Art integrated learning: a complete guide for teachers

What is art integrated learning?

NCERT describes art integrated learning (AIL) as a teaching-learning model based on learning "through the arts" and "with the arts". Art becomes the medium of teaching. It is the key to understanding a concept in any subject of the curriculum.

The arts can be visual or performing. NCERT lists drawing and painting, clay modelling, pottery, paper craft, mask and puppet making and heritage crafts on the visual side, and music, dance, theatre and puppetry on the performing side. You do not need all of them. One simple art form, used well, is enough for a lesson.

Here is the idea in one line. Students do not draw a picture after the lesson as decoration. They fold, draw, sing or act in order to learn the concept, and you then link what they made back to the textbook.

Art education, art integrated learning and the art integrated project

Teachers often mix up three things. CBSE treats them separately, so it helps to keep them apart in your head.

CBSE puts the purpose plainly: the objective of AIL is not to promote arts and skills of arts, but to use art as a tool to teach other subjects. Keep that sentence in mind. It will save you from most mistakes.

Why it matters in Indian classrooms now

Art integrated learning is not a new fashion. NCERT built its model on the National Curriculum Framework 2005, field-tested it in Delhi municipal schools, and by 2017 had run training on it in 15 states and union territories. It was later made a training module of NISHTHA, the national training programme for elementary teachers.

National Education Policy 2020, paragraph 4.7, calls art integration a cross-curricular approach that uses forms of art and culture as the basis for learning concepts across subjects. It says art-integrated education will be embedded in classroom teaching, both for joyful classrooms and for bringing Indian art and culture into learning at every level.

NCERT's 2023 guidelines for the secondary stage go further. They say NEP 2020 and the National Curriculum Framework for School Education 2023 recommend art integrated education as a standard pedagogy. So it is no longer only for primary classes.

Does it work? NCERT's guidelines cite a review of AIL in 107 classrooms of Delhi municipal schools, which reported more student involvement, better attendance, better academic results and more confident students than in classrooms without AIL. Treat this as encouraging evidence from one city, not a promise for every class.

The key rules at a glance

If you teach in a CBSE school, these are the rules for the art integrated project, as repeated in CBSE's circular of 10 July 2025 for the 2025-26 session.

• Classes 9 and 10: Every student takes up at least one art integrated project in each subject, assessed as a subject enrichment activity for internal assessment.
• Classes 1 to 8: Students are encouraged to take at least one age-appropriate, inter-disciplinary art integrated project in a year.
• Indian art only: The project uses a form of Indian art, visual or performing, and the teacher helps students learn that art form.
• Paired state: At least one project in Classes 1 to 10 must use an art form of the state or union territory paired with yours.
• Groups of up to 4 or 5: Students work in groups, not alone.
• No cost to parents: Projects use local, eco-friendly materials, with no financial burden on parents or guardians.
• Rubric shared first: Students are told the assessment criteria and maximum marks before they start.
• Simple enough: The project should be doable by the subject teacher and students without help from art teachers or outside artists.
• Reported on KALASETU: Schools upload project details on CBSE's KALASETU portal before they can download Board exam admit cards.

Where do the marks sit? In the CBSE Secondary School Curriculum 2025-26, Classes 9 and 10 have internal assessment of 20 marks in each subject, and subject enrichment activities are a 5-mark part of it. The art integrated project is assessed inside that subject enrichment part. The Board collects the Class 10 marks when schools upload internal assessment.

State and UT pairings for 2025-26

CBSE's pairing comes from the Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat programme. Find your state in either column. The state next to it is the one whose art form your students use in at least one project.

Tip: The pairings in 2020 were different (Delhi was paired with Sikkim then). If a senior colleague hands you an old project list, check it against this year's circular first.

How to plan an art integrated lesson, step by step

NCERT gives a suggested format for an AIL activity plan, and CBSE gives a four-step process for projects. Put together, they make a plan any subject teacher can follow.

1. Pick one concept that students find hard or dull, from your syllabus for the coming weeks. Write down the learning outcome in one sentence.
2. Choose one art form that fits the concept. Ask: what would students have to make, move or perform to understand this? Folding shows fractions, rangoli shows symmetry, role play shows a historical event.
3. Fill in the NCERT plan headings: class, subject, theme or chapter, art form (visual, performing or both) and time required.
4. Plan the art experience in steps. Start with a short ice-breaker of 10 to 15 minutes, then the main activity. Keep the materials cheap and local.
5. Mark the exact moment where you will link the art to the concept. This is the step most teachers forget. Write the question you will ask at that moment.
6. Add a follow-up: questions and answers, a short discussion, a presentation by each group, or a home task.
7. Decide how you will assess the subject learning. Use observation, a checklist or a short rubric, not marks for how pretty the work looks.
8. Collect materials a day before. NCERT's own example asks children to bring old newspapers, calendars and glue at least one day ahead.
9. Teach, then spend five minutes writing what worked and what you would change. Use that note next time.

