The Resurrection of Jesus Christ changed everything!
That event in history has transformed the world and at the same time continues to change the hearts of all believers. We want to grow closer to Jesus and learn as much as we can about what he had to endure during the week of His Crucifixion and Resurrection. We desire to share these truths with our family and friends, teaching them to our children. One of the ways we can do this is by participating in Holy Week. I am very excited to share with you Christ-Centered Family Activities for Holy Week!
Holy Week is a “man-made” tradition, however, some “man-made” traditions are worth keeping as they have the capacity to change us. Holy Week is the week preceding Easter and the final week of Lent. Holy Week begins with Palm Sunday and ends the day before Easter Sunday.
During Holy Week, Christians commemorate the Passion of Christ, who died on Good Friday to take on the sins of mankind and rose on Easter Sunday to give new life to all who believe. Holy Week is solemn and sorrowful but also anticipates Easter’s joy through the recognition of God’s amazing grace in sending His Son to die for our salvation.
The Peaceful Haven’s Guide to Christ-Centered Family Activities For Holy Week and EASTER includes daily scriptures, discussion questions, and lots of activities for the whole family. These activities will help you and your family focus on Jesus this week! These God-honoring activities are meant to enrich you and your children’s participation in Holy Week and Easter. It is my fervent prayer that you will be blessed by each lesson. I would also like to thank the many bloggers whose excellent activities are presented here!
DIRECTIONS
1. The Saturday before Holy Week, sit down and organize the week. Print out the Art Cards and Infographics that will serve as visual prompts for the scriptures you will read.
2. Pray and discern which daily activities your family will participate in. Take into consideration age appropriateness and if you have only small children think about using a child’s Bible to read the scripture passages.
3. Make a list of items you must pick up for each activity.
4. Shop for needed supplies.
5. To access family activities…just click on the picture. It is that easy!
Christ-Centered Family Activities For Holy Week
SUNDAY – Palm Sunday – Triumphant entrance
Scripture Reading:
Matthew 21:1-9 (ESV)
The Triumphal Entry
21 Now when they drew near to Jerusalem and came to Bethphage, to the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples, 2 saying to them, “Go into the village in front of you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied and a colt with her. Untie them and bring them to me. 3 If anyone says anything to you, you shall say, ‘The Lord needs them,’ and he will send them at once.” 4 This took place to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet, saying,
5 “Say to the daughter of Zion,
‘Behold, your king is coming to you,
humble, and mounted on a donkey,
on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden.’”
6 The disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them. 7 They brought the donkey and the colt and put on them their cloaks, and he sat on them. 8 Most of the crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. 9 And the crowds that went before him and that followed him were shouting, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!”
Christ-Centered Family Activities For Holy Week Discussion Questions:
1. Why were the people cheering for Jesus? What does Hosanna mean?
2. How did Jesus know where the donkey and the colt would be?
3. Where is Jerusalem? What country is Jerusalem in? Find it on the map.
Music
Activities
MONDAY – Cleansing of the Temple
Scripture Reading:
Matthew 21:12-17 (ESV)
Jesus Cleanses the Temple
12 And Jesus entered the temple and drove out all who sold and bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons. 13 He said to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you make it a den of robbers.”
14 And the blind and the lame came to him in the temple, and he healed them. 15 But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children crying out in the temple, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” they were indignant, 16 and they said to him, “Do you hear what these are saying?” And Jesus said to them, “Yes; have you never read,
“‘Out of the mouth of infants and nursing babies
you have prepared praise?”
17 And leaving them, he went out of the city to Bethany and lodged there.
Jesus Curses the Fig Tree
18 In the morning, as he was returning to the city, he became hungry. 19 And seeing a fig tree by the wayside, he went to it and found nothing on it but only leaves. And he said to it, “May no fruit ever come from you again!” And the fig tree withered at once.
