by Carla Caruso

Craft enthusiasts are leaving crocheted toys and painted rocks in your Adelaide Park Lands, just to brighten your day.

The fun is part of two community initiatives. The crocheted toys stem from the UK project, Random Acts of Crochet Kindness, which has 50,000 members.

The painted rocks have emerged through a local Facebook group, SA Rocks, which grew from a kindness-spreading treasure hunt in the US in 2016. As its page sums it up: “Let’s go hunting for painted rocks in your local park, or paint some and hide them for others to find.”

Recently Adelaide children’s author Allayne Webster found a crocheted bee on the River Torrens Linear Park trail, in Bonython Park/ Tulya Wardli (Park 27) - not far from the native bee hotel in the same park.

“We found it in a little plastic bag on a park bench,” Allayne says. “At first, we thought someone had lost something, or that someone had found a child’s toy and placed it on the bench, hoping it would be found by the owner.

“But then we read the little note that came with it, and we were pleasantly surprised. It definitely brightened my day. It’s just so lovely to think strangers would do this for strangers; that they might not ever witness or receive feedback as to how they changed someone’s day or outlook on the world.

“The bumblebee is on a keychain, but it’s sitting on my desk beneath my computer screen, reminding me to a) smile, the world is good, and b) get back out to the park.”

(Allayne has her ninth and 10th publications coming out soon: That Thing I Did with Wakefield Press in 2022 and Selfie with Text Publishing in 2023.)

The painted rock, pictured, was found on the Torrens Parade ground, off King William Road, in Park 12.

To get involved in this movement, you just need to find a large, flattish rock; decorate it; hide it in a local park, walking track or playground; and give the online members a hint as to where they might find it.

Although, the SA Rocks page warns: “Please refrain from adding on any manmade items … [they’ll] eventually fall off and become litter and a danger to our wildlife.”