The CBSE curriculum describes the same flow in four moves: the subject teacher picks the topic, works with the art teacher to align the method, teaches so that both the subject and the art are learnt, and then prepares a rubric to assess both.

Worked example: symmetry through rangoli, Class 6

Here is a full plan written in NCERT's format. It is our own example, not one from NCERT, so change it to suit your class.

Period 1: make and fold

1. Ice-breaker, 10 minutes: show two patterns on the board, one balanced and one lopsided. Ask, "Which looks balanced? Why?" Accept every answer without saying right or wrong.
2. Each student folds a square of newspaper in half, cuts a shape along the fold and opens it. Ask what they notice about the two halves.
3. Introduce the words line of symmetry. The fold line is that line.
4. Students fold again, into quarters, cut and open. Now there are two fold lines. Ask: how many lines of symmetry does your shape have?
5. Groups stick their cut-outs on chart paper and mark each line of symmetry with a ruler.

Period 2: the rangoli challenge

1. On the floor or the playground, each group draws two chalk lines that cross at a right angle, using a string held tight as a guide.
2. Group task: make a rangoli-style pattern with chalk and leaves that looks the same on both sides of one line. Then try to make it the same across both lines.
3. Linking moment: each group stands at one line and checks the other half. Ask, "If I fold the floor along this line, would the two halves meet?" Where they would not, the group fixes the pattern.
4. Each group presents its pattern in one minute: how many lines of symmetry it has and how they checked.
5. Wrap up by connecting to the textbook: find two figures in the chapter and say how many lines of symmetry each has.

Home task: find one symmetric design at home, on a door, a cloth, a tile or a festival decoration, draw it, and mark its lines of symmetry. This links the class to home, which NCERT encourages.

Assessment: while groups work, keep a simple checklist with three columns per student: finds a line of symmetry, draws a symmetric half correctly, explains the check in words. Do not grade the beauty of the rangoli. A plain pattern that is truly symmetric is a better answer than a beautiful one that is not.

A project plan and rubric for Classes 9 and 10

For a CBSE art integrated project, plan on one page and share it with students before they begin. The rubric goes in the same handout, because CBSE asks for criteria and maximum marks to be known in advance.

• Subject and topic: One topic from the syllabus, ideally one not yet taught in class, since CBSE asks for research on new topics.
• Paired state art form: The art form of your paired state that students will research and use.
• Groups: 4 or 5 students, mixed by ability and background.
• Step 1, select: Teacher and students choose the topic, starting from what students already know.
• Step 2, create: Groups research and make the project using the art form, with hands-on work.
• Step 3, assess: The teacher assesses the subject learning and the art involved, using the rubric.
• Step 4, reflect: Each student writes what they learnt about the subject through the art form.
• Dates: Start, check-in and submission dates on the school calendar.
• Materials: Local and reusable only, with nothing bought by parents.

Below is a sample rubric. The criteria follow CBSE's rule that both the subject and the art are assessed. The weights are only a suggestion: set the maximum marks with your school and, as CBSE suggests, agree the criteria with your students.

Tip: Keep a copy of every group's rubric and a photo of their work. CBSE asks schools to keep assessment records, and the photos make the KALASETU upload much faster.

Art integrated learning like a pro

NCERT names a few methods that sit behind almost every good AIL activity. Here is what each is, when to use it, and one tip.

Ice-breakers

A short activity to warm up the class, such as a clapping rhythm, a quick doodle or a mime. Use it at the start, especially with a shy class. NCERT says ice-breakers can be done in 10 to 15 minutes. Tip: keep one ice-breaker per unit, so students know the routine.

Brainstorming

Students give as many ideas as possible on a topic in a set time, and you write them all on the board without comment. Use it to choose a project theme or an art form. Tip: NCERT warns against judging ideas as they come. Sort them only after the time is up.

Role play and process drama

Students take roles and act out a situation. It suits history, civics, literature and even science processes. NCERT's secondary guidelines include a Class 10 trigonometry plan where groups act out Aryabhata explaining ardha-jya, the half-chord, to his students. Tip: give each role a one-line brief so nobody freezes.

Group work and presentations

NCERT suggests group sizes by age: pairs at pre-primary, 2 or 3 children in Classes 1 and 2, and 4 or 5 in Classes 3 to 5. At upper primary, group by the needs of the activity. End with each group presenting, which turns the activity into peer teaching. Tip: change the groups often, as NCERT advises.

Finding time in a full timetable

• Morning assembly: A class can perform a short piece linked to its current topic, and one theme can run for a week or two.
• Zero period: NCERT describes a 15 to 20 minute slot before the first or after the last period, good for an art-based recap.
• Bal Sabha: A weekly slot where students can sing, act, make posters or do puppetry on a class theme.
• Block periods: At upper primary, NCERT suggests joining periods for AIL in every subject at least once a month.
• Special days and festivals: Environment Day, Gandhi Jayanti or a local festival can carry a lesson.

