can, however, expand your collection and make it even more interesting. A wood box or display with glass windows, and labels can make your rock collection more accessible to others.

Learning and documenting the specific details of rocks in your collection can add to the collection, and perhaps increase its overall value. While most people collect for fun, you might find yourself with a collection of rocks with enormous monetary valu...

Look at rocks

Look at a rock up close. Look at the shape, the variations and all the textures.

Examine it with a magnifying glass, or if you have access to something more powerful, like an electron microscope, try looking at it with that.

If you don't have an electron microscope, try to find one that you can use. This alone could be quite entertaining.

Remember to tell them you want to look at your rock up really close.

If you can't find an electron microscope, don't worry - pretend that you have super-vision, and can see better with your own eyes than you could even with an electron microscope. Draw what you see on paper, and document everything in great detail. Remember that the very future of humanity depends on your accurate and detailed account of this rock.

When you've documented everything and have assured its accuracy, compile the information into a booklet, or publish it on the internet.

If you want even more excitement from this little rock, send the information to your local newspaper, or even your State Senator. Assure them that the facts are there, and that you are absolutely serious about your claims.

If you are publishing your account to a website, do everything you can to make sure that people will find out about it. If you have a few extra dollars, buy advertising so that people will find your page when they search for rocks.

This entertainment could last for days, or even months. For best effect, take this one as far as your ...

Talk to rocks

Contrary to what you’ve heard before, rocks are very intelligent. They can carry a conversation with the smartest of us.

A rock can tell you stories that will blow your mind. You only need to listen, and remember that sometimes it takes a while for it to really open up.

If you’re interested in this, here are some tips for getting a rock to open up. First of all, you need to listen. It is difficult to listen if there are other distractions around. Rocks hate television, video games, mobile phones, iPads and computers. You’ll need to get as far away from those devices if you expect to get a rock talking.

If you find yourself unable to get away from these distractions, rocks are also great for destroying things, but we'll save that for a future chapter.

Once you’ve distanced yourself from any distractions, you can begin to listen. Listen intently for a while. I find it best to put the rock in my shirt pocket, and walk slowly and calmly through the mountains. This makes the rock most comfortable, and before you know it, the rock will be talking to you.

Some rocks take days, months and even years before they warm up for conversation. If your first attempt is unsuccessful, I suggest trying again soon. Take your rock to new and interesting places. If you are persistent, you’ll eventually find the spot where your rock will feel right at home.

When you’ve found that spot, leave the rock somewhere where it will feel safe. Come and visit it f...

Throw rocks

Throwing rocks is a fun thing to do, and almost anyone can participate in this activity.

If you're going to throw rocks, keep the following suggestions in mind and you'll have hours of entertainment.

Don't try to throw rocks that are too big. Your arm will get tired and eventually hurt. If this happens, you'll need to stop right away, or switch to your opposite hand.

When you do this, try to have a video camera available. I should mention that rocks don't like most technology, but in this case you'll really want to have one. Chances are, you only learned to throw well with one hand, and it can be hysterically funny to watch yourself and others try to throw with their opposite hand.

Throwing rocks into water is especially fun. For this you'll want to find a flat rock, which you'll throw sidearm with a little spin, causing it to skip across the surface of the water. There's a physics lesson in there that you can figure out later, but don't let that kind of deep thinking interrupt your fun.

Throwing rocks into water is fun for all ages. If you have children, they'll be impressed by the large splash you can make when you throw in that gigantic boulder. In cases like this, impressing others is much more important than preserving your arm.

There are endless games you can invent while throwing rocks - far too many to mention here. If you're having trouble coming up with ideas, sit on a large rock and try to figure something out.

Could you ...

Pile rocks

If you've got a spirited sense of engineering and a few hours to spare, it's great fun to make something with rocks.

Rocks are readily available in nearly every location, making them a perfect medium for experimentation.

Start by making a simple "pile of rocks." A pile isn't difficult, and anyone can do this without any training.

Think about where you're going to put your pile. This is very important and often overlooked. Look for discreet places where the pile will have more meaning.

Piles in rivers are lots of fun and can often result in lessons in hydrodynamics. Properly positioned piles may create a swimming hole, a surf wave, or other attractive water feature.

Piles placed conveniently near ambiguous trails (called cairns) can help travelers find their way.

Piles arranged in a circle around a campfire can contain the fire and provide a perfect setting for late night mountain discussions.

The larger the piles, and the more strategically placed and patterned, the more mysterious your rocks will seem.

Think of the rocks at Stonehenge - then try to build your own on a smaller or larger scale. Line up your rocks with the sunrise. Line them up with the planets, creating your own universe where you are the architect of something ancient and eternal.

When people find your pile of rocks thousands of years in the future, what will they think?

Climb rocks

Rocks are fun to climb. If you've ever looked at a large boulder, climbing it is almost irresistible. It's also one of the most satisfying things you can do with rocks.

You can start climbing without any special equipment. All you need is an interesting rock that's a little bigger than you are. Because every rock is shaped differently, each one you climb will give you a completely different experience.

As you master small rocks that are easy to climb, you may find yourself craving new challenges and more difficult ones.

Driving to places with new rocks to climb can add adventure to the whole experience. You might discover that the journey to find the perfect climbing rock is almost as fun as the climbing itself.

Rock climbing can take just a few minutes, or you can extend it into longer trips with varying degrees of difficulty.

Mountains are often full of rocks, or even made completely of rock. Climbing these giant formations can present challenges that require years of training, ropes and proper safety equipment, and serious physical fitness.

But there are also many mountains that can be climbed just like the small rocks you started with. Climb one rock, then another and another, until there are no more rocks left to climb. Before you know it, you might find yourself on top of the world.

Obviously, this is just the start of a deeply interesting subject.

I’ve provided a few simple things that you can do with rocks.

I’m sure there are many, many, more things that you can do, but I’m going to have to leave the discovery of those things to you.

You might find that there’s much more to everything you find than you’ve allowed there to be.

You might find that a simple rock is the key to unlocking your imagination.