Rock Swap Success
Earlier this year, sisters Amber and Penny Trappel submitted two entries into the Your Neighbourhood Budget (YNB) program.
Backed by the community, both of their entries were successful and have now been brought to life.
The first was a defibrillator in Tusmore Park and the second was a rock swap shelf, also in Tusmore Park, which was installed in late December.
The girls have been involved in rock swapping for a while now, and are active on the SA Rocks Facebook group, which has over 52,000 members.
According to the SA Rocks Facebook group, the popular initiative is “a little bit of creativity and nature play for kids and parents that live in SA, Australia. Let's go hunting for painted rocks in your local park, or paint some and hide for others to find!”
The process involves painting, dropping, finding and re-hiding the rocks. The postcode where the rock was decorated is painted on the back of the rock, so that whoever finds the rock knows where it comes from, and how far it has travelled.
Amber (12) and Penny (10) were invited along to Tusmore Park for the unveiling of the new rock swap shelf. Together with their parents Sharon and Ben and their friend Amber, the girls helped to paint the shelf in preparation for its debut to the community.
“It feels really good [that the rock shelf has been installed]. It’s really nice to see that it’s been done”, said the girls.
“It’s wonderful to see people walk past and show interest in the rock swap shelf,” said Sharon. “Let’s hope the word will spread among the community. It’s a great activity that gets kids outside, off screens, and spreads kindness”.
The girls found their first rock while on holiday in Point Turton. From there, they joined the SA Rocks Facebook group and have been involved in rock swapping ever since. The girls started getting inspired by other rock shelves they were seeing on the Facebook group, which was the catalyst for the idea of having a rock swap shelf in Tusmore Park, which they visit regularly with their grandmother.
The girls chose to decorate the rock swap shelf with pictures of flowers, bees, butterflies, fruit, and even a galaxy. Some simple instructions have been painted on the side of the rock swap shelf to teach those who are new to rock swapping how it works.
For those who are interested in getting involved, the girls’ instructions are simple: “take a rock, paint a rock, swap a rock… make your own rocks!”
“It’s really easy and inexpensive to get started – all you need is some acrylic paints or paint pens, a clear gloss to seal the paint and some brushes, which you can all pick up from Kmart or Officeworks”, said Sharon.
Get started today, and make sure to visit the brand new rock swap shelf in Tusmore Park to share your beautiful artwork with others!
