A Guide to Rocks

Let’s talk about our rocks (and draw them too!)

As part of the HELL Reading Challenge and in partnership with the NZ Book Awards for Children & Young Adults, we did a live online event in September 2026  for over 60 NZ schools!!!

The half hour video is now available for anyone to watch on YouTube.

In this video, Josh and I read/perform the first half of A GUIDE TO ROCKS. Then Josh takes the kids through a drawing activity, showing tamariki ways they can use patterns to draw complicated ‘rock feelings’. At the end I answer a few questions about being an author.

You can download the activity PDF from our website below (CLICK ON THE PINK ‘DOWNLOAD PDF’ BUTTON). 

The drawing template includes a rock for decorating with feelings-patterns. It also includes three word lists that could be used to do some rocky-feeling creative writing.

You could also use this activity as a precursor to some rock-feeling collage or  rock-feeling paper mache rocks (just like the ones we have in the video). 

Maybe you could use the paper mache rocks and perform the rock avalanche from the story, a bit like Josh and I do??

Have fun with it and keep talking about those rocks, e te whānau!