The development of artistic creativity is of great importance especially in preschool age. The purpose of this thesis is to show the stages of development of children's artistic expression. As the title of this thesis says, one of the main goals is to raise awareness of how important a picture book is as a tool with which we can unobtrusively encourage children's artistic creativity, as well as the development of children's artistic expression. Guided by the fact that every child is an individual for himself, the same should be done in work. It is necessary to adapt to the individual phase of the child's artistic development and possibilities. By observing the children's work process during art activities, educators gather knowledge about children's abilities, personal competencies and the like, and thus organize activities and encourage artistic creativity. With quality motivation, the child will independently "move into the world" of art, precisely because each child is innate research, both himself and the world in which he lives. Creativity can be encouraged on a daily basis, by playing, imagining, recalling memories, reading interesting picture books to children, observing quality illustrations. Certainly, creativity can also be hindered by correcting children’s artistic expressions or giving a picture book for coloring. One should keep in mind the child's stage of development of artistic expression, according to which he will be enabled to develop artistic creativity while respecting his age. Creativity is not something that can be easily learned, because as ready-made knowledge it does not even exist anywhere. Creativity can only be encouraged and developed, it can be nurtured. The child expresses himself through play and considers artistic creation as one form of his play. The paper presents research on how and in what way we influence children's art with our picture books.