These Palm Sunday games and activities for Holy Week and Easter are meaningful and versatile. Use them with Bible lessons as you prepare to celebrate Jesus’ resurrection.
With both high-energy and low-energy Palm Sunday games and Easter activities, you’ll find something for everyone. Enjoy playing these with kids in your children’s ministry and community!
10 Palm Sunday Games & Holy Week Activities
1. Outdoor Palm Sunday Games: Pave the Way!
Palm Sunday: Matthew 21:1-11
Festive is the name of the game for Palm Sunday games. These Sunday school activities show how people prepared the way for Jesus to enter Jerusalem.
You’ll need:
- a Bible and
- green and gray paper.
Say: Palm Sunday got its name from what people did when Jesus arrived at Jerusalem near the time of his death. They lined up along the sides of the road. Read aloud Matthew 21:8-9.
Have kids get in teams of three. Then have them line up along one end of your parking lot or church lawn. Give each team one sheet of green paper and one of gray paper.
Say: Let’s play some Palm Sunday games. Two of you (the crowd) will make a path for your other team member (the donkey rider) using the “palm leaves” (green paper) and “coats” (gray paper). The donkey rider can step only on the palm leaves and coats, so the crowd will have to move them to keep the donkey rider moving.
Show teams how to move the paper from behind the donkey rider to ahead of him or her to keep the donkey rider moving. Once your donkey rider reaches the finish line, switch roles. Continue until everyone’s been a donkey rider.
Establish a start and finish line. Then let the Palm Sunday games begin!
Afterward, ask:
- What are ways you welcome Jesus into your everyday life?
2. Indoor Game: Hot Bread
The Last Supper: Matthew 26:17-30
Next use this game to share that Jesus forgives us.
You’ll need:
- a Bible,
- a packaged loaf of bread, and
- music.
Read aloud Matthew 26:17-22.
Say: Let’s play a game to think about that. Use the packaged bread to play Hot Potato. (When the music plays, pass the loaf. When it stops, the one holding it is out.) Play until only one person is left.
Say: No one wanted to get stuck with the bread because that person had to leave the game. In the same way, Jesus’ friends didn’t want to be the one he was talking about—the one to leave Jesus.
Ask:
- Think of when you’ve betrayed Jesus by something you did. Invite kids to share if they want to.
Say: The good news is, when we’re friends with Jesus, we never have to leave him. Jesus gave his body on the cross, and God forgives us when we do something wrong.
Read Matthew 26:26. Say: We remember that Jesus died for us and accept his forgiveness when we take communion. Invite children to talk to Jesus silently as they eat the bread. (Pro tip: Adapt Easter Sunday school games according to your needs and your church’s practices.)
