There is an ongoing debate about the importance of visual arts in early childhood classrooms. On one hand, arts are viewed as essential to the learning and curriculum for young students. On the other hand, heightened concern for rigorous academics often pit early literacy and math instruction against arts. This debate influences the decisions educators make regarding the inclusion or exclusion of classroom visual arts experiences and, if included, how these experiences are facilitated. Researchers have advocated for the guided exploration approach to visual arts for years, but we still have limited understanding of what such an approach looks like in action and how to plan and implement in classrooms. This study aims to address this debate in visual arts experiences by explicating the facets of the guided-exploration approach (Bresler, 1993) in a preschool classroom. Through a 2-year design-based research study in a preschool classroom taught by both an early childhood educator (myself) and a visual artist-in-residence, I investigated the three research questions: (1) What is the resulting visual arts program based on the guided exploration approach? What changes are made to the program through the design-based research? (2) How do preschool students experience this visual arts program? and (3) How is the design-based research conducted through collaboration of an artist-in-residence and the early childhood teacher? What struggles and successes do the teachers encounter in each phase of development? Data collection spanned two full years, collecting pieces such as video and audio recording of each of the sessions, pictures of student progress of their individual paintings, and lesson plans and reflections from both myself and the visual artist-in-residence. Data analysis was a recursive process that corresponded with each research question. The first research question employed axial coding in regards to moments of change within the program. The second question employed in vivo coding to uncover students' experiences. Finally, the third research question began with descriptive coding identifying moments of frustration within the program development. The findings of this study uncover four essential components of the guided exploration approach: observation, communication in and through the arts, attending to the aesthetic qualities, and facilitation of the artistic identity. Facilitated by an artist-in-residence and an early childhood professional, this dissertation provides empirical evidence that a collaborative teaching experience is not established until the preschool students are valued as partners in the planning and implementation of the guided-exploration approach. Essential strategies to facilitate this approach to visual arts in early childhood are modeling and facilitating art discoveries and play. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com.bibliotheek.ehb.be/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]