Young children are most attracted to classroom centers that offer the lively social interaction of play, stimulating construction activities, or animated computer programs. Efforts to create an attractive art center with abundant shelves of markers, crayons, various kinds of paper, and assorted materials attract a few children who want to experience the expressive construction of a private moment. For sustained, meaningful participation, however, children need interested adults and peers to listen to their ideas, and to give them feedback and support for their explorations and meaning-making (Dyson, 1986; Thompson & Bales, 1991; Vygotsky, 1978). The challenge for teachers is to engage students as thinkers and young artists in representing what they already know and in expressing new understandings. This article presents an account of a yearlong activity with a group of 4- and 5-year-olds who developed their emerging drawing representations with some of their favorite toys in the context of play. In this yearlong activity, within the structure of the classroom, the teachers were able promote the children's continued interest by scaffolding the theme with toys and facilitating with drawing materials. The use of art connected to children's play, as experienced in the yearlong activity discussed in this article, may further children's development and understanding of their environment. (Contains 7 figures.)