20 When the disciples saw it, they marveled, saying, “How did the fig tree wither at once?
Discussion Questions:
1. Why do you think that Jesus was angry? What is the difference between righteous anger and the feeling of anger?
2. What was the temple of God to be used for? How did Jesus treat the blind and lame?
3. What does it mean to “wither a fig tree” How did Jesus make the fig tree wither?
Activities
TUESDAY – Pharisees question Jesus
Scripture Reading:
Matthew 22:34-46 (ESV)
The Great Commandment
34 But when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together. 35 And one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. 36 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” 37 And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is the great and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. 40 On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”
Whose Son Is the Christ?
41 Now while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them a question,42 saying, “What do you think about the Christ? Whose son is he?” They said to him, “The son of David.” 43 He said to them, “How is it then that David, in the Spirit, calls him Lord, saying,
44 “‘The Lord said to my Lord,
“Sit at my right hand,
until I put your enemies under your feet”’?
45 If then David calls him Lord, how is he his son?” 46 And no one was able to answer him a word, nor from that day did anyone dare to ask him any more questions.
Discussion Questions:
1. Who is Christ? Who’s son is Jesus?
2. Why do you think the Pharisees asked Jesus questions? How do you think the Pharisees felt when asking Jesus these questions? What is a “hard heart”?
3. What is the Great Commandment?
Christ-Centered Family Activities For Holy WeekActivities
WEDNESDAY – Anointing of Jesus and the betrayal of Jesus by Judas
Scripture Reading:
Mark 14:3-11 (ESV)
Jesus Anointed at Bethany
3 And while he was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as he was reclining at table, a woman came with an alabaster flask of ointment of pure nard, very costly, and she broke the flask and poured it over his head. 4 There were some who said to themselves indignantly, “Why was the ointment wasted like that? 5 For this ointment could have been sold for more than three hundred denarii and given to the poor.” And they scolded her. 6 But Jesus said, “Leave her alone. Why do you trouble her? She has done a beautiful thing to me. 7 For you always have the poor with you, and whenever you want, you can do good for them. But you will not always have me. 8 She has done what she could; she has anointed my body beforehand for burial. 9 And truly, I say to you, wherever the gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will be told in memory of her.”
Judas to Betray Jesus
10 Then Judas Iscariot, who was one of the twelve, went to the chief priests in order to betray him to them. 11 And when they heard it, they were glad and promised to give him money. And he sought an opportunity to betray him.
Music
Activities
THURSDAY – Last Supper
Scripture Reading:
John 13:1-5 (ESV)
Jesus Washes the Disciples’ Feet
13 Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. 2 During supper, when the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray him, 3 Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands and that he had come from God and was going back to God, 4 rose from supper. He laid aside his outer garments, and taking a towel, tied it around his waist.5 Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him.
John 13:12-17 (ESV)
12 When he had washed their feet and put on his outer garments and resumed his place, he said to them, “Do you understand what I have done to you? 13 You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am. 14 If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. 15 For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you. 16 Truly, truly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. 17 If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.
John 13:34 (ESV)
34 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.
Discussion Questions:
1. What is Passover? What is a Passover lamb for?
2. Jesus showed us that he is a servant of all. In what ways do you serve your family, friends, and church?
3. Who does Jesus say is blessed?
Christ-Centered Family Activities For Holy Week Activities
FRIDAY – Good Friday – The Crucifixion
Scripture Reading:
John 19:17-30 (ESV)
17 and he went out, bearing his own cross, to the place called The Place of a Skull, which in Aramaic is called Golgotha. 18 There they crucified him and with him two others, one on either side and Jesus between them. 19 Pilate also wrote an inscription and put it on the cross. It read, “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.” 20 Many of the Jews read this inscription, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and it was written in Aramaic, in Latin, and in Greek. 21 So the chief priests of the Jews said to Pilate, “Do not write, ‘The King of the Jews,’ but rather, ‘This man said, I am King of the Jews.’” 22 Pilate answered, “What I have written I have written.”
23 When the soldiers had crucified Jesus, they took his garments and divided them into four parts, one part for each soldier; also his tunic But the tunic was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom, 24 so they said to one another, “Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it to see whose it shall be.” This was to fulfill the Scripture which says,
“They divided my garments among them,
and for my clothing they cast lots.”
