Provide different surfaces for children to draw on with markers (paper, foil, plastic wrap).
Pull out the different materials and markers and let the child draw. The results will vary across materials, so the child will discover differences.
Does the child persist with the markers on the different surfaces? Does she notice and comment on the different effects?
Encourage parents to provide an easily cleanable space (on a cookie tray, on newspaper or a plastic cloth) for the child to experiment with different types of art materials, including paints, play, dough, etc. The more comfortable the child is with different materials, the more he will be able to combine them in different ways.
 North Carolina Department of Public Instruction, 2015
©2015 by the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/.