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New Tempera Paint Sticks for Kids

by Jean Van't Hul
December 7, 2013

Tempera Paint Sticks - An Awesome New Kids Art Product!

We’ve had the great fun of testing a new kids’ art product these last couple of weeks—tempera paint sticks. Kate, from Stubby Pencil Studio, sent us the paint sticks to try out and asked me what I thought of them.

In a word, AWESOME!

In a few more, plus pictures and comparisons:

Tempera Paint Sticks - A New Kids Art Product01

These Playcolor tempera paint sticks, made by Instant in Spain, are, as the name implies, tempera paint in stick form. The idea is mess-free painting. The color goes on the paper dry (so no wrinkling, no mess, no dripping) and the coverage is such that it does have the appearance of being painted on.

Tempera Paint Sticks - A New Kids Art Product03

No-mess painting has a lot of appeal.

Tempera Paint Sticks - A New Kids Art Product02

But I actually consider these a drawing tool rather than a painting tool. There is no paintbrush or other intermediary tool used to apply the color/art material. The paint stick is held in the hand, like a crayon, and used to apply color and lines directly to the paper.

If I were to compare these tempera paint sticks to another art product, I’d say they are most similar to oil pastels. The color is vibrant, they glide on smoothly and easily over the paper, and they can be used for watercolor resists (they are not water soluble).

Tempera Paint Sticks - A New Kids Art Product07

All in all, they are a joy to use and produce beautiful artwork.

Testing Tempera Paint Sticks

The only drawback I can see is that they are not suited for detail work—the paint sticks are quite chunky and better for large surfaces, color spreading, abstract art, etc. If you want detail, though, you can go in with an oil pastel or fine paint brush. These paint sticks play well with other art materials.

Tempera Paint Stick Art with Other Art Materials

Also, they are not completely washable out of fabric (we tested this aspect), but, because of the format, I think it is much less likely that kids would get it on their clothes than regular paint.

Tempera Paint Sticks - A New Kids Art Product37

All in all, I think the tempera paint sticks are:

  • Perfect for young children
  • Great for large artworks, even murals
  • Portable and mess free (take them to Grandma’s house)
  • Easy to use on paper, canvas, wood, and cardboard (we tested them on each)

They come in different colors & styles:

Tempera Paint Sticks

These paint sticks are a new and unique kids’ art material and I think they would make a great holiday gift—either as a (large) stocking stuffer or paired with a pad of paper under the tree.

Note: Stubby Pencil Studio sent me the tempera paint sticks for free to test and try out; all opinions expressed are my own.

Stubby Pencil Studio sells all kinds of seriously great art materials, besides these fun new paint sticks and we’ve used and loved many of them over the years. Here are a few of our favorites, in case you’re looking for gift ideas:

Stubby Pencil Studio Stocking Stuffer Ideas

My stocking stuffer recommendations:

Creative Gifts for Creative Kids

My gift recommendations:

More Creative Gifts for Creative Kids

Stubby Pencil Studio Kids’ Art Supply Giveaway

Stubby Pencil Studio, one of my long-time blog sponsors, is giving away a Watercolor Art Case (a $59.99 value), filled with the following items, to one lucky reader:

  • Watercolor-art-set-for-kids Watercolor crayons
  • Watercolor pencils
  • Set of 24 watercolor paints
  • A jumbo quad-color pencil
  • A 6×6 block of watercolor paper
  • Watercolor cards and envelopes
  • Paint brushes
  • And more!
  • All stored in a retro style suitcase and ready for giving

To enter the giveaway for Stubby Pencil Studio’s Watercolor Art Case, leave a comment to this post by Wednesday, December 11th at 11:59pm EST. Winner will be chosen by random number generator and announced here on Thursday (I will also e-mail the winner). Giveaway open to US readers.

Good luck!

This giveaway is now closed.

The random number generator gave me #211, so Kelly wins the watercolor art case. Congrats, Kelly! I’ll e-mail you…

Kelly said…

Love this!!! My kiddo would be thrilled!

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