Thin Sticks Thick Bricks: A TH, I and CK Tongue Twister

Thin sticks, thick bricks trains the TH sound beside S and CK, so only a small slip separates thin from sin.

Thin sticks, thick bricks.

Four words with one short vowel and a hard ending. If TH slips, thin becomes sin or fin.

👅 Sounds to Practise

TH /θ/, as in thin and thick. Put the tip of your tongue lightly between your teeth and blow air. There is no buzz.
Short I /ɪ/, as in thin, sticks, thick and bricks. A short, relaxed i, like in sit.
CK /k/, as in sticks, thick and bricks. A quick pop at the back of the mouth.
ST and BR clusters: in sticks the S and T come before the vowel, and in bricks the B and R do.

Quick test: say thin, then sin. Feel your tongue go between your teeth, then stay behind them.

Say each chunk slowly.

Thin sticks,
thick bricks.

Say it at a natural pace, with the stressed syllables in capitals:

THIN STICKS, THICK BRICKS.

Say it three times in a row, as fast as you can:

Thin sticks, thick bricks.

If it falls apart, that is normal. Slow down and try again. Put your tongue between your teeth for every TH.

Two difficult jobs happen at once.

thin / thick

Thin and thick both start with TH, so the tongue goes between the teeth, and the same short vowel follows.
Then sticks, thick and bricks end with a quick K pop (plus an S in sticks and bricks), so the tongue goes back behind the teeth and up to the throat.
Many learners say S or F for TH. Thin turns into sin or fin, and thick into sick, so the sound has to be clear.
Sticks and bricks rhyme, which makes the second half sound like the first and easy to swap.

These pairs change when TH becomes S or F:

Say each pair slowly. Let your tongue come out for the first word.

Bonus round: if you survived all three, try this one:

Three thin thinkers thanked the thick fog.