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Share your ideas about celebrating Palm Sunday, Good Friday, or Easter with CHILDREN in worship or in a special event. (Scroll down to the bottom and use the "Post Reply" button.)


If you are posting a LESSON idea that fits a specific Bible story, please post it in the correct Holy Week Bible story topical thread.

Last edited by Amy Crane
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The Rocks of Holy Week

A rock lesson project or series of children's sermons about the "rocks" found in all the major stories of Holy Week. (The link takes you to the Holy Week Forum)

  1. Palm Sunday stones will sing
  2. Jesus teaches in the Temple built on the rock
  3. Gethsemane's rocky garden
  4. The rock of Calvary
  5. The Rocky Tomb
  6. The Stone that got out of the way
  7. Ascension from the rocky top

Last edited by Neil MacQueen

Ash Wednesday, Season of Lent, Penitent, Confession

  • Writing confessions with ashes (ashes mixed in glue or paint).
  • Approaching the Table.
  • Writing on "sackcloth"   Wearing or hanging of sackcloth.
  • Hanging, tieing burlap strips to a cross.

ashwedcloth2

See these ideas explained over at our "Ideas for Celebrating Ash Wednesday" post.

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  • ashwedcloth2
Last edited by Luanne Payne

I have had children help me stir the oil in the ashes and touch it as a part of the opening of Ash Wed. Sometimes children have help lead a song "Listen to your children praying" or Kum Ba Yah.

Palm Sunday

We have had the kids sing songs after we process. One song they really liked was "Hosanna! Hosanna!" by the Donut Man https://new.donutman.com/#. There is a video of Donut Man (a song collection) that the kids learned the song and motions during practices (so you don't need any piano/guitar). We had the congregation sing it with us after the kids sang it once. The motions and palms add a lot to getting the kids into the song.


Moderator adds the following:

Website info. https://new.donutman.com/#
Not sure which DVD the song is found on, best to contact them before ordering anything.

Below is the lyrics for "Hosanna! Hosanna!" I found on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P0_FfFSrErQ.

He also has a song called Shout Hosanna, found "On Tour" https://new.donutman.com/produ...rection-celebration/ as seen below on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rem79QoAwtY with actions.

Last edited by Luanne Payne

Palm Sunday

My books "Bible Time With Kids" (Abingdon, 1997) and "Worship Time With Kids" (Abingdon, 1998) have several creative ideas for Palm Sunday. They can be ordered from the publisher, from Amazon.com, Borders, Barnes and Noble or from Christian bookstores.

Cindy Dingwall

Editor's Note:
Cindy is the author of these books.

Last edited by Rotation.org Lesson Forma-teer

Those Impossible Eggs

A post moved here to consolidate the topic...

Posted by member: mabethea

I think I may have gotten this idea from Children's Ministry Magazine. I have used these in 3 different churches, giving them out on Ash Wednesday. I have a special Children's event during the Ash Wednesday service where the children "stuff" the eggs with the scriptures after we have talked about them. As the adults leave the service, the children give out the eggs with the "explanation sheet." I've gotten wonderful and powerful testimonies from this activity, including my own!

Explanation sheet (you can print two of these on a sheet):

Those Impossible Eggs

The egg has always been important, especially as a symbol of new life. That is why it has particular meaning and significance during the Lenten and Easter season. Someone has called it the "impossible egg." Outwardly it seems almost impossible that a living creature could emerge from such an enclosure without access to the outside world for sustenance. But a living creature does break that shell and steps out into a vast new universe. Today at the beginning of Lent each of us has our own personal impossible egg.
Surely everyone has a secret wish or deep sincere desire for yourself or another which seems almost impossible to attain. With prayer and dedication, your egg can be a daily reminder that God can do the impossible. Let Him speak to you through your egg from now until Easter.

Prayer: Our Father, we know every good and perfect gift comes from You. Help us to ask in faith believing You will answer as we pray in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Open your egg. After reading your verse, turn over the paper, and write on the back your sincere desire, your seemingly impossible dream. Fold the paper, put it back into the egg, and join the shells together again. Take the egg home and put it on your table or some other prominent place where you will see it every day. Do not open it again until Easter. Allow it to incubate. Repeat your verse daily. Let prayer nurture your desire until it becomes the substance of things hoped for and evidence in tangible form.

Prayer: Father, we go in faith. As Jesus emerged from the tomb, may our hidden desires find new life. As living creatures break forth from confining shells may we see our requests become reality. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

Scriptures (put one in each egg):

Luke 11:9 So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you, seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.

Matt. 19:26 Jesus looked at them and said, "With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.

Mark 9:23 Everything is possible for him who believes.

Matt. 8:13 Then Jesus said to the centurion, "Go! It will be done just as you believed it would." And his servant was healed at that very hour.

John 20:31 But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.

Gal. 3:22 But the Scripture declares that the whole world is a prisoner of sin, so that what was promised being through faith is Jesus Christ, might be given to those who believe.

Luke 1:37 For nothing is impossible with God.

Heb. 11:6 And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.

Eph. 3:20 Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us.

Heb. 13:5 Never will I leave you. Never will I forsake you.

-----------------------------
Editor's Note:
CreativeCarol updated this idea and re-posted it in the Holy Week "General" forum, "MISC ART PROJECTS" thread.

Last edited by Luanne Payne

Pretzels

Hi
How about making pretzels? There is a lovely little story about the pretzel as a Lenten bread which I am sure you could find if you did a google search.

Blessings
Jan S

Editor adds:

Here is one with recipe https://dq5pwpg1q8ru0.cloudfro...d%20and%20recipe.pdf

Last edited by Luanne Payne

For the past 8 years, we've been creating a Good Friday morning service for and led by children because almost all of them have the day off from school. We base the service on the workshops we've been doing during Lent (some years, for example, we memorize Psalm 23 or the Apostles Creed and use that in the service).

We have a chapel which is just the right size (seats about 75 folks). We also have a children's choir that helps provide music. And we do communion "by intinction." A big part of the Lenten preparation is usually devoted to Last Supper/Communion. For the sermon we've often done a question and answer format between the Director of Christian Education and the Pastor. Questions like: "If this is the day Jesus died, why do we call it 'Good' Friday?" The Q&A seems to work well at holding the kids' attention, but the "sermon" is less than 10 minutes.

We do the service at 10 a.m.; it's over by 10:40 and gives families a way to observe Good Friday without spending the whole day at church.

Anne

I've attached the actual "order of worship" for one Good Friday, as a example -- this must of course be adapted to your church's worship style. There's no need to copy the very "high church" style our church uses, just follow your own traditions. The Bible Background from that year shows that we had studied the Lord's Prayer. But we also "rehearsed" the "order of worship" or at least several parts of it in ever workshop.

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Last edited by Luanne Payne

For older children (8-12):
If you have a Tenebrae service (Service of Darkness) children could light candles at the beginning of the service, then extinguish them one by one, after selected scripture readings. Or, oftentimes the sanctuary is stripped of decorations during, or at the end of the Tenebrae service. Children could remove items such as the paraments, candles, crosses, etc.

Blessings,

Julie Burton

Last edited by Luanne Payne

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