Quick answer: It depends on which paint tray you mean. The shallow sloped pan used with a paint roller is called a roller tray or paint roller pan. The flat surface an artist mixes colors on is called a palette, and a palette with small round depressions is a well palette or welled palette. The small sectioned tray with pots of dry watercolor is a watercolor pan set or paint box, and the little depressions themselves are pans. A tray with dividers used by kids to hold tempera is often just called a paint tray or a paint caddy, while a six-cup version is a muffin-style or sectioned paint tray.
“Paint tray” is one of those phrases that means a different object to a house painter, a watercolorist and a preschool teacher. Ask what is a paint tray called and you may be looking for the proper name of the plastic thing with the ridges, the artist’s word for a mixing surface, or the term for the sectioned dish that keeps a child’s red and yellow from becoming orange. All three are “paint trays” in everyday speech, and all three have more specific names.
This explainer sorts them out: what each tray is called, what it looks like, what it is for, and how to ask for the right one in a store or search. The final sections focus on trays for children, since that is where the naming is loosest. If you are shopping for a classroom or a kitchen-table art corner, our guide to the best paint trays for kids compares the sectioned, spill-resistant designs that make cleanup manageable.
What Is a Paint Tray?
In the broadest sense, a paint tray is any shallow container designed to hold paint while you work, as opposed to the can, tube or bottle it is stored in. The purpose is the same across every version: put a small, controllable amount of paint where a brush, roller or sponge can reach it, and keep colors from mixing or spilling. The differences are in shape, depth and how many compartments the tray has, and those differences are what the specific names describe.
The Roller Tray (House Painting)
The object most Americans picture when they hear “paint tray” is the rectangular plastic or metal pan used with a paint roller. Its proper names are roller tray, paint roller tray or roller pan. In the UK it is often called a roller tray as well, or a paint tray with no qualifier.
It has two zones. The deep end is the well or reservoir, which holds the paint. The sloped, ribbed section is the ramp or grid, where the roller is rolled back and forth to spread paint evenly and squeeze off excess. Disposable inserts for it are called tray liners. The large version for an 18-inch roller is sometimes called a roller bucket or, if it is a 5-gallon pail with a hanging grid, a bucket and grid or bucket screen.
Smaller trays for 4- to 6-inch trim rollers are mini roller trays. None of these are meant for artists’ paint, though they are occasionally used to roll gesso onto large canvases.
The Palette (Fine Art)
When an artist talks about the surface they mix paint on, the word is palette, not tray. A palette can be a flat board or a container with compartments, and the terminology shifts with the design.
- Flat palette: A wooden, glass, acrylic or disposable paper surface with no compartments. The classic kidney-shaped wooden version with a thumb hole is a hand palette or thumb-hole palette. Oil and acrylic painters use these.
- Well palette or welled palette: A plastic or ceramic palette with round or rectangular depressions, called wells, to hold fluid paint. Common for watercolor, gouache, ink and acrylic. A round one with wells around the edge is a flower palette or daisy palette.
- Folding palette: A hinged plastic or metal palette that closes to protect wet paint. Sometimes called a travel palette.
- Stay-wet palette: A lidded tray with a damp sponge and a membrane paper on top, used to keep acrylics workable for days.
- Tear-off palette or palette pad: A pad of coated disposable sheets.
- Porcelain palette or ceramic dish: Heavy, stain-resistant and favored by watercolorists; a rectangular one with slanted wells is a slant tile or slant well palette.
Calling any of these a “paint tray” is understood but imprecise. In an art supply store or search, “palette” will get better results.
The Watercolor Pan Set (Dry Paint)
The familiar lidded box of small dry colors is a watercolor set, watercolor pan set, paint box or, in Britain, a paint tin. Each individual block of color is a pan; smaller ones are half pans and larger ones full pans. The open lid often doubles as a mixing area and is sometimes called a mixing tray or mixing lid.
Children’s versions, with eight or sixteen oval colors in a plastic case and a brush clipped in, are usually sold as watercolor sets or simply kids’ watercolors. The plastic case itself is rarely named separately, but it is in effect a paint tray with built-in pans.
Paint Trays for Kids (Tempera and Craft Paint)
This is where “paint tray” is the normal, correct term, and where the variations matter most for parents and teachers.
| Name | What it looks like | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Sectioned paint tray / divided paint tray | Flat plastic tray with 6 to 10 shallow compartments | Pouring small amounts of tempera or washable paint for one child |
| Muffin-style tray / six-well tray | Deeper round cups in a rectangular base, like a muffin tin | Group tables; holds more paint and resists tipping |
| Paint cups with lids / no-spill paint pots | Individual cups, often with a snap lid that has a brush hole | Toddlers and preschool; cups can be sealed and reused |
| Paint caddy / paint pot holder | A rack or tray with holes that holds several paint cups upright | Classrooms; carries six to ten colors at once |
| Finger paint tray / art tray | Large flat tray with a raised rim, often 12 by 16 inches or so | Finger painting and messy play; contains the mess |
| Dot paint tray / ice cube tray | Small cubes in a grid, often an actual ice cube tray | Dot painting with cotton swabs; tiny portions of many colors |
| Paint palette (kids’) | Round or oval plastic palette with a thumb hole and wells | Older kids learning to mix colors |
Retailers use these terms loosely, so when searching, pairing “paint tray” with a descriptor such as “divided,” “with lid,” “no spill” or “six well” narrows results more effectively than the bare phrase.
