Tempera used to be in powered form only, stored easily, and was used in schools and business's to make signs. It is a water based paint and unless it has changed has a very powderly - rough texture. It also runs or bleeds.

Hope this helps.

thanks pezabelle...I was just curious. Is it only good to use on paper? I see it at Walmart and Michaels and have always wondered what it was used for. Now I'm wondering if that's what we used in elementary school to finger paint a bulletin board in 4th grade. I think it was supposed to be a scene of Jamestown. That was many, many years ago LOL.

If my memory serves me right and school was a long time ago - but I think we did use Tempera paints for finger painting. And yes, we used it in school for making posters and I remember one Thanksgiving scene with pilgrims and indians. The school had huge, tall rolls of what must have been news printers paper. We would roll it out, tape it together and put it up and paint. If the paint was to thin the paper would pucker. Ah! such
memories!

I have also used it to make "sets" for dance recitals and we added liquid dish soap to make it more creamy.