Holy Week Activities for Children: Daily Bible-Inspired Time

Are you looking for Holy Week Activities for Children? This post is for you.

DISCLOSURE This post may contain affiliate links, meaning if you decide to make a purchase via my links, I will earn a commission at no extra cost to you. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Thank you for your support.

Here’s a day-by-day plan for celebrating Holy Week with children, leading up to a special Passover meal. This approach connects biblical events with engaging activities that help kids understand the significance of each day. You can do these activities after family dinner, during family worship time or whenever your family can spend some daily time together. For a theological explanation of the sequence of events, please read the Conclusion. This post is all about Holy Week Activities for Children.

Holy Week Activities for Children:

Palm Sunday

Biblical Connection: Jesus enters Jerusalem (Matthew 21:1-11)

• Create paper palm branches for children to wave during a mini-procession. Help kids draw their hands on regular paper (see the image below for example) or green paper and glue the “branches” on wooden craft sticks.
• Read the story of Jesus’s triumphant entry. You can use a Children’s Bible like The Beginner’s Bible: Timeless Children’s Stories for little ones. The drawings are very cute and the story is simple for little kids to understand.
• Activity: Make a doorway “welcome arch” with palm branch decorations

Monday

Biblical Connection: Jesus cleanses the temple (Mark 11:15-19)

• Discuss what it means to keep sacred spaces special
• Activity: Spring cleaning project where kids help prepare the home/space for the special week ahead
• Craft: Make simple clay or salt dough temple models. The Crayola Air Dry Clay is great for this because you can air dry it!

Holy Week Activities for Children: Tuesday

Biblical Connection: Jesus teaches in the temple (Mark 11:27-33, 12:1-44)

• Focus on Jesus’s parables and teachings
• Activity: Scavenger hunt based on parables (hidden coins, seeds, etc.). Hide plastic gold coins that kids love and make little papers with tips on how to find the coins around the house. 😉
• Discussion: Talk about Jesus’s lessons on loving others

Wednesday

Biblical Connection: The woman anoints Jesus (Matthew 26:6-13)

• Theme: Giving our best to God
• Sensory activity: Use fragrant oils or herbs for kids to experience
• Craft: Decorate small jars with cork lids or bottles to represent giving precious gifts. Place heart stickers on them! Kids love to do this craft!

Holy Week Activities for Children: Thursday

Biblical Connection: Last Supper (Matthew 26:17-30)

• Activity: Foot washing ceremony (simplified for children) while talking about the meaning of service and Jesus washing disciples’ feet
• Prepare unleavened bread together for tomorrow’s meal

Unleavened bread recipe

Mix in a bowl the following ingredients:

• 6 Tbs olive oil
• 3 Tbs water
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 1/2 cup of wheat flour (white or whole wheat flour works)

Add more oil or water until it reaches the consistency of a soft-to-firm dough. Press the dough in a baking dish until it is all leveled and mark little squares with the help of a knife. Bake at 400 F until lightly golden brown or until you touch with a knife and it is firm. The pieces of bread will look like the picture below.

Friday

Biblical Connection: Crucifixion (Matthew 27:32-56)

• Keep activities age-appropriate and focus on God’s love
• Craft: Make simple crosses from twigs/popsicle sticks
• Activity: Plant seeds to represent new life coming from death. We love these white Homenote Pots for Plants.
• Eat the unleavened bread together as you think about the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross dying for the sins of the world.

Holy Week Activities for Children: Saturday

Biblical Connection: Jesus in the tomb (Matthew 27:57-66)

• Theme: Waiting with hope
• Activity: Prepare and decorate for tomorrow’s Passover meal
• Craft: Make crosses with palm branches to decorate the special meal on Sunday morning

Easter Sunday / Passover Meal

Biblical Connection: Resurrection (Matthew 28:1-10) and Passover significance

• Morning: Decorate the kitchen table with the crosses made with palm branches. Read the Easter story from a Children’s Bible. We love The Beginner’s Bible: Timeless Children’s Stories!
• Evening: Special Passover-inspired Seder meal

Passover Meal Elements

For the Passover-inspired meal, include these elements with explanations kids can understand:

1. Matzah (unleavened bread): Explain how it represents the Israelites leaving Egypt quickly
2. Bitter herbs (like parsley dipped in salt water): Representing tears and hardship
3. Charoset (apple, nut, and honey mixture): Representing the mortar used by slaves
4. Lamb: Connect to both Passover tradition and Jesus as the “Lamb of God”
5. Special cups (use grape juice): Explain God’s promises of deliverance

During the meal, tell both the Exodus story and how Jesus connected the Passover to himself during the Last Supper. Keep explanations simple and meaningful for children’s understanding.

Conclusion

This post was all about Holy Week Activities for Children. With these activities, you create a meaningful journey that helps kids understand the deep connections between Passover traditions and Easter celebrations. This approach gives them experiences of the biblical narrative while building anticipation for the resurrection celebration. The culminating Passover meal serves as a powerful teaching moment that bridges Jewish tradition with Christian faith, helping children grasp how Jesus fulfilled ancient promises in a new covenant.

Theological Explanation

The Gospels don’t provide a complete day-by-day account of Jesus’s final week, and there are some differences between Gospel accounts. The sequence of events we followed in this post represents a common interpretation of the timeline, but biblical scholars sometimes differ on exact details.

Here are some specific clarifications:

1. Palm Sunday: Jesus’s triumphal entry is well-documented in all four Gospels (Matthew 21:1-11, Mark 11:1-11, Luke 19:28-44, John 12:12-19).
2. Temple Cleansing: The timing varies between Gospels. In the synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke), it appears to happen after the triumphal entry, but John places it earlier in Jesus’s ministry.
3. Tuesday’s Teaching: Jesus taught extensively in Jerusalem during this week, though the exact day-by-day breakdown isn’t always specified.
4. Woman Anointing Jesus: Different Gospels place this event at different times. In John 12:1-8, it happens before the triumphal entry, while Matthew 26 and Mark 14 place it later in the week.
5. Good Friday: The crucifixion timing is consistent across Gospels.
6. Saturday: The Gospels call Saturdays the Sabbath. On this Holy Day, the Jews rested and spent time with each other and with God.

For children’s activities, this common chronology works well as a teaching framework, even if some biblical scholars might arrange certain events differently based on their interpretation of the Gospel accounts.