There are numerous kinds of paint on the market and many factors contributing to our choice. I do not think a manufacturer has yet brought out a more satisfactory medium than powder colour. It is true that it is messy, and that if children are to be allowed adequate opportunity of mixing colours for themselves, it is easily spilt and tends to be wasteful. Nevertheless, it is reasonable in price, it mixes well and comes in a good range of colours. It should be used opaquely and thickly, and in consequence one gets through a lot of paint—but not more than can fairly be bought in a school where the allowances are reasonable.

Poster colour is favoured by many teachers in preference to powder colour. This comes usually in jars, in a soft state, needing only the addition of water for use. There is no doubt that it is pleasanter to use and easier to mix than powder colour. My own experience is that even when allowances are fairly generous, it is not possible to afford enough for the amount of painting and size of painting needed in the Primary school. Although there is little danger of spilling this kind of paint, a certain amount is wasted by careless usage, even with well-trained and well-supervised children. Poster paint is also wasted by hardening if it is left exposed to the air, and it is useful to know that paint which has become hard, can sometimes be softened again by the addition of a little glycerine.

Other opaque paints on the market are liquid and block tempera colour. The liquid tempera colour is the ideal medium for the youngest children in every particular except that of price, which is prohibitive. It is liquid, fully opaque, and comes in a good range of colours. Block colours have a good deal to recommend them, although it is perhaps a little more difficult to get opaque colour with them than it is with powder colour. Children do get a particular kind of enjoyment from mixing powder colour, however, which is absent when tempera block paint is mixed. This experience seems to me to be valuable, and it may be that when a school adopts tempera blocks as the main paint medium, there should also be some opportunity for work with powder colour. The two can, in fact, be used together.

Water colour is a difficult medium, requiring correct use the first time. Once paint has been put on paper, one cannot change one's mind. This makes it unsuitable for Primary children and generally rather discouraging. Although there should be experiments with transparent colour, the majority of work should be in opaque colour. It gives greater brilliance and definition in colour and so enables children to gain knowledge of colour more quickly. Most children's work is by nature colourful, and much of the effect is lost when white paper, showing through transparent paint, takes the edge off the brilliancy. Opaque colour has also the enormous advantage of making mistakes easy to correct, since they can simply be painted over, providing the work is allowed to dry first. Occasionally there are children, however, whose style of working suggests water colour and who may like to try it. For these, it is a good plan to keep a small stock of water colour for use on rare occasions.

A variety of brushes is needed, so that children may experience the results obtained from using different kinds. A suitable provision would be a large stiff hog-hair brush and a small stiff one for each child, and a number of others for class use, of varying size, shape and type of bristle or hair. These should include a number of small soft ones, preferably with sable hair, and some flat ones. It is also possible to paint with a sponge, with the fingers or with a pad of material, and some experiments with these should be tried.

In the same way, we need a variety of paper—variety of size, shape, texture and colour. Cartridge paper and sugar paper are both suitable for many kinds of work and have sufficient substance to stand several coats of paint. At the top of the Primary school, children usually have sufficient power of concentration to work for several lessons at one piece of work and to go to some trouble to arrive at a satisfactory conclusion. For these children paper of some strength is needed. Infants and lower Juniors have less power of concentration and their need is usually for quantity rather than quality in paper. They are probably better provided with cheaper paper— kitchen paper in particular is very useful. Wrapping-paper and wallpaper are by no means to be despised, and if the paper situation becomes really desperate, newspaper can be used. The younger children should have some opportunity of painting on better-quality paper as well, but cheap paper will serve for the bulk of their work.

My own experience with papers is that dark paper—sugar paper or dark pastel-paper, is most valuable. It forces children to use paint thickly and makes them aware of colour in a way that white paper does not. White paper makes colour look less brilliant, until all the paper is covered. Dark paper makes colour look richer. Some manufacturers of art and craft materials are now making sugar paper in a great variety of rich colours, which in themselves suggest colour schemes.

If children have had good opportunities for painting from the beginning of their time at school, personal styles and preferences will be well established by the top of the Junior school, and it will be possible, in general, to offer a choice of paper sizes. Children who start to paint late in their school career, however, display a number of inferiority signs. They choose to draw on a small rather than a large scale—irrespective of whether this is natural to them or not. They tend to choose pencil rather than paint, water colour rather than opaque colour, and light paper rather than dark. These are all signs that they are frightened to commit themselves. With such children, I have found it best to insist on large dark paper—full-sized sugar paper (20 X 25 in) if there is space for it, and opaque paint. When the children have gained confidence, their choice will be more objective and of more value.