Diwali, the Festival of Lights, is a Hindu fall festival that usually takes place in October or November. Families gather to celebrate hope and happiness and share delicious foods with loved ones. Here is a simple thali craft that kids can make for Diwali!
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Using sticky jewels, doilies, foam decorations, glitter, and stickers, have the kids decorate metallic (plastic) plates (these are super cute). Common elements in Indian decorations include flowers, leaves, jewels, paisley; in fact, in India, the shape we call a paisley in the US is known as “ambi,” or mango.
Thali (Hindi: थाली) means plate in Hindi, and refers to the round steel tray used to carry little bowls of rice, pulses (daal), vegetables such as cauliflower, potatoes, okra, garbanzos, bread such as roti or papad, yoghurt, a bit of chutney, and maybe a sweet dish. While thali means plate, it also applies to the complete meal served upon the platter- which differs depending on the region in India. The idea behind a thali is to offer your guests all of the 6 different flavors: sweet, salt, bitter, sour, astringent and spicy on one single plate (as in the Ayurvedic tradition). According to Indian food serving customs, a proper meal should be a perfect balance of all these 6 flavours. A fruit is often served at the end of meal.
Pictures of Real Thali (Plates)
North Indian style thali: “Vegetarian Curry” by GracinhaMarco Abundo. Licensed under CC
South Indian style: “Vegetarian thali at an Indian restaurant in Dubai” by Shahid1024. Licensed under CC
Let’s Celebrate Diwali Printables!
We have designed a range of beautiful, fun, Common Core aligned Diwali activities that can be found at the Kid World Citizen Teachers Pay Teachers Store!
This packet contains everything you need to introduce and celebrate Diwali a classroom or home setting.
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[…] Decorate a thali plate! Thali (Hindi: थाली) means plate in Hindi, and refers to the round steel tray used to carry little bowls of food. Learn about the traditions, and then make your own! […]