Sudor Finger Paint, Water-Based, Set of 3 Basic Colours

Finger paint is made to be used without a brush, and for a small child that is the entire point: the hand is a tool they already control completely, so the painting can start before the frustration of learning to hold something else gets in the way.

It is water-based, so while it is still fresh it will usually wash off skin and out of most fabrics — the word fresh is doing real work in that sentence, because dried finger paint on cotton is a different problem entirely. Test a hidden corner of anything you care about first. Work on thick paper or card, since ordinary printer paper pulls apart under a wet hand, and cover the table before you start rather than after.

Three basic colours is a deliberate choice rather than a mean one. A child mixing red, yellow and blue into orange, green and purple is learning something that a twelve-colour set hands over ready-made and skips past entirely.

• Water-based finger paint, set of 3 basic colours
• Used with the hands — no brush needed
• Usually washes off skin and fabric while still fresh
• Use thick paper or card, and cover the table first
• Adult supervision for young children