Dr. Pat's Orthodox Super Sunday School Curriculum

Palm Sunday

PALM SUNDAY

 

Objectives:

  1. Children should know that Palm Sunday celebrates Jesus’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem.
  2. They should be able to identify the characters in the icon and tell the story.

 

Possible Lesson Plan:

  1. Open with prayer.
  2. Read the story of Palm Sunday in the Beginner’s Bible, pages 427-432, the Children’s Bible Reader, pages 230-232, or the Read with Me Bible, pages 358-361. Supplement with the Golden Children’s Bible, pages 428-430, or the Arch book, The Donkey Who Served the King.  Use the icon and point out the characters and their roles. How did Jesus get the donkey? What were the people doing? What were they saying? Are there children?

 

  1. True or False:

True                                                     False

            Jesus entered Jerusalem on a donkey.   Jesus entered Jerusalem on an elephant.

The people were happy to see Jesus.     The people shouted, “Crucify him!”

The people shouted “Hosanna!”           The disciples stole the donkey.

The children waved palm branches.       Jesus entered Rome on Palm Sunday.

People made a carpet for Jesus with      People threw rocks at Jesus.

            with their coats.

 

  1. Show pictures of palm trees.  If you have them, show the children a palm branch and a pussy willow.  Let them hold and touch. 

 

  1. Make a palm branch from green construction paper with a thin dowel (or balloon stick):  Fold the construction paper in half lengthwise.  Cut into a semi-circle.  Then cut strips not quite to the center.  Tape dowel in the center. Use pussy willows instead of palms in your parish? No problem! Take the same thin stick. Use glue dots to attach small pompoms for pussy willows.

6. Very traditional Orthodox Palm Sunday craft: Make a cross from the palms from church: Take the long skinny palm leaf and fold the thick end down the length that you want your final cross to be. Now fold the long end down the back to where the crosspiece should lie and fold sideways at a 45 degree angle the length of one arm of the cross. Fold it across to make the other arm of the cross and back to the back. Then wrap the short end in figure X around the center to hold the entire cross together and tuck the final end into the back.

 

 

 

 

 

  1. March around the room waving the palm branches and throwing coats on the floor, shouting over and over, “Hosanna in the Highest!  Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!”

 

  1. Close with prayer.

 

 

 

 

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