As part of the Review Crew, I’ve gotten to review lots of great curriculum, some fun games, even some things for my babies. But when a review for The Pencil Grip, Inc. came up as a possibility, I got pretty excited. As a momma to many who has seven dear children who love to paint while I have a strong aversion to removing paint from furniture, clothing, and floors, a mess-free art option sounded amazing. I received Kwik Stix 12 pk and, fun fun fun, a couple Pencil Grips to try as well! The Pencil Grips went onto the coffee table where small children promptly begged to try them. They became the favorite pens around here – I even had to try them, and found my hand cramped far less while I made my list of curriculum for next year. These are perfect for teaching proper grip for my littles too.
The first time we used the Kwik Stix solid tempera paints, I passed out computer paper, broke open our box of Kwik Stix and set the kids to work… and then I grabbed a sheet of paper for myself to try them out. I wondered if the colors would muddy on the Stix when using colors on top of one another, so I tried yellow on orange. It didn’t rub onto the yellow Stix one bit! I’m impressed. Super fine lines were the only thing I couldn’t really draw – I could get them fairly thin if I drew from the edge of the Stix, especially considering the size of the Stix, but not great. As the Stix formed a new shape from use, a fine point got more difficult still.
Overheard immediately from Sterling: “Oh man, these things are awesome!” An hour later they were all still busily playing at the kitchen table. There was no mess anywhere – not on hands, table, floor, clothes… no where! It was as messy and regular crayons make… none! They feel dry immediately and claim to be dry in 90 seconds. I’m pretty sure they were dry even before that, and nothing would run or transfer regardless. Word to the wise though – don’t fold the paper during the 90 second dry time! It will stick to itself and tear the paper.
We had so much fun with these! They draw incredibly smooth, most of the colors are vibrant, (The black we received was more gray, and nearly transparent, but very cool nonetheless. The others were quite bright, and all of them coat smoothly and evenly, leaving clean lines.) I’ve been pestered to use these more times than I can count during the review period and with the mess-free fun, it’s no big deal to hand these tempera paints to my two year old! That’s pretty awesome. It’s a great help to hand these to littles while school is going on and know that I won’t have a giant mess to clean up later. 
The caps are large and easy enough for Ellie, my two year old, to manage. And get this – no paint smock needed! I would easily see taking these with us in a busy bag, and, having brought home dripping wet paint pictures made with traditional tempera more times than I can count, I can confidently say these are a huge hit with kids and momma!
The Kwik Stix 12 pk is available on Amazon or the Kwik Stix website for $11.99. Find The Pencil Grip and Kwik Stix online on their website, on Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter @ThePencilGrip.
