Palm Sunday

Dear families,

As we find ourselves preparing to celebrate Holy Week from our homes, we know that, even in these circumstances, it remains the holiest week of the year. We desire to help your families enter into prayer and draw close to Jesus in His Passion and Death. In order to help support families in celebrating Holy Week at home, we’ve gathered some of our favorite ideas and resources to help celebrate Palm Sunday.

• Look around your home or neighborhood for palm branches or have your children craft some out of paper. For easy instructions on making a paper palm, check out this post by Catholic Inspired. 

• With those palms, consider having your own procession at home.  Sophia Institute for Teachers has a guide for having a Palm Sunday procession at home, as well as a guide specifically for children. You may also consider, as you participate in Palm Sunday Mass from home, waving your palms as the priest processes into Mass.

• For younger children, Catholic Icing has a resource called Holy Week in Handprints. This resource allows children to use their handprints to illustrate the events of Holy Week. Retell the story of Jesus’ triumphant entrance into Jerusalem as you turn your child’s handprints into a donkey and a palm branch. 

• For older children who like to draw, check out this guided drawing tutorial that teaches children how to draw Jesus. Consider displaying the picture somewhere in the house as a reminder to pray throughout Holy Week.

• Other fun activities include Palm Sunday coloring sheets, as well as a word search and crossword puzzle based on Sunday’s Gospel. 

• Gather with your family to read Sunday’s readings together. You may even consider acting them out.

• There are even recipes for Palm (Ice Cream) Sundaes if your family would like to celebrate with a special snack.

• My Catholic Kids have shared their video resources which help prepare children for Mass, including Minute Gospel Reflection for Kids.

As these resources help us begin having conversations with children about this particular time in Jesus’ life, we hope that they may lead your family into times of prayer. Consider taking a few minutes to gather for conversation and to pray together. Ask your children about what they learned from the activities. What stood out to them? What do they most remember from the story? How do you think Jesus felt? Resist the temptation to provide answers to the questions, but let the children consider these types of things. Close with a simple prayer or whatever form of prayer is most natural for your family. We hope that this may be a time for your families to grow and pray together in beautiful new ways. 

The Office of Parish Support is working on additional resources to enhance our journey through Holy Week as we prepare to enter into the mysteries of the Triduum with our families and in our homes.