• Christian churches decorate with palms to honor Palm Sunday.cross in sky image by jimcox40 from Fotolia.com
  
  Palm Sunday, the first day of Holy Week, celebrates Jesus' triumphant entry into Jerusalem. On Palm Sunday, Jesus fulfilled the Old Testament prophecy ((Isaiah 62:11 and Zechariah 9:9) by riding into town on a donkey. Crowds of followers honored Jesus by placing palm branches on the ground ahead of his progress. Children will enjoy learning more about this special day through hands-on crafts and activities.
  
  

Make Your Own Palm

• Children will enjoy reenacting Jesus' arrival in Jerusalem with their own homemade palm branches. You can create your own pattern, or visit biblekidsfunzone.com/crafts/palmbranches.html for patterns. Patterns can be traced onto colored construction paper, or can be printed on white paper for the children to color in.
  
  

Paper Bag Donkey

• Markers, crayons, construction paper, scissors and glue will turn an ordinary lunch bag into a donkey worthy of carrying the King of Kings. Provide patterns for ears, tails and legs for the children to cut out of construction paper. The children can draw faces on their puppets. The DLTK's Crafts for Kids offers an online paper bag donkey pattern at: www.dltk-kids.com/animals/mbagdonkey.htm.
  
  

Palm Fan

• Children can make their own palm fan with nothing more than a plastic drinking straw and paper. Have children cut palm fronds (or leaves) out of construction paper. Tape the fronds to the straw to mimic a palm fan. SundaySchoolKids.com has a pattern for fronds at www.sundayschoolkids.com/activities-lent-easter/1-straw-palm-instru.htm.