Choosing materials

NCERT's thumb rule is that materials should be economical, environment friendly, reusable, innovative and locally available. Old newspapers, cartons, bottle caps, pebbles, leaves, cloth scraps and broomsticks are all on its list. Tip: keep a box in the staff room and ask students to drop in clean waste material every Friday.

How to assess art integrated learning

Assessment is where AIL is most often done wrong. NCERT's guidelines ask for assessment that is non-judgmental, non-comparative, non-competitive and non-threatening, and that respects each student's pace.

In practice, you are checking the subject learning and the life skills, not the art. NCERT's list of tools includes drawings, role plays, worksheets, observation records, portfolios (even unfinished work), anecdotal notes on each child, displays, group projects and presentations.

• Do: Assess the process, not only the product.
• Do: Give qualitative, encouraging remarks and constructive feedback.
• Do: Compare a child with their own earlier work, not with classmates.
• Do: Ask open-ended questions that leave room for talking, writing and drawing.
• Don't: Comment on the artistic quality of the work.
• Don't: Compare one student's artwork with another's.
• Don't: Walk in with a fixed idea of what the answer should look like.

AIL work also fits the portfolio part of CBSE internal assessment. The Secondary School Curriculum 2025-26 lists art integrated learning among the things a student's portfolio may hold.

Tip: Write one line in a notebook after each AIL lesson about two or three students. Over a term, these short notes become the evidence you need for a fair, descriptive report.

Working with the art teacher, colleagues and parents

AIL works best as a team effort. CBSE says subject teachers and art teachers must plan the projects together at the start of the session, and calls team teaching a way to strengthen integration.

• The art teacher: Ask for help choosing an art form and teaching its basics. NCERT says art teachers should help plan AIL activities across subjects, not only teach art.
• Other subject teachers: Plan one theme that two subjects share, such as water for science and geography, and use a joined block period.
• The head of school: Ask for block periods and AIL dates on the annual calendar. NCERT lists both among the head's tasks, along with monthly meetings to support teachers.
• Parents: NCERT recommends a short session for parents before you start. Explain that the project is about learning, and that they should not buy materials or do the work.
• Local artisans: Invite a potter, weaver or folk singer to show their craft. NCERT suggests this to build students' respect for local heritage.

If you teach in a tuition or coaching centre, you have no art teacher and less time. You can still use the small techniques: a 10-minute folding activity, a role play, a song to remember a sequence. Swap ideas with other teachers on the pedagogy topic page. On Sikhami you can also share your best activity sheets as free notes from your free teacher profile, next to the free notes that any learner can read.

Common mistakes, and how to avoid them

• Art as decoration: The drawing comes after the lesson and teaches nothing. Fix: plan the linking moment first, then the art.
• Grading talent: Marks go to the most artistic child. Fix: assess the subject concept and the reflection, as NCERT and CBSE ask.
• Too much art: The project needs an outside artist. Fix: CBSE says it must be doable by the subject teacher and students alone.
• Costly projects: Parents buy thermocol, frames and paints. Fix: CBSE asks for local, eco-friendly materials with no cost to parents.
• Parents doing the work: The project comes back too perfect. Fix: do the main making in school, in groups, with the rubric shared first.
• Old pairings: The class researches the wrong state's art. Fix: check the current CBSE circular every session.
• One art form forever: Every project is a chart. Fix: NCERT asks you to vary art forms and materials to avoid monotony.
• No follow-up: The activity ends with clapping and no discussion. Fix: always end with questions that bring students back to the textbook concept.

When this is not for you

Art integrated learning is a strong tool, but not the right one for every lesson. Be honest with yourself about when to skip it.

• Revision before an exam: When students need timed practice, a song or a poster will not replace solving papers. Use AIL earlier, when the concept is new.
• Topics that need precise procedure: Long derivations or grammar drills may be better taught directly, with AIL used only for a short warm-up or recap.
• When you cannot link it: If you cannot write the linking question, the activity will be art for its own sake. Choose a different topic.
• Very short courses: In a crash course of a few weeks, keep AIL to small 10-minute techniques, not full projects.

Also, AIL is not a reason to drop art education. CBSE's curriculum says the two build on each other, and calls art education a necessary first step for art integrated learning.

Start your first art integrated lesson

Pick one concept from next week's lessons, one simple art form, and one linking question. Plan two periods using the format above, and keep the materials to what is already in the classroom. After the lesson, note what students understood, not how the work looked.

When you have a plan that works, share it. Set up your free teacher profile on Sikhami through the page for teachers, and post a short clip of the activity. For more ideas in your own subject, browse the mathematics topic page and other subject pages. One good lesson, shared, can help many other classrooms.