Back to School with Kwik Stix!

I was provided with a brand new set of Metallic Kwik Stix to do a back to school post! This year will be a different back to school experience for me as I'm using my built up sick leave to stay home a couple extra weeks with my new baby. I've been trying to figure out some easy but fun lessons to leave for my substitute to start off the year and the Kwik Stix gave me some inspiration. 

If you aren't familiar with Kwik Stix, they are a solid tempera paint stick that comes in a form that reminds me of a glue stick. They are vibrant and bold, dry in about a minute, and are low mess. 

I don't know about your students but mine LOVE anything metallic. These aren't over the top, they just have a nice sheen. The "metalix" pack has been expanded to include more colors now, so that's a real bonus! My elementary school has a camp/adventure theme this year so 5th graders will start off with a themed project. They will use Kwik Stix to make a sky and then create an outdoorsy scene silhouette on black construction paper. I know they will enjoy the project and we'll move back to more choice-based lessons when I return. I also used the Kwik Stix to make a sign for "Camp Learn-a-Lot" which I'll put up in my empty display case to start the year. Kwik Stix are my favorite poster-making supply when I don't have time to paint one.

Kwik Stix are available on Amazon, online at Target, online and in store at Michaels, and in store at Walgreens.

The makers of Kwik Stix also produce pencil grips which are great for teaching kids how to grip pencils or for those who need some an adaptation to help them out. I will keep my set on hand in case I see a struggling student. The pencil grips are available on Amazon. 

Kwik Stix now at BJ's Wholesale

Hey, eastern US readers! Kwik Stix are now available at BJ's Wholesale Clubs. I don't have any near me, but they have a 24 pack of the Thin Stix (which my students and I love using for posters) for $19.99.

While I enjoy all of the Kwik Stix products, I think Thin Stix are my favorites. They are obviously thinner than the regular Kwik Stix (about glue stick diameter) so they are easier to write with if you are trying to fit information on a poster. I might get a 24 pack for my kids for Christmas since they are probably their favorite art supply and the 24 pack includes neon and metallic colors in addition to the regular colors. 

Disclosure: The Pencil Grip Company, makers of Kwik Stix, offered to send me a set of  Kwik Stix for helping spread the word!

Kwik Stix Deal and Giveaway!

UPDATE: Congratulations to Nic, the winner of the Giveaway! You have been emailed.

The Pencil Grip company, makers of Kwik Stix, contacted me and offered to do a giveaway on my blog. Sure! I don't know an art teacher who doesn't like freebies. :)

I've been sent Kwik Stix to review before including the classic style (about the size of a glue stick), thin stix (skinnier and great for posters), neon, and metallic. My sons are always itching to get their hands on them as soon as I'm done experimenting!

My favorite age to use Kwik Stix with is early childhood- PreK-1st grade, but older students also enjoy them. Even my high schoolers are intrigued when they catch a glimpse and want to try them out. Kwik Stix are solid tempera stix that dry in about a minute and a half, or even faster in my experience. Students produce bold colorful works of art with them and there is hardly any clean up. Kwik Stix would be a great addition to a painting center, and you can also use them on styrofoam to do relief prints/mono prints.

Poster made with Kwik Stix

I was just checking out Amazon Prime Day deals and saw there is a lightning deal on the original 12 pack of Kwik Stix. So, if you read this in the next 5 hours or so you can get the set for $7.84 instead of the original $9.80. If you read this too late to get the extra good deal, maybe you'll be the lucky winner of the Kwik Stix give away! You can see the other Kwik Stix options on Amazon by clicking this link.

My 6 year old could entertain himself for hours with a set of Kwik Stix! The drawing above is of the Revolutionary War, I thought the composition was really interesting.

 To enter the give away, comment below with your email address. I will randomly select a winner July 18th and pass the information on to the company. Good luck!

Thin Stix Review

 Kwik Stix sent me a set of their new "Thin Stix" to review, a product they suggested would be perfect to keep on hand for last minute poster projects. I'd have to say that I agree! This product makes poster-making a breeze. 

I've never really enjoyed using markers to make posters. I much prefer the look of a painted poster but sometimes that can be time-consuming when you have to wait on a section to dry so you don't smudge it when moving on to the next area. Kwik Stix are tempera sticks so you get the look of paint with the ease of markers, and they dry in about a minute and a half. The Thin Stix are probably a little more than half the diameter of the regular Kwik Stix so it's easier to get smaller details.

The first poster I made to test the product was for a supply drive that our Student Council hosted to benefit our local Humane Society. I would suggest that you get the feel of the stix before you start on your poster. There are a couple parts where I got in too much of a hurry without practicing first. What can I say, I was excited.

Next, I made a poster that will be used to welcome art teachers to KAEA Summer Camp which I'm really excited to be hosting in my hometown this summer. It's nice and bright and bold and will work great!

 The next time I tested the Thin Stix was to make some posters for my school's Aggie Olympics. What are the Aggie Olympics? I'm glad you asked. We have a very active FFA chapter and during National FFA week, there is a different activity every day. Friday afternoon concludes with the Aggie Olympics where the staff and each high school class competes in different events. This year some of the events included a slingshot contest, milk bottle bowling, horse "apple" toss, and more. The students make posters applauding their class and dogging their competitors and it is SUPER fun. 