Other Trays With Paint in the Name
A few other objects get called paint trays and cause confusion.
- Paint mixing tray: Usually a welled palette, but in model-making and miniature painting it can mean a wet palette or a ceramic tile used for thinning paint.
- Paint pan: In house painting, a synonym for roller tray. In watercolor, an individual block of dry paint. Context decides.
- Drip tray: A tray placed under a can or project to catch drips; it does not hold paint on purpose.
- Dipping tray or dip tray: Used in hydro-dipping and marbling, a deep tub of water with paint floated on top.
- Paint tray for sip and paint: Event companies sometimes call a disposable six-well palette a paint tray.
- Egg carton or ice cube tray: Household items pressed into service as paint trays; not products, but common enough in craft instructions to deserve a mention.
How to Ask for the Right One
If you are unsure which term will get you what you need, match the description to the job.
- Rolling paint onto a wall or a large canvas: ask for a roller tray and liners, in the size matching your roller width.
- Mixing oil or acrylic colors: ask for a palette; specify wood, glass, acrylic or disposable paper.
- Working with watercolor, gouache or ink: ask for a well palette, porcelain palette or folding palette.
- Keeping acrylics wet between sessions: ask for a stay-wet palette.
- Setting up tempera for a child: ask for a divided paint tray, no-spill paint cups or a paint caddy.
- Containing finger paint or messy play: ask for an art tray or activity tray with a raised rim.
Features That Matter in a Kids’ Paint Tray
Since children’s trays are the least standardized category, a few design points separate the useful ones from the frustrating ones.
- Compartment depth. Shallow wells around 1/4 inch deep encourage kids to use a little paint at a time and let the tray dry quickly for cleanup. Deeper cups hold more but encourage dunking the whole brush.
- Weight and footprint. A wide, low tray tips less than a tall caddy. A non-slip base helps on a smooth table.
- Lids. Lidded cups let tempera survive a day or two. Open trays need to be rinsed after each session.
- Material. Flexible plastic lets dried tempera pop out when the tray is bent, which is the fastest cleaning method. Rigid trays need soaking.
- Color coding. Trays in a single light color make it easy to see what paint is in each well. Multicolored trays can disguise a color.
- Dishwasher safe. Worth checking if a tray will be used by a class.
Improvised Paint Trays That Work
Not every project needs a purchased tray, and children in particular get along fine with household stand-ins.
- A plastic egg carton makes a twelve-well tray; a foam one is lighter but absorbs some paint.
- An ice cube tray holds many tiny portions and suits dot painting and cotton swab work.
- A disposable plate or a yogurt lid serves as a flat palette for mixing.
- A baking sheet with a rim contains finger paint and rinses in the sink.
- Silicone muffin cups can be arranged in a shallow box for a reusable sectioned tray.
- A clean takeout container with compartments works for travel or outdoor painting.
The limitation of improvised trays is usually stability and depth, which is why purpose-made sectioned trays and no-spill cups remain popular for younger children.
FAQs
What is the proper name for a paint roller tray?
Roller tray or paint roller pan. The deep section is the well and the ribbed slope is the ramp. Disposable inserts are tray liners.
What is a paint tray called in art?
A palette. If it has depressions for holding fluid paint, it is a well palette or welled palette. A lidded box of dry watercolor is a pan set or paint box.
What is a paint tray with sections called?
A divided or sectioned paint tray. Deeper versions with round cups are called six-well or muffin-style trays, and individual lidded cups are no-spill paint pots.
What is the little tray in a watercolor set called?
Each block of color is a pan (half pan or full pan). The lid or flat area used for mixing is the mixing tray or mixing lid.
What is a paint tray for kids called?
Usually just a paint tray, often with a descriptor: divided paint tray, paint cups with lids, paint caddy or art tray, depending on the design.
Is a paint palette the same as a paint tray?
In art, a palette is the specific term for a mixing surface and is the better word to use. In casual speech and in children’s supplies, “paint tray” covers palettes and sectioned containers alike.
Final Thoughts
There is no single answer to what a paint tray is called because the phrase covers three different tools: the roller tray for walls, the palette for fine art, and the sectioned tray or cup set for children’s paint. Knowing the specific name saves time in a store and brings up better search results. For a child’s art space, the design details, such as well depth, stability, lids and flexible plastic, matter more than the label, and our comparison of paint trays that make kids’ painting less messy walks through which styles suit toddlers, preschoolers and older children.
