Art as play: How process-driven activities are changing the way children are learning art in India

While institutions such as India Art Fair, Serendipity Arts Festival (SAF) and Kochi-Muziris Biennale (KMB) have robust parallel programmes for the young, art museums such as Bihar Museum, Kiran Nadar Museum of Art (KNMA), MAP in Bengaluru, Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya and Bhau Daji Lad in Mumbai, and spaces such as Kolkata Center for Creativity, Foundation for Indian Contemporary Art (FICA) and The Kunj in Delhi are stepping in with dedicated children’s workshops, intended to make art a practice rather than a subsidiary subject.

Every Saturday morning, KNMA in Delhi becomes a playground of discovery. The quiet of the white walls is replaced by the chatter of young voices, tapping of instruments or rustle of paper being cut and crafted. As children settle on mats and engage with the activities assigned, new forms emerge. A splash of paint turns into a mood as they are encouraged to follow their impulse. “Each session is theme-based, often inspired by artworks from the collection, encouraging children to move through a process of seeing, reflecting and creating,” says Somya Sahni, Senior Manager, Learning and Outreach Programme, KNMA.

Children engaging with art programme by Foundation of Indian Contemporary Art

For children , the experience can open up an entirely new way of seeing. Delhi-based Sasha Patel, now 12, recalls that at age five her landscapes followed the predictable template — a blue river, brown mountains, bright yellow sun and a patch of green. That changed when, during a workshop, she was nudged to attempt something unfamiliar. The lesson stayed. “I realised we can draw things that may not exist. I could discover something through sheer experimentation with colour and form,” she says.

Director of SAF, Smriti Rajgarhia, shares how when the festival was being planned over a decade ago, children were an integral part of its inclusive approach. “The ideas we discuss when we talk about culture are really world views and it is the younger generation that will carry those forward,” she states. With less than a month to go for the forthcoming edition, she is already in conversation with schools for multiple programmes. Workshops across disciplines — from storytelling to craft, crochet, instrument-making and stop-motion animation — are also being planned. A regular at SAF, Mumbai-based Naina Sethi, mother of two, adds, “In our everyday lives, it is a struggle to explore children’s likes and dislikes by taking them for different classes. This becomes a good place to understand their inclinations.”

At KMB, the lessons continue through the year, with workshops for students, parents, art educators and diverse community groups. Since its inception in 2018, its Art By Children (ABC) Art Room team has worked regularly with government schools to develop context-based art pedagogy, where teachers also often become participants. “Schools are usually driven by the spirit of becoming No 1 but our aim is to let children explore their creative potential through process-driven activities emphasising on the basic principles of image-making and rhythm,” state Blaise Joseph and Neethu KS of ABC. The modules differ with each group but Blaise shares that the conversations usually begin with sitting in a circle, using different image making explorations, body movement and rhythm-based activities and noncompetitive games.

In fact, paint and paper can also help voice what cannot be articulated in words. At Artreach India, these possibilities are explored with children and young adults from marginalised communities. “The core of our workshops is to give children agency to share their thoughts. It is a slow process to build that ease, to let them make mistakes and still have fun,” says Anarya, Programmes Manager, Artreach India. Their modules range from multi-day workshops with several activities, ranging from simple tasks of drawing emotions and arranging twigs and leaves to make monsters to ‘intensives’, where artists collaborate with young minds to create murals and installations for community spaces. “Often, children who are considered ‘problematic’ elsewhere show independent thought and deep engagement here. These workshops become rare spaces where they do not fear being labelled,” adds Shivangi Singh, Teaching Programmes Head, Artreach India.

Artists, too, are engaging with children. Vidya Shivadas, director of FICA, who has facilitated platforms for children at its Reading Room, says, “Learning has become an important practice — as a tool, process and outcome — for many artists today. Our current Emerging Artist Awardee, Bhikari Pradhan, for instance, is channeling much of his research on rural migration in his home state of Odisha via regular workshops with children in a government school in Bhubaneswar to understand the on ground reality through their narratives.”

Children engaging with art programme by Kochi Muziris Biennale

Beyond the workshops, bookshelves are filling out too. Among others, if Eye Spy Indian Art (Takshila Publication) traces the timeline of modern art in India using visual elements such as die-cuts and foldouts, Between Two Worlds: The Art and Life of Amrita Sher-Gil (Penny Candy Books) follows the avant-garde painter across Hungary, India and France, reflecting on her various influences. “Introducing children to art history in age-appropriate ways through stories, visuals and interactive experiences helps them see art as part of a broader cultural narrative. It nurtures an understanding of diverse artistic traditions and the context in which art is created, fostering empathy, cultural awareness and a lifelong appreciation for creativity,” adds Sahni.

So are all these children future artists? That’s not the point. What counts is the freedom art offers. Though many great stories began just as quietly. If one of MF Husain’s fondest memories of Indore was cycling to paint the countryside, for SH Raza, the dot that his school teacher in Mandla had drawn to contain his restlessness became the seed of a lifelong enquiry. Today these masters are celebrated but back then, they were just children for whom bits of colour and scraps of chalk could become tools, as floors and walls turned into canvases, giving purpose to play. Some had friends who drew alongside them — not all became artists but most did perhaps learn to observe more closely and dream more deeply.