I used my Thin Stix to make a couple new posters- Teachers Rule Students Drool (with a Snapchat filter) and Winning the Aggie Olympics Since Before You Were Born! Each poster took no more than 5 minutes to make.

I had students coming in asking for markers at the last minute and I let my TA use the Thin Stix. I didn't get a picture of the posters she made but she liked using the Thin Stix as well and after I let my 6 year old use the rest of the sample for his artwork, she asked if we were going to get some more. It would be too pricey to totally replace all the markers with Kwik Stix but I hope to buy a couple packs to keep on hand for special poster projects.

I will also buy another set for my oldest son who LOVES this product. I kind of love that they clean up so easily. Bottom line: if you can try this product, I have a hunch you'll like it.

You can buy Thin Stix on their website, on Amazon, and from Sax. I haven't looked other places but I'm sure they're around!

New Kwik Stix!

I have written before about my love for Kwik Stix so when they asked me if I'd like to try out their new products- Kwik Stix "metalix" and "neons" I jumped at the chance. I think these are one of my almost 6 year old's favorite art supplies, right up there with sharpies.  We had a lot of fun testing out the new colors/finishes and we got a jump start on making some Christmas projects.

I think the Metalix are my favorites of the new finishes but my son loves Neon. Either way, it's fun to have more color options to mix in with the 12 color set we have. Kwik Stix dry super fast so they aren't very messy to use. More important to me than being "neat" is that they are bold! They are about the size of a small glue stick so they are easy for little hands to hold and make a big impact. This art product would be a great stocking stuffer.  The Neons, Metalix, and basic color sets are now available in Target stores and if you're more of an online shopper, I've also seen them on Amazon and the basic colors on Dick Blick. 

We started with Christmas trees. My son wanted to make the whole living room so he also included a chair in his artwork.

I wanted to see how the colors would layer so I did each color in mostly one line.

We're into recycling around here so I pulled out a granola bar box and we made some colorful Christmas ornaments that we'll hang on our tree if we can still find them when it's time to decorate. :)

Thanksgiving is my husband's favorite holiday so we also made a turkey on a board that we'll turn into a hanging decoration. He drew the turkey from observing a photo in an old bird guide book.

Back to more Christmas- I got curious as to how the colors would look on colored construction paper. I took a picture from two different views so you can see how the light plats on the Metalix.

Why not go ahead and try it out on black paper too? The silver shows up really well on black. The other colors don't show up quite as well on such a dark surface.

Guys, I know I keep using the word excited, but this was new to me and I think it's brilliant. One of my art teacher friends, Casi Jo, texted me a couple weeks ago and said that you can use Kwik Stix for printmaking, so I had to test that out, too. We used the foam printmaking sheets you can order super cheap (or you can recycle a foam meat tray) and my son made his image by pressing his drawing into the surface with a dull pencil. Next, he chose a color and went over the whole surface with a Kwik Stick? Stix? Anyway, the next step is to just cover the plate with a piece of paper, rub it making sure to get all the edges, and then peel the paper up to reveal the print. You don't even need to soak the paper or spray the surface! So easy! Just be careful on the edges of the plate because your fingers will lift off the paint. Try working from the center out.

We had so much fun testing out the new Kwik Stix! I can't wait to see what this company develops in the future.

Kwik Stix Review

A while back I was sent a couple products from The Pencil Grip, Inc. to test out and review. The pencil grip "ergonomic writing aids" seemed to work well, but since PreK and Kindergarten are only a small portion of my class load, I kept one set and shared the other set with the special education PreK class for their writing center. The product that I was most excited about are "Kwik Stix" which are tempera paint sticks in kind of a glue stick form. The colors go on smooth and creamy and dry really quickly. The resulting "paintings" are vibrant and you have to try to make the colors look muddy due to the fast drying time. 

It is possible to blend colors if you work really quickly and deliberately. This would not be a good choice for teaching color mixing, but they are perfect for letting kids be kids and make art that's important to them. Right now I just have one 12 pack and since my Kindergarten and PreK classes have 12 or fewer students, it's worked perfectly. I basically just passed out one color to each student without looking or taking requests and the students did a great job taking turns and sharing colors. I do plan to order a couple more sets as soon as I can. They are listed at $11.99 on the Pencil Grip's website but Blick has the 12 pack for $9.59. I think these would work really well in a painting center since they are easy for the students to use and not very messy.

I let my 5 year old test the Kwik Stix before I took them to school and he was a big fan.

I tried different things just to see what the possibilities are. I found that you can use a paintbrush and water to spread the paint around.

Overlapping colors without mud.

This student kept experimenting and figured out how to blend colors.

 I had some interesting findings when my Pre-K students used Kwik Stix for the first time. It was either the supplies or some sort of magic. I have 40 minutes for all of my elementary classes and 40 minutes is a long time for preschool students. I noticed that the students stayed engaged with their artwork longer and took the time to fill more of the paper than they typically do. The paras in that class were writing down the name of the supply to tell the Pre-K teacher because they also noticed how engaged the students were. I think that older elementary students would also enjoy Kwik Stix, I just haven't used the product with them yet. I plan to let them try as soon as I can order more sets.

Verdict? Highly recommend!