Painting and drawing are an excellent way to help young children develop their fine motor skills. An excellent product to start drawing is the Galt chunky washable pens and then once they're slightly older the Paintastics washable paint brush pens. Both these products are washable, so the clean up operation afterwards should be fairly easy.
If you're looking for an Arts and Crafts gift, then the 4M range of kits have something for just about everyone. There's kits from Spiral Art to French Knitting and design your own fridge magnets to Paint Your Own Kite.