Palm Sunday Ideas for Including Kids in Online Worship During COVID-19

Just because we’re not worshipping in person doesn’t mean we have to give up the excitement of a Palm Sunday parade with the kids this year. Here are some ideas to help as you plan:  

• Suggest to families that they might want to read the Palm Sunday story prior to online worship with their children. When kids hear it again during worship, their ears will perk up and they’ll notice different details—just like adults do when they hear passages again! 

• Encourage families to have the Palm Sunday passage bookmarked in a Bible or a children's storybook Bible and have that nearby during online worship so that their kids can follow along with the story. 

• Invite families to have paper and markers available for their kids to draw the story during the message or to draw or write about what they are hearing or or learning or experiencing during worship. (Support parents by providing them with this prompt to start a conversation with their kids about their drawings following worship: “Tell me about your picture.”

• Provide families with options for making a palm branch to sway as they are singing during online worship and/or as something to wave when they have a Palm Sunday parade in the living rooms after worship. This palm branch coloring page from Illustrated Children’s Ministry or this idea for making a large palm branch from rolled up newspaper would work well. 

• Sing a song during worship so kids can sway their branches. Invite them to do so near the camera to help you all worship together. 

• Talk during worship about the meaning of “Hosanna.” Encourage families to make a HOSANNA! banner to hang in their house or window. 

• If your families have their own God's Big Story cards set, remind them to look for the Palm Sunday symbol and to do some of the activities today. 

• Provide families with a copy of the God's Big Easter Story Holy Week devotional. Share with them this post, which includes additional ideas for how to use it. 

• Do as my colleague Liz Tolkamp’s’ church in British Columbia is doing and invite families to send in a short video of their child(ren) waving branches and shouting “Hosanna!” this week. Those will be combined and shared during worship on Palm Sunday. 

For more ideas on including children during worship at this time, check out the posts COVID-19 and Including Kids in Worship (Part 1) and COVID-19 and Including Kids in Worship (Part 2). And please share what you’ll be doing in the comment box below!