Palm Sunday craft Archives - Let their light shine!

God Knows when I feel….excited!

God knows when I feel excited is all about Jesus’ arrival in Jerusalem. Children are often excited so it’s great to tell a story they will relate to. This story from Matthew 21 is about the excited crowd who welcomed Jesus into Jerusalem. Traditionally this event is called Palm Sunday. It begins the week of Easter. We’ve told this story many times at Toddler Group. The following is an idea…

God knows when I feel excited story idea

In the storybag you might like to have a large leaf and a donkey..

‘I wonder if you have ever felt excited? In today’s story from the Bible there are lots of excited people. Let’s find out why they were excited.

Crowds and crowds of people were all along the road. There were mums and dads, grandmas and grandads and children just like you! ‘Can you see? Is he here?’ They looked along the road. And then they saw him! They called out, ‘Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord!’ as Jesus passed by. They shouted, ‘hosanna!’ (which means ‘God saves’) They waved palm branches and threw their cloaks into the road. They were so excited to see King Jesus!

Jesus wasn’t riding a big, strong horse – he was on a donkey. He was the king but he was the good King who had come to save and rescue the people.

They people welcomed Jesus – the King sent from God.’

Craft Ideas

God knows when I am excited craft for Palm Sunday story

A palm leaf sun catcher made with a paper plate and sticky back plastic. Add green tissue paper and glitter!

Another idea using large pictures to tell the Palm Sunday story This post includes printables to make your own street scene.

Palm Sunday Craft

Palm Sunday craft idea

It seems as though we only just celebrated Christmas and here we are a couple of weeks away from Easter! So at toddler group next week we are doing the Palm Sunday story (Triumphal Entry). The story we will be using is from John 12. There are some ideas for telling the story here

For the craft we’ll be making large collage/crayon leaves. The leaves are cut from A3 paper and then I added some detail with a black felt tip. The collage materials are a mixture of sugar paper, paper and tissue paper in various shapes. The children can also use green and yellow crayons.

Palm leaf craft

This is a very easy palm leaf craft. The basic shape is cut from construction paper (5 at a time). Then there are two shades of tissue paper, squares of green construction paper and some shiny cellophane – this was not great to cut up as it clings to you! It’ll look nice and I like to use stuff up – this was wrapping for a bunch of flowers. The wax crayons are shades of green.

palm Sunday leaf

Palm Sunday craft

Palm Sunday craft to make. A few ideas that are fun to make!

The story of Palm Sunday (or the Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem) is from Luke 19, Mark 11, John 12 and Matthew 21. It is the beginning of the end of Jesus’ life on the earth.

In Mark’s gospel we read that, ‘they (Jesus and his disciples and followers) were on the road, going up to Jerusalem, and Jesus was walking ahead of them. And they were amazed, and those who followed were afraid. And taking the twelve again, he began to tell them what was going to happen to him saying, ‘See, we are going to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and the scribes, and they will condemn him to death and deliver him over to the Gentiles. And they will mock him and spit on him, and flog him and kill him. And after three days he will rise.’ Mark 10:32-34.

These must have been difficult things for Jesus to talk about. The disciples don’t appear to have really understood – James and John are bothered about where they will get to sit in heaven!

But despite the fact that Jesus knows he is going to Jerusalem to die he stops to help a man who is calling out to him. Bartimaeus is sitting by the roadside and shouting out for help. And Jesus stops and helps.

And then the group arrive at the outskirts of Jerusalem and Jesus sends two disciples to fetch a donkey. He rides into Jerusalem at a time when the place would have been packed with people there to celebrate Passover. They welcome him – laying clothes on the floor and waving palm branches calling Hosanna.

Ideas for telling the story to children

For young children it would be good to ask them to shout ‘Hosanna’ at the right time in the story and wave palm branches that they have made.

If you use a story bag include a toy/model donkey, a cloak to lay on the floor and a palm branch.

For older children make the connection with Old Testament prophecy as highlighted in Matthew’s account. It’s also useful for older children to have a timeline of the Easter events.

A short retelling of the story

Palm Sunday Craft

A couple of palm leaf crafts – a sun catcher and a collage. Both use paper plates. The sun catcher is a little more tricky and has tacky back and glitter! The palm leaf collage can be cut out and a pipe cleaner attached so it can be waved during the story.

Older children could design a sun catcher and cut out the shape and attach the tacky back etc.

Large+Palm+Leaf – PDF file

Small+Palm+Leaf – PDF file – template for palm leaf sun catcher