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:

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.

No-mess painting has a lot of appeal.

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).

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

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.

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.

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 – 12 Colors (The best value & the one we tested)
• Tempera Paint Sticks Neon – Set of 6 (Super bright!)
• Tempera Paint Sticks Metallic – Set of 6 (I totally want to try these!!)
• Tempera Paint Sticks for Fabric – Set of 6 (I’m interested in giving these a try and bet they would be easy to use for fabric decorating…)

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:

My stocking stuffer recommendations:

• Black colored pencils
• Crayon rocks
• Push Up Metallic Crayons
• Some fun erasers
• 52 Amazing Science Experiments (haven’t actually tried this one yet, but it’s going in Maia’s stocking this year)
• A little sticker book

My gift recommendations:

• 200 Paper Planes to Fold and Fly (These are GREAT!)
• Groove colored pencils with a nice sketchbook
• A set of DIY sticker cards (great for post-holiday thank you’s!) with push-up crayons

• The Big Maze Book (Maia LOVES this) plus the Big Doodling Book and some smencils or markers

• Tempera paint sticks and/or Jumbo Felt Pens (we have used and loved ours for over two years now!) + Paper
• Watercolor paints + Watercolor paper

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 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…