Thin Stix Creativity Pack (A Homeschool Crew Review)

My kids were extremely ecstatic when the FedEx van pulled up and dropped off the Thin Stix Creativity Pack, the newest offering from the Kwik Stix family from The Pencil Grip, Inc. These have been a huge hit in our house and anytime they get a new set, they are pretty excited.

Thin Stix are paint sticks made with the same solid tempera paint found in the Kwik Stix, only the Thin Stix are thin and taller and they provide a smaller top for smoother control on projects. Thin Stix requires no water or paint brushes to use. Using the same design as Kwik Stix, kids simply draw or color with them much as they would with a marker.  The paint itself is creamy and the paint glides on smoothly and then dry to the touch in about 90 seconds.  The stick themselves work similar to a glue stick-  as more paint is needed the student simply twists the bottom to expose more of the paint stick.  The paint itself is a semi-solid, also similar to a glue stick and provide full coverage to the project they are being used on.   And the best part is that there is little to no mess at all.  What little cleanup that may be needed is easy with simple soap and water.

For this review, we received the 24 color Thin Stix Creativity Pack.  This pack contains 12 classic colors as well as 6 neon colors and 6 metallic colors. 

How We Used Them

It's no secret that Ashleigh really enjoys using both the Thin Stix and Kwik Stix paint sticks on just about anything.  Her creative juices have very little limits when she gets her hands on a set of Kwik Stix. However, recently Alyssa has also discovered that she also enjoys using the paint sticks for her own projects. So when our Thin Stix Creativity Pack arrived, both girls insisted that it was theirs. 

Originally, Ashleigh claimed them as hers. 

Until her big sister came into the room to find out what Fed Ex had bought. 

However, we have all been able to share equally and work on various projects with our newly acquired Creativity Pack. 

In the past, the girls have used the paint sticks for a variety of projects, such as painting rocks, creating colorful pictures, decorating on wood, ect.  However, this time around, I decided I wanted to try my hand with the Thin Stix myself.

We recently decided to decorate our car for the Trunk or Treat event at our Chapel.  This year's decorations were to be Disney themed, and so we opted to decorate our car as the Hunchback of Notre Dame.  After using sidewalk chalk to decorate two poster boards to look like brick walls, I realized that you really don't have Notre Dame Cathedral without stained glass.   But I knew I wanted something that could be opaque but transparent enough to be seen through, especially with a light source behind it.  

That's when I saw the Thin Stix just sitting there from Ashleigh's latest picture. I didn't know if it would work, but I thought maybe I could use the Thin Stix on a piece of parchment paper to give the effect that I wanted to achieve.  I will be honest, I did not know if this would work or not, as parchment paper has a waxy feel to it and markers and paint tend not to adhere well to it. But, if it did not work, nothing lost but a piece of parchment paper, right?


To my absolute surprise, the paint sticks not only adhered to the parchment paper but dried quickly without smudging or feeling wet to the touch.  Even rubbing/touching the parchment after painting it, the paint stayed put and did not smudge off. And so, I had the perfect stained glass window for my display. 

The "stained glass' made a great addition to our display and I was thrilled that it tuned out exactly as I had envisioned (even if I'm not much of an artist).

Alyssa has enjoyed using the Thin Stix with her adult coloring book pages.  She has especially enjoyed the metallic colors that are included with the Creativity pack and likes to use them to create a sparkly sheen to her pictures.  This effect isn't visible in the photograph of her artwork, but it looks really nice in person.  The smaller surface of the Thin Sticks allows for more precision in smaller areas, such as the headband.

Here's a beter image that shows the metallic properties of the Thin Stix.  

Ashleigh likes using the paint sticks to create original pictures, such as the picture of the zinnia flower below.

However, Ashleigh's favorite thing to do with Kwik Stix is to paint rocks.  The Thin Stix Creativity Pack is no different.  Thin Stix paint sticks adhere nicely to the porous rocky surfaces producing long-lasting bright colors that are relatively mess free.  Ashleigh has been using both Kwik Stix and Thin Stix to decorate the various rocks that she has hidden all over the base for other children to find and all who report finding them always comment how bright they are.

In the past two years of using Kwik Stix products in our household, we have only found one surface that they did not do well with: plaster of Paris.  Beyond that, we have used these on so many different projects with excellent results time and time again.  The fact that they dry quickly along with the fact they are mess free (and can be wiped away with soap and water easily) makes them a staple in our household, especially over spillable plastic containers of tempera paint.  We have enjoyed these so much that they were my top recommendation for Christmas gifts for under $25.

For more information about the Thin Stix Creativity Pack as well as the other Kwik Stix tempera paint sticks, visit their website.  You can also find more information at the following social media sites:

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