Palm Sunday - Matthew 21:1-11, Luke 19:28-40




Idea 1

Interview the donkey

  • Dress up like a donkey, or ask one of the leaders to dress up like a donkey.

  • Have the donkey come up in front of all the kids and tell a bit of their story. How he was just minding his own business and then two people (the disciples) came and took him away. How he met Jesus and what if felt like for everyone to be shouting and walking into Jerusalem. How it felt when the donkey realized the people weren’t shouting for him, but they were shouting for Jesus.

  • Then let the kids ask the donkey questions. If the kids can’t think of any questions then just start them off…

  • How loud was the yelling?

  • Did the palm branches hit you? Did it hurt?

  • How did you know which way to go?

  • What did Jesus say to you?

  • Why would Jesus want to ride a donkey?

Idea 2

Ask the kids some questions

  • If a king was coming to your town, how would you greet them?

  • If you were friends with a King, how would you treat him?

  • If Jesus is a King and your friend, how do you feel about that? How can we treat Jesus?

Idea 3

Don’t touch the floor contest

  • When Jesus came into Jerusalem, he didn’t touch the floor. 

  • Ask the kids to try to get from one side of the room from the other without touching the floor.

  • They can, ride someone else, or put something on the floor.

Idea 4

Make your own palm branch.

  • Give each of the kids a palm branch and something to scratch it.

  • Think of messages or words they could scratch onto their branch. (King, Jesus, Easter etc)

  • Let the kids crate their words on their branches.

Idea 5

Read through Easter Love Letters From God.

  • There are letters in this book with a space to put a child’s name. Make copies of the letters and put each of the kids names on a letter and hide it in the room.

  • Let the kids go on a little treasure hunt to find their letters.

Idea 6

Read “Palm Sunday” on page 454 in the Spark Bible.

Idea 7

Have donkey riding races

  • Get each kid to grab a partner. One person is the donkey and the other is the rider.

  • Set out a track, or if you want to make it easy go from one side of the room to the other.

  • You can do the first team to finish wins, or you could do the last team to finish is out and becomes the cheering squad. Keep going again and again with a different team getting out of the race and joining the cheering squad, until there is one team left and everyone is cheering.

  • Relate the cheering and riding the donkey to Jesus on Palm Sunday.

Idea 8

True or False

  • The story happened at a time when the Jewish people were celebrating a festival called “keep under”.  (false)

  • A young male donkey is called a colt.  (true)

  • Jesus sent two of his disciples to get a zebra that everyone liked to ride.  (false)

  • The disciples did what Jesus said, and brought him the donkey.  (true)

  • All the people in the city cut palm branches and ran to see Jesus.  (true)

  • When Jesus rode into Jerusalem, the people rolled out a red carpet and clapped their hands.  (false).

  • The pharisees were upset with Jesus’ entry.  (true)

  • Jesus rode his donkey all the way to the temple.  (true)

Click on the links below for formal lesson plans.

Kindergarten and Grade 1

Grades 2,3

Grades 4,5