Sometimes, it’s fun to paint or draw on something other than paper. A jumbo craft stick is the perfect canvas for creating a mini-masterpiece. We tried two different painting materials on our craft sticks – watercolors and acrylic craft paints. I asked my girls which type of paint was their favorite for craft stick painting, but they couldn’t decide!

Colorful Painted Craft Sticks

These are so fun to make – I bet your kids will want to paint a bunch like my girls did! I set-up two painting stations – a palette of acrylic paints and small containers of liquid watercolors.

Near the acrylic paints, I had assorted paintbrushes, water for rinsing brushes, and a rag for drying. The acrylic paints cover the wood craft stick with nice, solid color.

The paint dried fairly quickly, so we were able to paint a solid color, set it aside for a few minutes, then come back and add dots, stripes, and other designs. We only painted one side of our craft sticks, but you could certainly let them dry and paint the back, too.

I thought trying a watercolor resist might be fun, so I put out oil pastels with the watercolors. Crayons would work, too! The oil pastel and watercolor resist technique worked great, especially with a light-colored pastel and a darker watercolor. I left the liquid watercolors almost full-strength (I usually dilute with water), for bolder colors.

Have a couple paper towels or tissues on hand for soaking up extra watercolor paint.

Once you’ve had your fill of craft stick painting, what will you do with them? They are fun to just play with, but here are a few more project ideas for your pretty painted sticks: