Category Archives: #2016teacherbloggerretreat
A fun & easy Father’s Day Project using Neon Kwik Stix
Are you looking for a fun and easy Father’s Day project that won’t break the bank? Check out what my son and I were able to create in about 20 minutes!
We have a tradition in our house that started 11 years ago for my husband’s 2nd Father’s Day. Each year my son makes him art on canvas, personalized just for him. He’s painted DAD in so many different ways, that we wanted to do something a little different this year. 🙂
We created this one of a kind subway art in just minutes using the NEON Kwik Stix (with a few Metalix Kwik Stix colors thrown in too)! I’ve told you how much I LOVE the Kwik Stix since I received them at the French Lick Blogger Retreat in March–and I’m still LOVING them!!
All you need to complete this simple project is:
-a blank canvas (we used white, but I bet black would work too!)
-6 pack of NEON Kwik Stix
-6 pack of Metalix Kwik Stix
-pencil
Begin by writing out your words (LIGHTLY!!) with a pencil on your canvas. I had my son think up words to describe his daddy (Daddy-isms he called them!!) and I transferred as many as I could fit on to the canvas for him.
Then I set my son to work tracing over my letters. The Kwik Stix went on smoothly and we loved the texture they left on the canvas! My son traced over each work twice because he really wanted the words to stand out.
I’ll admit, at first I was a little bothered by my pencil line showing through his tracing–my OCD!, but the more we both looked at it, the more we liked the pencil lines showing through! ❤
I just love how it turned out and we are ready to go for Father’s Day!
We did use a few colors from the Kwik Stix Metalix 6 pack as well, my son liked the sparkle they added to the neon pack and he wanted to try to make every word a different color. 🙂
The edges on the Kwik Stix made it SO easy for my son to trace the letters and get the color right where he wanted it to be.
Right now The Pencil Grip Inc. is offering a discount on their Kwik Stix and their fabulous Pencil Grips!! You can get 15% off your entire purchase, just use the coupon code YOUWIN15 at checkout!!
Now it’s your chance to win some Kwik Stix! Enter this giveaway for your chance to win one 6 pack of NEON Kwik Stix and on 6 pack of PRIMARY Kwik Stik!!
Good Luck!
The Pencil Grip
One of the other fun things I received at the Spring Blogger Retreat in March were these pencil grips from The Pencil Grip, Inc. I used them right away with my kiddos and they helped some of my friends A LOT! 🙂
What I loved most about the three grips that I got to try was that they were marked clearly with an “L” or an “R” to show where my kiddos thumbs should go. That helped all of us remember how to hold the grips correctly.
I also loved that the grips have “stages“. The Pencil Grip has some AMAZING downloads available on their site so you can check to see which grip is “write” (hahaha!) for you. You can also find a chart of correct and incorrect handwriting positions, along with instructions for using the grips correctly.
This is the “Crossover Grip“. It REALLY helps to keep those fingers tucked in and in a great position for beginning writers! I love the “superhero cape” that’s built in and it got my kiddos excited about writing using a grip! I think I’ll have to take some paint pens and draw some superhero logos on the front to really get them going!
Next up is the “Pinch Grip“. It works exactly like it sounds; the child pinches the grip and uses that force to help guide their pencil. It looks a lot like the Crossover Grip; without the cape, but still has those deep pockets, perfect for perfecting proper finger placement.
Last, is the “Original Grip“. I could tell this is the grip my students felt most comfortable with at this point in the year. They cranked out names of students in our classroom with no trouble at all! The Original Grip is perfect for all year use and we use them a lot in my school in Kindergarten to help correct previous writing habits. You can get these bad boys in original, metallic, neon, and glitter too, so that makes them even more fun!
Now wouldn’t you love to win some grips of your own? Click the link below and enter away!
Click HERE for the giveaway!
*Please note that this giveaway is open to residents of the U.S. only*
I’ll choose the winner on Saturday. 🙂
Kwik Stix and a Giveaway!
After attending the Spring Blogger Meet-up in French Lick in March, I was excited to go through all my new goodies! In the box at the very bottom, I found what has now become one of my MOST favorite new art mediums–Kwik Stix!
What are they? Kwik Stix are these amazing little glue stick type containers of tempera paint that are completely dry in 90 seconds! I LOVE the variety of colors that I got in my 12 pack. Every color my students could ever want!
After I tried them, I knew I needed to let my students explore with them and explore they did! After about 30 seconds of showing them how they worked (and how to not twist them all the way up!), my students were having a blast!
We are going on 3 weeks of daily use and still have plenty of paint left! I told ONE, just one of my students where to return the Kwik Stix to each day when they were done using them, and every single day in those 3 weeks, they have made their way back to my desk, in rainbow order! 🙂
I asked several of my students what they liked most about the Kwik Stix and they said:
“I love how its like we are painting, but you don’t have to wait for them to dry!”
“These make our art station much more fun!”
“Can we get some more??”
“I love that these paint sticks are smooth! When I’m using them, they just slide along my paper!”.
My assistant fell in love with them too and ordered a few sets for her nephew’s birthday!
You can get yours here, or you can enter my giveaway and win a set for your classroom! (Giveaway ends 4/21/16 at 12:00 pm EDT).
This giveaway is open to U.S. Residents Only! 🙂
I think you will LOVE using Kwik Stix with your students as much as I have!
All thoughts and opinions shared in this blog post are my own and were not influenced by or compensated by any company, person, or though payment.
Spring Blogger Retreat 2016
I was lucky enough to attend the Teacher Blogger Retreat at French Lick last weekend! I met so many friends in person that I’ve been chatting with for years online! We also had several workshops that we were able to attend! I attended sessions about switching my blog to wordpress.org, how to use my Silhouette machine, and alternative seating!
Kristen's Kindergarten 