finger paint
- noun
- /ˈfɪŋɡər peɪnt/
- Baby Talk
- The children eagerly dipped their fingers into the bright colors of the finger paint and created beautiful artwork.
Examples
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But one piece of it is that traditional media and materials, wooden blocks, finger paint are great for learning kindergarten concepts.
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During art class, each student was given a set of finger paints to express their creativity without using brushes.
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She set up a large sheet of paper on the floor for the kids, knowing they would love to play with the finger paint all afternoon.
Synonyms
A coloured liquid you put on surfaces to protect or decorate them
Thick paint that children spread with their fingers
How Precise
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'paint designed to be applied with the fingers' is directly and transparently derivable from combining 'finger' (the digit used to apply) with 'paint' (a pigmented coating). This noun–noun compounding pattern is common across languages and in English (indicating method or tool), so a B1 learner who knows both constituents will readily understand the expression.
Etymology
Finger paint is named because children use their fingers to spread the paint instead of a brush, and the paint is soft and washable so they can play safely. So the term means 'paint you use with your fingers'.