Scripture: Luke 19: 28 – 44 and Matthew 21: 1 – 11 or pages 428 – 429 in the Children’s Golden Bible.
Devotional for the Teacher: Sermon Audio – “Hoshiana” by Pastor Joseph LoSardo
Target Age Group: 1st through 6th grade
Welcome the children to the classroom and chat with them about their week as they gather around the table.
Pray and ask God to teach the children not just head knowledge, but also heart knowledge.
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Bible Lesson:
Object Lesson: Before going to the Bible, share this “Rock Concert” object lesson from Sermons4kids.
Have the children open their Bibles to Luke 19: 28 – 44 and Matthew 21: 1 – 11 or pages 428 – 429 in the Children’s Golden Bible.
(Read the story to the children because at this age some of the children do not read smoothly, which hinders comprehension for the whole class.)
- Where was Jesus going in this story? to Jerusalem
- What did He tell his disciples to do? “Go to the village ahead of you, and at once you will find a donkey tied there, with her colt by her. Untie them and bring them to me. If anyone says anything to you, say that the Lord needs them, and he will send them right away.”
- Why do you think that Jesus had them bring a donkey instead of a horse? Read Zechariah 9:9 Jesus was fulfilling this prophecy and showing himself to be the King. “Rejoice greatly, Daughter Zion! Shout, Daughter Jerusalem! See, your king comes to you, righteous and victorious, lowly and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.”
- The disciples brought the donkey and Jesus rode on it. What did the people in the crowd do? They put their coats and palm branches on the road in front of Jesus to ride on.
- What did the people shout? “Hosanna to the Son of David!” “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” “Hosanna in the highest heaven!”
- Does anybody know what Hosanna means? It means “save us now”.
- Do you think that the people understood what kind of a King and Saviour Jesus was? No.Read Luke 19: 41-44 As he approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it and said, “If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace—but now it is hidden from your eyes. The days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment against you and encircle you and hem you in on every side. They will dash you to the ground, you and the children within your walls. They will not leave one stone on another, because you did not recognize the time of God’s coming to you.”
- Do you think that the religious leaders understood the prophecy?
- What did the Pharisees say? “Teacher, rebuke your disciples!” Rebuke means to reprimand or to scold. They were asking Jesus to explain to his disciples that they were wrongly calling him the Messiah.
- How did Jesus answer them? “I tell you,” he replied, “if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.”
- When asked who Jesus was, what did the people answer? “This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee.”
- The people thought that Jesus was going to be an earthly king who would save them from the Romans. But, He was a different kind of a King wasn’t he. He wanted to be the King of their hearts. Have you made Jesus the King of your heart? (Don’t press anyone to answer. Let them ponder the question.)
- Let’s pray and thank Jesus for coming and let’s ask him to be the King of our hearts…
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During the remaining class time do activities that help to reinforce what the children have learned. Here are some suggestions…
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Memorize the verse.
Matthew 21:5 “Your king comes to you. He is gentle and riding on a donkey.”
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Show a video of this story:
Video #1 from Crossroads Kids’ Club
Show a video clip of this story from the movie Jesus of Nazareth or The Jesus Film.
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Here are some really cute crafts for this lesson and Easter from Amy’s Free Ideas. This is a challenging craft, so for younger children, assemble the scenes for each child ahead of time, then let them color them during class time. (The scenes will lay flat to allow them to color them.) I shrunk the size of the Jesus on the donkey so that the people were the same size as the background people. Print the background and the pull strips on card stock at a printing store. I printed the Jesus and his disciples on plain paper so that it was easy to fold and paste to the pull strip.
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This Palm Sunday spinner from Flame Creative Children’s Ministry is an easy craft to make, and sure to be a big hit. This site also has a great palm leaf craft idea.
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Act out the story. Here is a great idea for a donkey from Bible Class Creations.
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There are lots of great ideas here at Bible Fun For Kids by Debbie Jackson.
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Have the children do this maze puzzle, this decoder puzzle, or this one or this one from Bible Wise.
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Have the children fill out these worksheets and color page from Calvary Curriculum.
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Share this children’s sermon or this one from Sermons4kids. or this one. Don’t forget the activities at the bottom of the page!
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Have the children make a booklet of the story “Jesus Rides a Donkey to Church” by Jill Kemp and Richard Gunther at Lamb Songs. (Scroll Down)
Have the children make this fan fold palm craft or this palm leaf craft. Or Have the children make this Palm Fan from Crafting the Word of God.
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Once they have made their palm branches, have the children parade around the room while Singing “Shout Hosanna” by the Donut Man. Then sing “Who’s the King of the Jungle?” by Concordia Publishing House. You can find them both on i-tunes. Then sing Ho-Ho-Ho-Hosanna by the Cedarmont kids. Older kids will enjoy Hosanna by Hillsong.
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Play one of these Palm Sunday games, or one of these activities or one of these.
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Have the children make a paper bag donkey or this paper plate donkey .
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This is a cute donkey craft from Oriental Trading Company.
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Have the children make this Palm Leaf Sun Catcher from Crafting the Word of God.
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Play pin the tail on the donkey.
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Have the children fill out this crossword puzzle by Sermons4kids . There are activities and puzzle pages at the bottom of this page from Sermons4kids.
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The older kids might enjoy this puzzle or this one .
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Have the children use colors or pastels to draw their own vision of the story on a sketch pad page. Or have them color a color page related to the story.
Color page #4 from Crafting the Word of God
Color page #5 from What’s in the Bible? (Palm Sunday Color Page)
Color Page #8 from Bible Wise. (This is also a puzzle.)
An excellent color page book is “Through-the-Bible Coloring Pages For Ages 4-8” by Janet Skiles. The pages are reproducible.
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Sing:
“Savior Coming” from Crossroads Kids’ Club .
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Evaluate what the children have learned. While they are coloring or crafting ask each one what they learned today.
Send each child’s parent an e-mail (or a hard copy) of the Parents’ Page.
Children's Church 
