Holy Week Activities Archive

Since we're all stuck at home instead of celebrating Palm Sunday, Good Friday, and Easter Sunday physically with the body of Christ, I thought I'd do a recap of the various Holy Week activities our family has done in the past. Most are geared towards young children, but I've found it's easy enough to include the older ones by having them read an appropriate passage of Scripture, play "stage manager" to a skit, help lead a hymn, or simply talk in more detail about what was happening and why. (As an added bonus, those of you who didn't know my big kids as preschoolers get to see old pics!)

*Palm Sunday

Easy-peasy "palm" branches. I saw one on Pinterest this week that was multiple hands overlapped to make a big branch, which looked fun and we might attempt on Saturday! Naturally, if you're going to make palm branches, you might as well have a parade and shout "hosanna." I have it on good authority that dads make great donkeys. ;)

*Cross-themed Crafts

For these two cross paintings, I used masking tape on white paper to make a relief. The top photo is sponge paint; the bottom photo is watercolors. 

In the photo below, Levi and Owen are using thumbtacks to make a cross outline. The details: print (or draw) a cross outline on regular paper. Lay that paper on top of a piece of construction paper, taping them together so they don't shift, if necessary. Then put both on top of a piece of cardboard or a cutting board or even on carpet you don't care about much (as below). Use a pushpin to make tiny holes around the outline of the cross. Then take the top paper off, go in a dark room, and shine a flashlight through the holes you made! Easy opportunity to talk about Jesus being the light, or breaking through our dark sin, too.

*Easter Garden

Wheat grass sprouts in just a few days, so it's perfect to start on Palm Sunday!

Why yes, that is a baby Jesus finger puppet in the grave.

Adding the crosses on Good Friday.

Different picture from a different year. We've done this twice.

The details from this project can be found at this pinterest link. It's a more involved project, which would have been started last week if you were going to do the whole thing, but you could easily adapt it to start this weekend. Clearly, we have made do with stuff we had around the house some years!

*Food That Tells the Story

These are "resurrection cookies" that are started Saturday night before Easter. Each ingredient is a part of the story. I think we might do this one again this year!

Smashing up little bags of pecans.

Resurrection rolls are yummy and fun: they are hollow after baking, empty like the tomb! Each ingredient tells part of the story here, too.

That's baby Toby in the background. :)

If you're really strapped for time or energy, this is just as delightful to a kid:

I've been contemplating making this unleavened bread next week, just for something different!

*Paper Plate Tomb

The next activity was one of my favorites from when Levi was four. Pretty simple stuff:

1. Paint a paper plate black on one side and brown on the other.

2. Cut the plate in half and cut out a door on one half. Staple or glue together with the brown side facing out.

3. If you like, roll up a clothespin person (or LEGO minifigure, or Little Person, or whatever!) in some scraps of white cloth (I cut up an old t-shirt) and put the person in the tomb on Good Friday. Scrunch up a paper bag and "seal" the tomb shut.

4. Before the kids are up on Easter Sunday, roll the stone away and remove the body! (It's surprisingly exciting if you're in the under-five crowd.) I've also seen suggestions to glue a paper angel to the back inside of the tomb. Bonus points to Isaac for printing an old-school Sunday school picture of Mary and the angel, with the caption, "he is not here! He is risen!"

And if you're really lucky, maybe over Easter weekend you'll find a baby bunny lost in your front yard. :) (Yes, we put it back in the spot where we suspect its mother had been. But we couldn't leave it in the grass to get mowed over!)

I'm sure you all have fun things you've done with your kids to bring joy to your household -- feel free to drop links here or on my Facebook post! Happy Easter!