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Palm Sunday Preschool Theme
Matthew 21:1-11; Mark 11:1-11; Luke 19:28-40; John 12:12-19; Zechariah 9:9On Palm Sunday, Jesus entered Jerusalem riding a donkey's colt. He came as a gentle and peaceful king-as predicted in Zechariah 9:9-- not as king ready for war on a horse.
The word "Hosanna" is literally translated as "Save". Calling out 'Hosanna' as Jesus enters Jerusalem showed that the people understood that He was there to save as the Zechariah prophecy stated.
This Palm Sunday Theme Page that includes preschool lesson plans, activities and Interest Learning Center ideas for your Preschool Classroom!
You'll find more themes to help you with your planning on my bible preschool themes page.
Bible references for this account:
- Matthew 21:1-11
- Mark 11:1-11
- Luke 19:28-40
- John 12:12-19; Zechariah 9:9
To read my Statement of Faith, click here.
Let the Theme planning begin!
You can either scroll down through this page to see all of the preschool activities for your theme or click the link below to go to specific preschool activity types you are looking for.
Palm Sunday Theme Art
Donkey Paper Bag Puppets
Materials needed: brown lunch bags, googly eyes, yarn for the mane, paper cut into ear and paw shapes, glue sticks
The children glue the items onto the paper bag to make donkey puppets the children can use when acting out this story.
Colored CloaksMaterials needed: white paper cut into shirt shapes, water color paints
The children create their own cloak to represent the cloaks used on the donkey and on the ground when Jesus entered Jerusalem.
Palm Sunday Block Center Ideas
Jerusalem
Add people, donkeys, small palm trees and pieces of colored paper in shirt shapes. The children can build the Temple and show the path to Jerusalem.
Palm Sunday Circle Time Ideas
Circle Time is such a great time for children to learn the social skills of being together as a large group AND to learn more about your theme!
The StoryRead the account of Palm Sunday from an illustrated Children's Bible. The passages can be found in:
- Matthew 21:1-11
- Mark 11:1-11
- Luke 19:28-40
- John 12:12-19
Dress Up StoryProvide shirts, palms leaves, a donkey face mask for the children to use to act out the story as you read it.
Palm Sunday Theme Ideas to Transform Your Dramatic Play Area
Living In The Times
Provide shirts, palm leaves (real or paper ones), 2 donkey headbands or masks, a pole decorated to be a tree (that the colt was tied to). Provide 2 cardboard boxes, one to be a house and one for a Temple.
The children can act out the story and live the times of dressing, going to the temple, covering the path with cloaks, etc.
Palm Sunday Theme Ideas for Your Easel--
More Than Just Painting (Although that is always THE favorite in our classroom!)Palm Painting
Use palm fronds or palms to paint with!
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To Help Build Their Muscles While They Have Fun Together!Parade for Jesus
Using palms, have a parade to praise Jesus. Tell the children that "Hosanna" means save.
Pin the Tail on the DonkeyBut of course! You can purchase this game or draw a large donkey (without a tail) and draw and cut out donkey tails!
Palm Sunday Ideas for Your Library Area
Book Suggestions for the Library
(I LOVE Amazon, and some of the links below will take you to the Amazon website. If you do choose to purchase yours through Amazon, they do send me a few cents--which supports my coffee habit! )
Hosanna! The Story of Palm Sunday (God Loves Me Storybooks) by Patricia L. Nederveld
Humphrey's First Palm Sunday by Carol Heyer
Little Colt's Palm Sunday by Medlock Adams
The Children's Illustrated BibleThemed Activities to Help Your Preschoolers Develop Their Math Skills and Those Small Muscles in Their Hands!
Patterned Characters
In advance make, color and cut out donkeys (all identical), palm leaves (all identical) and Jesus (all identical).
Encourage children to copy or create their own patterns. Some examples:
donkey, donkey, Jesus
Jesus, Jesus, donkey
palm, Jesus, donkey, palm, Jesus donkey
My Hand Palm!
Materials needed: crayons, green paper, scissors, glue sticks
The children trace and cut out many hand prints.
They glue them on top of each other to make a palm frond.
Music & Movement Activities to Get Your Preschoolers Movin' and Groovin'!
Praise Him!
Find some of your favorite songs about Jesus.
Dance to the music while using palm leaves (real or paper).
Dance high, dance low, etc.
Palm Sunday Theme Activities for the Sand and Water Table!
Peeling Palms
Purchase palms and put in your sensory children. This is a great opportunity for the children to explore what palm leaves look like. They can separate (peel) them and count them.
Palm Sunday Science Activities for Your Preschool Scientists in Training!
Ecology Bottle
Create a palm ecology bottle.
Materials needed: 2 liter clear plastic bottle or each child, solid, small plants
Cut the top 1/3 of the bottle off, put aside.
Fill bottom of bottle 2/3 full of soil and then water it.
Add small plants.
Place top of bottle into the bottom of the bottle (inverted so that the "spout" is facing the soil).
This system should water itself!
Writing Activity Ideas for Your Palm Sunday Theme!
Thank You!
Provide palm shaped paper and crayons.
The children make thank you cards thanking Jesus for things in their lives they are grateful for (family, His love, etc.).
Miscellaneous Activities for Your Palm Sunday Theme!
A Donkey
Ask parents if they know someone who has a donkey that can visit your program or go to a farm that has one!
Click here for the Christian Easter Theme Page!
Go to the main BIBLE THEME PAGE for more Ideas!
Go to the main THEMES PAGE for more theme ideas!
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About This Site:
Hey there! Welcome to Preschool Plan It! I’m Cheryl, a preschool teacher of over 20 years.
I KNOW, I know, you spend hours of time developing your preschool themes, activities and preschool lesson plans each week. You are commited to planning preschool themes and activities that are engaging hands-on, interactive, fun AND meet the goal of supporting each child’s level of growth and development.
I am commited to providing you, the preschool teacher, with everything you need to develop preschool lesson plans and preschool activities for your classroom all in one place!
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