So the soldiers did these things, 25 but standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. 26 When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, “Woman, behold, your son!” 27 Then he said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother!” And from that hour the disciple took her to his own home.
The Death of Jesus
28 After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said (to fulfill the Scripture), “I thirst.” 29 A jar full of sour wine stood there, so they put a sponge full of the sour wine on a hyssop branch and held it to his mouth. 30 When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, “It is finished,” and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.
Discussion Questions:
1. Why do we call this day “good” when Jesus was crucified?
2. What were Jesus’s last words?
3. Why did Jesus have to die? In what way were you at the Crucifixion of Christ?
Activities
SATURDAY – In the tomb
Scripture Reading:
Matthew 12:39-41 (ESV)
39 But he answered them, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. 40 For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. 41 The men of Nineveh will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold, something greater than Jonah is here.
Matthew 27:62-66 (ESV)
The Guard at the Tomb
62 The next day, that is, after the day of Preparation, the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered before Pilate 63 and said, “Sir, we remember how that impostor said, while he was still alive, ‘After three days I will rise.’ 64 Therefore order the tomb to be made secure until the third day, lest his disciples go and steal him away and tell the people, ‘He has risen from the dead,’ and the last fraud will be worse than the first.” 65 Pilate said to them, “You have a guard of soldiers. Go, make it as secure as you can.” 66 So they went and made the tomb secure by sealing the stone and setting a guard.
Discussion Questions:
1. Why did Pilate place a guard outside of Jesus’s tomb?
2. Read John 20. How did Jesus’s disciples feel now that Jesus was in the grave?
3. When you count the days from Good Friday until the Resurrection the days don’t add up. Why? (Discuss the infographic below and click on it to read one explanation.)
Activities
SUNDAY – Easter – the Resurrection!
The most important day of the year is here!
On Easter Sunday, we as Christian believers celebrate the Resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus.
We believe according to Scripture, that Jesus came back to life (in other words was raised from the dead) three days after his death on the cross. Through his death, burial, and resurrection, Jesus paid the penalty for our sins, thus purchasing for all who believe in him, eternal life.
This is something to CELEBRATE!
Scripture Reading:
John 20:1-18 (ESV)
The Resurrection
20 Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb. 2 So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.” 3 So Peter went out with the other disciple, and they were going toward the tomb. 4 Both of them were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. 5 And stooping to look in, he saw the linen cloths lying there, but he did not go in. 6 Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen cloths lying there, 7 and the face cloth, which had been on Jesus’ head, not lying with the linen cloths but folded up in a place by itself. 8 Then the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed; 9 for as yet they did not understand the Scripture, that he must rise from the dead. 10 Then the disciples went back to their homes.
Jesus Appears to Mary Magdalene
11 But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb, and as she wept she stooped to look into the tomb. 12 And she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had lain, one at the head and one at the feet. 13 They said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.” 14 Having said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing, but she did not know that it was Jesus. 15 Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?” Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.” 16 Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned and said to him in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means Teacher).17 Jesus said to her, “Do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’” 18 Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord”—and that he had said these things to her.
Discussion Questions:
1. Why wasn’t Jesus in the tomb?
2. Who was the first person to realize that Jesus was not in the grave? How did Mary Magdalene react to finding Jesus missing? Why do you think she was crying?
3. What happened to our relationship with God because Jesus suffered and died on the cross and then rose from the dead?
Music
Activities
May you and your family be richly blessed as you follow these daily devotions for Holy Week and Easter. Check out more family activities Click HERE.
Happy Easter!
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I loved this so much I am going to link it to my newsletter, if that’s ok? Great ideas for a special week need some attention!
Thank you so much Sarah! I would LOVE for you to put it in your newsletter and would consider it an honor!
Thank you, Janelle, for posting this. I look forward to using this during this Holy Week. Thank you for encouraging me in the Lord!
Thanks for your kind comment Tina! I pray you will be blessed!
Wow! Thank you! This is fantastic!
I am so happy you found this helpful!