3 Easy-to-Understand Holy Week Activities for Preschool Kids

These three activities will help preschool kids better understand what happened during Holy Week. 

3 Holy Week Activities for Preschool Kids

1. Pass the Cup Game

You’ll need:

• a blindfold
• a cup

Say: Before Jesus died, he had a meal with his friends called the Last Supper. Jesus passed a cup around to say he’d die for his friends. Have the children sit in a circle. Then choose a child to sit in the center of the circle, blindfolded, to be the Guesser.

Have the rest of the children pass the cup around the circle as you sing “Jesus Loves Me.”  When the song is over, direct all the kids to hold their hands behind their backs.

Let the Guesser remove the blindfold and take three guesses at who has the cup. If the Guesser finds the cup, he or she trades places with that child. If not, the Guesser remains in place for another round of play.

Say: Jesus died for his friends because he loved them. And Jesus died for us, too.

2. Jesus Dies on the Cross

Use this tactile experience to teach kids about Jesus’ death on the cross.

You’ll need:

• sharpened pencil
• large pair of dice
• a shirt
• wet sponge
• wooden block

Hold up a sharpened pencil, and help each child gently touch the tip.

Say: Ouch. That pencil is sharp! Before Jesus died on the cross, people made him a crown of sharp thorns. They made fun of Jesus.

Pass around a large pair of dice.

Say: The people who hurt Jesus rolled dice like these in a game to see who could take Jesus’ clothes. Pass around a shirt so kids can feel the clothing.

Pass around a wet sponge.

Say: One nice person offered Jesus something to drink from a sponge.

Pass around a wooden block.

Say: After people hurt and made fun of Jesus, they put him on a wooden cross. It hurt a lot, and Jesus died on that cross. Jesus did that because he loves us.

3. Hole-y Handprints

Teach kids about Thomas’ doubt using this fun craft.

You’ll need:

• large paper plates
• air-dry modeling clay
• a box knife

Use the box knife to cut a 1-inch diameter hole in the center of each plate ahead of time.

As the kids spread the modeling clay evenly across their plates, say: After Jesus came back to life, he appeared to his friends. But his friend Thomas wasn’t there, so he had a hard time believing that Jesus was alive. He wanted to feel the nail holes in Jesus’ hands.

Have kids make a handprint in the center of the plate. (If necessary, spread glue between the plate and clay for better adhesion.)

Help kids poke a hole in the dough where the hole in the plate is to make a hole through the hand.

Kids can take their handprints home as a reminder that Jesus is alive.

Looking for more preschool ideas? Check out these posts!