Defiance Children's Church: Holy Week and Easter Ideas

As we begin the most holy days of our church year, here are a few simple ideas you can use to enter into Jesus’ last days, crucifixion, burial, and miraculous triumph over death. Choose one per day, or whichever ones work best for your family.

Check out We Wonder, which has daily contemplative storytelling for kids during Holy Week.

Maundy Thursday

Maundy Thursday:

  • Share a special meal together and remember the Last Supper.

  • Wash each others' feet. Use any bowl, fill it with warm water, and love your family by gently washing one another’s feet. Giggles are welcome. Use this as an opportunity to remind your children how Jesus calls us to serve one another.

  • If you’re up for a bigger project, try these handprint crafts to make a Holy Week book. (She says to purchase and print her template, but you can also just DIY it!)

  • Scripture: John 13:1-17, 31b-35

Good Friday

Good Friday:

  • Pick up your cross. Whatever chore you hate? Try to do it with love and without complaining. Take up a tiny cross while you remember the greatest one—and the heavy crosses carried by so many sick and suffering around the world.

  • Create a simple cross with sticks and string.

  • Make space for quiet. While silence can be impossible to find in a house full of people under quarantine, try turning off screens / phones from 12 - 3 pm, the hours when we remember Jesus’ suffering and death. St. John of the Cross said, “Silence is God's first language.” Ask your child, what do you think this means?

  • Scripture: John 18:1-19:42

Holy Saturday

Holy Saturday:

  • Make these cookies which require only simple ingredients you probably already have, and are a hands-on way to walk kids through Jesus' death and resurrection

  • Scripture: Matthew 27:57-66

Easter Sunday

Easter Sunday:

  • Sing praises together at sunrise (since many of us with young children are up at dawn anyway!)

  • Ring bells, a traditional way to celebrate our risen Lord.

  • Make a sidewalk chalk mural proclaiming, “Christ is Risen!”

  • FaceTime Feast! Set a “date” with loved ones and celebrate a resurrection feast together.

  • Scripture: Matthew 28:1-10, John 20:1-18

Emily Cool Greener