Holy Week with Kids: How to Make the Most of It

Get the Holy Week Family Guide for free below!

Holy Week begins on Palm Sunday, the week before Easter. It is essentially the days leading up to Jesus’ death and resurrection starting with his triumphal entry into Jerusalem.

Learning about Holy Week with your kids can be a meaningful time to prepare your hearts for the celebration of Easter, and Christ’s saving work on the cross. Whether you’ve been participating in Lent as a family, or just beginning to talk about the days of Christ leading up to Easter, this is a great time to help your kids understand Jesus’ final days on earth that led him to the cross.

Our family has loved using these Family Devotional cards for Lent and Holy Week that contain Scripture, discussion, prayer and simple activities to help your family grow in your knowledge and love of God through the Easter story. Check them out here!

During this season, everywhere around us Easter is being talked about, from grocery stores to TV shows to clothing stores even to discussion at school, so it’s a great opportunity to use that momentum and excitement that is already built and center it on Jesus. Here are a couple ideas for how to do that:

Read Scripture & pray together – read Bible passages that tell the story of each of Jesus’ days through Holy Week and pray together in response to the passage.
Try some memorable activities to help you better understand the Scripture passage/ day of Holy Week. Simple activities can help your family to better understand the Scripture you read and also they can help you to make memories as a family. Those fun and meaningful memories will solidify this as a tradition your kids will want to participate in year after year.

Below, you can download the free Family Guide to Holy Week when you subscribe to the More for Motherhood newsletter, where we send out monthly emails of ways to make memories with your family while raising disciples in your home. You can unsubscribe at any time! Download for free below.

Holy Week PDF

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I’m going to write out a run-down of how you could teach your kids about Holy Week below! These are not the only Bible passages you could use to teach your kids about Holy Week, I just chose the passages from Mark because they were shorter/seemed easier for younger kids to understand.

The Days of Holy Week:

Palm Sunday

What happened: Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem with his disciples. Crowds of people welcomed him and waved palm branches as he rode into Jerusalem on a young donkey.

Verse to read: Mark 11:1-10

Activity to try: Make a palm branch out of green paper and sing/dance to a couple of worship songs together while waving your Palm branches.

Monday

What happened: As Jesus enters the Temple, he finds people buying and selling in what should be “a house of prayer”. He overturns tables and cleanses the Temple.

Verse to read: Mark 11:15-19

Activity to try: Do a cross craft of your choice or collect sticks outside and tie them in the shape of a cross using string.

Tuesday

What happened: Jesus goes back to the Temple and teaches. He encounters confrontation from the religious leaders.

Verse to read: Mark 11:27-33

Activity to try: Decorate Easter eggs

Wednesday

What happened: Jesus is anointed with oil by a woman in preparation for his burial, and Judas commits to betray Him.

Verse to read: Mark 14:3-11

Activity to try: Sing a couple of Easter songs together

Maundy Thursday

What happened: Jesus and his disciples gather together for a Passover meal, which is known as the Last Supper because it was the final meal that He and His disciples would have together before His crucifixion.

Verse to read: Mark 14:22-26

Activity to try: Have a “last supper” family meal together

Good Friday

What happened: Jesus dies on a cross for the sins of the world.

Verse to read: Mark 15:16-27, 33-34, 37-39

Activity to try: Make a crown of thorns using a small grapevine wreath and toothpicks. Place the wreath on your table and give each family member some toothpicks. Take turns adding a toothpick “thorn” into the wreath, and as you add a thorn, name a sin that you struggle with. Discuss how on the cross, Jesus died for every single one of these sins. Leave the crown there until Easter Sunday.

Holy Saturday

What happened: Jesus’ body lays in the tomb. The religious leaders ask Pilate to make the Tomb secure so that his disciples can’t steal the body and make it look like He rose from the dead. A large stone is put in front of the Tomb along with guards.

Verse to read: Luke 23:50-56; Matthew 27:62-66

Activity to try: Search around your yard for some larger stones (one each). Talk about how big the stone would have had to be to cover the tomb Jesus was placed in. If you have time, color or paint your stones with a Holy Week design and place them in your yard as a visual reminder.

Resurrection Sunday

What happened: Jesus’ followers go to the Tomb and are shocked to find it empty! An angel tells them the good news and they encounter Jesus! He commissions them to go and make disciples!

Verse to read: Matthew 28:1-10; 16-20

Activity to try: celebrate with church family & bake resurrection rolls

For each day of Holy Week, read the passage with your family and pray together. Then, if you have time, try the activity. Some of these activities follow along with the passage and some of them are meant to help you just make fun memories with your family this Easter!