Provide one or more two-sided easels, paper, chalk, crayons, colored pencils and markers in a quiet corner. Encourage children to use a variety of hand and wrist movements as they draw, and to experiment with the side, pointed end and the blunt end of crayons to see what effects each creates. Resist the urge to direct or correct children as they draw.
Provide powdered tempera paint mixed with water in squeeze bottles, corn starch-based finger paint and watercolors, along with pads of watercolor paper, finger-paint paper, butcher paper, poster board, corrugated cardboard sheets and paper bags. Gather watercolor and trim-size brushes up to 3 inches wide, along with plastic palette knives and putty knives, natural sponges and water containers to clean brushes. Provide rubber stamps and ink pads as well. Provide a clothesline and clothespins to hang artwork while it dries.
Collect cardboard tubes, small- and medium-sized food and cereal boxes, salt and oatmeal boxes in a large, deep plastic storage container and give children time to dig through it. Provide masking tape, newspaper strips, flour paste, craft glue, glue sticks and glue pens so the children can make three-dimensional found-art sculptures. Provide clay and clay tools on a large, low table, along with rollers and cutters. Provide time throughout the day for children to knead clay, build towers or create fantasy creatures.
Keep a variety of sizes of poster boards, craft foam sheets, sheets of corrugated cardboard, shirt cardboard and construction paper in pull-out drawers. Stock old magazines and books to cut pictures from. Have white glue, clear-glue pens and syrup-based flour paste available. Keep a box of found objects handy, including pine cones, leaves, nuts, twigs and feathers, buttons and pasta shapes to make collages.
Encourage children to explore the way each art tool works. Experiment with under-loading brushes so that they create wood-grain effects and overloading brushes with paint so they drip and splatter on the paper. Dip hands, sponges, apple halves, rubber stamps, marbles or stones in paint and explore the effects each tool creates. Teach children to explore color by mixing paint.