
Lent: Children's Bible Lesson Support for Palm Sunday
It appears that one of the joyous days in Lent is Palm Sunday, but since you do not count Sundays in figuring Lent, Palm Sunday technically isn't in Lent. If this is too confusing, just roll by this tidbit. If you want to find out more and pursue it, see my information About Lent. Palm Sunday does begin Holy Week.
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Palm Branch to Welcome Jesus | ||||||||||||||||||
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Kid's Palm branch craft: make a sturdy, blunt, palm branch! In some churches that distribute Palm fronds on Palm Sunday, the leftover palms are saved to be burned the following year to be used as the ashes in Ash Wednesday services. (see About Lent) PALM branches look like they have lots of leaves. What looks like a branch on a palm tree seems to be the whole leaf. The things that look like leaves seem to be FRONDS. But you can check it out and decide for yourself using some of the botanical links below. After having experienced distributing of real palm fronds in Sunday School for many years, I think paper palms are much safer. I've had palm fronds up to 6 feet long, and these "spears" were rather sharp. In the hands of children, they can be an attractive nuisance for sword fights, and an inadvertent object for poking people. BRANCH, LEAF OR FROND? FOR THIS STURDY PAPER PALM BRANCH CRAFT: |
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Grades: 1 through 5th grade - easy cutting, but some dexterity needed for putting it together. |
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Lent activity or Palm Sunday Craft | ||||||||||||||||||
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Mark 11:1-11, Matthew 21:1-11, Luke 19:28-44, John 12:12-19 - the Triumphal Entry of Jesus into Jerusalem in the days before his Passion. Preparing your heart for Holy week and Easter. | ||||||||||||||||||
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Using the Palm branches: To re-enact Jesus going to Jerusalem, Bring a plain white cloth sheet if your Sunday School does not have costumes. See teacher information below.
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For faster and even easier one-piece palm branch, see our pre-school palm. If you are providing the materials on your own for this craft, a multi-color pack of paper is the best deal for most classes. Be sure the pack has enough of one color for this craft. |
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Get straws. Get green paper if you want the project to go faster. Print copies of pages for your class. |
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Note: crayons are not preferred because glue usually does not stick well over the wax, and you need to color both sides of the fronds, then glue. Crayons may be used on the back side of the pre-colored version only. |
1a If you have printed this craft on colored paper, |
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2 (Above) Cut out all the pieces |
3 . Find the top frond. It is different than the others. Cover the area that says "glue" with glue. |
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4.(above) Put the straw on the frond all the way up to the line. |
5. Wrap the glued area around the straw and press for a moment. |
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6. Using clear magic tape,(which has a dull surface) tape around the stem of the frond and the straw.Wipe off excess glue if necessary. (tape keeps it in place) |
7. fold the flaps on all the fronds along the dashed lines towards the dot. |
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8. take a frond and glue from the dot to the bottom of the frond - including over the folded flaps. (Entire red area boxed in picture) |
9 Start the first side frond over the tape of the top frond. Wrap the glued end of the frond over (around) the straw until the end of the frond covers its dot. When the end of the frond covers the dot, PRESS the end on the dot pretty hard so they stick together. |
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10. (right) Learn about opposites! The next palm frond should be opposite the first one. Put a dab of glue between the fronds to keep them glued together. Be sure you have the fronds touching each other. Gently push together while the glue is wet, if needed. |
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11. When the end of the frond covers the dot, PRESS pretty hard so they stick together. | ||||||||||||||||||
12. Repeat the opposites using steps 8 & 9 until you have all the palm fronds on the straw. With both sides of the frond colored, you can flip the palm branch over to glue on the next opposite frond, if it is easier for the child. |
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DONE! | ![]() |
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Mini Palm Sunday Pageant. Have the children line up and hold their palms high over their heads. As you read the story, have Jesus SLOWLY walk by. Just imagine the donkey - or have a dramatically oriented child pretend they are riding a donkey. Let the children smile and shout "Hosanna!" as they wave the palms directly over their heads. (this is important so nobody, including Jesus, gets wapped with a palm). After a run-through, have the children do it again, and encourage them to be much more enthusiastic. Some children may over-do it, but don't you imagine some people did become very excited when they got to see Jesus? Lent - the days of preparation before Easter. |