Excitement: ​Jesus enters Jerusalem

We often start the Easter story when Jesus headed into Jerusalem for the last time. He came as a King but instead of coming with a lots of servants and expensive clothes, he came on a simple donkey. He may not have looked like a king but people knew that he was.

Click here for the downloadable version.

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The story

Read Luke 19:30-40​ or listen to the story here.

In our story you will hear the word 'colt'. This another name for a young donkey. How many times do you hear it?

As more people realised Jesus was coming or heard the excitement of other people, they came out to welcome him and celebrate! Some knew how important Jesus was, they might have heard him talking or seen one of his miracles. Others might not have realised who Jesus was but they knew he was special and didn't want to miss out.

We can celebrate and get excited too. God has given us many wonderful things, people and times that we can look forward to, we can be excited to see and surprised when we get excited by something new. Even today we can get excited about Jesus as we hear more about his story and the amazing things he did for everyone.

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Ask each other...

What do you get excited about?
What do you do when you are excited?
​Would you have recognised Jesus the king?
How would you welcome Jesus?

Make sure everyone has a chance to think and to share their thoughts. There are no right or wrong answers!

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Respond

We all enjoy different things and we all respond to God in different ways. So here are five ways you might choose to respond together. Click on the + to see what you need to do.

Song: King of me

Craft: Hosanna party hat

Equipment

• ​A4 paper or thin card
• Tape/stapler
• String
• Pens/paint to decorate
• Plate
• Scissors

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Instructions

1. Take your sheet of card or thick paper and place the plate on top so the curved edge makes a semicircle on your paper. Draw around the plate. (You can also google ‘Cone Party Hat Template’ if you’d prefer to print one or copy a shape!)
2. Cut along the line you’ve drawn. This should give you a semicircle.
   
3. Bring the two corners of the semicircle together. This should give you a nice cone shape. Hold one edge under the other and move it around until you are happy your cone shape. Draw a line down along the straight edge to show you where you will be securing your hat together. This will show you where to decorate up to!
   
4. It’s decoration time! Using your felt tips, add the word ‘HOSANNA’ to your hat. (Don’t forget which way up your hat will sit!) Using your green paint, make some thumb prints on your hat. These will become your palm leaves! When your thumb prints are dry, you can add an outline in black pen if you would like to. Add any other decorations you like!
   
5. When your hat is dry, bend your hat so that the straight line meets up with the pencil line you drew in step 3. Secure the hat with sticky tape.
   
6. If you are using ribbon or string, you will need two 45cm pieces. Attach one end of the ribbon or string to your hat, roughly where your ears will sit. Then pop your hat on your head and tie under your chin! 
   
   

Bake: Fruity palm tree

We are going to turn our everyday fruit into an exciting palm tree! Use fruit that you will enjoy or experiment and make a vegetable palm tree to go with your dinner.

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Ingredients:

• Banana
• Kiwi/green apple
• Cereal (e.g. rice krispies, branflakes)

You will also need a chopping board, knife and plate.

Method:

1. ​Cut the banana length ways to make the tree trunk.
2. Cut wedges for the palm leaves from a green fruit.
3. Lay it out to look like a palm tree on your plate.
4. Sprinkle the cereal to make the sand.

Playdough: Happy faces

Using something tactile can be a great way of thinking and talking about the story. Use your playdough to create happy faces. If you have a printer, you might like to print out this playdough mat to create your own scene of today's story.

Click here to download the mat.

Outside: Look closer

Winter can sometimes look dull and dreary and not exciting at all...unless we look closely. Go for a walk looking for things that are exciting, beautiful or different. You might take photos or even cut out a shape from cardboard to make a frame for the things you see.

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Talk to God

King Jesus,

Thank you for giving us things to be excited about. Help us to notice the fun and lovely things that we can celebrate.

Thank you for....
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​Amen.