Sense: Hearing Bible Passage: Palm Sunday Mark 11:1-11 Think about celebrations that the children may have been part of birthdays, weddings, carnivals, a team winning Talk about the part noise plays in these celebrations this could be music or cheering. How does the noise make us feel? Explain that today you will be looking at the story of the first Palm Sunday. Look at the story of Palm Sunday the fact that Jesus and the disciples were heading to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover. Explain that the Passover was a time to celebrate the story of Moses. Read, tell or show the story of Palm Sunday. Then re-enact the entry into Jerusalem. The children could make or use instruments to add to the noise of the celebration. Have palm leaves to wave and cloaks on the floor. Explain the words that the crowd shouted out they were greeting Jesus as a king. Thing about the symbolism: Donkey king coming in peace The crowd treated Jesus as a king like David the one that God sent. Pose the question Who do you think Jesus is? Explain that this is the beginning of Holy Week and you will be making a journey through the rest of the week. You could even plot the events on a timeline chart. Optional images of celebrations Mark 11:1-11 Bible passage for a film on Palm Sunday A class timeline of Holy Week that you can plot the events as you learn about them.
Sense: Smell Bible Passage: The Anointing at Bethany - Mark 14: 1-11 Have some objects with very distinctive smells set out on a table but cover them so that they cannot be seen. Either in groups or just a few individuals have the children blind folded and ask them to identify the objects by smell. Have perfume as one of the objects. Explain that today we are going to hear a very smelly story. Imagine that the queen was coming to have a meal at your school. What special things would you have to organise? Why would you do this? In Bible times, if you had guests come to your house you would arrange for their feet to be washed. This was a sign of hospitality and respect to your guest. So you might have chosen to wash the queen s feet during her visit. Retell the story of the woman anointing Jesus. Simon hadn t bothered washing Jesus feet which would have been considered really rude and yet this lady had used a whole jar of perfume on Jesus. Ask the questions: Why did the woman do this to Jesus? Who showed most respect to Jesus the woman or Simon? What did Jesus compare the woman s actions to? Jesus said that it was as if the woman was getting him ready for burial. Why was this so significant at this time? Smelly objects including perfume Blindfolds Mark 14:1-11 Bible passage Split the class into groups. Have each group write a blog page of the meal from the view of different people, Simon, Jesus, the woman Compare their views of the events The Holy Week timeline add this story to the timeline.
Sense: Taste Bible Passage: The Last Supper Mark 14:12-26 Introduction Step 1 of your learning journey Look back but also think where you will go next Have a number of different foods or pictures of food that could remind the children of things e.g. birthday cake, ice-cream (holidays), Indian sweets, mince pies, roast dinner, bread and wine (grape juice) what do they represent? Explain that food can be used as a symbol Remind the class that Jesus had gone to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover Meal with his friends. Recap on what was remembered at the Passover meal the story of Moses and the Israelite slaves and the angel of death passing over the Egyptian s house. This can be done through the Seder plate see below: Have a Seder plate set out and extra elements so that the children can taste them. Use the elements on the plate to explain the Passover festival and the feast of the unleavened bread. Imagine that you are Jesus and his disciples sharing this meal together. As the meal goes on the time comes to share the bread and the wine and Jesus changes the symbolism of these to represent what is about to happen to him. Look at the link between this meal and the communion meal that Christians share. Why do you think Christians still share the bread and wine today? Create their own Seder plates highlighting what each part symbolizes what was the new significance of the bread and wine? Food or pictures of food including bread and red grape juice / wine Story Bible or images of the Moses story just to prompt the student s memory on this. for a film on the Last Supper Seder plate and elements A teachers' guide to a Christian approach to the Passover (RE:quest teacher s section) http://request.org.uk/restart/2015/09/18/com munion-a-special-meal-2/ Craft materials
Sense: Touch Bible Passage: The Crucifixion - Mark 15:21-41 Have a lot different things made from metal and others made from wood. How do they feel? Are some rough and others smooth? Are some hard and others soft? Explain that today s story is all about wood and nails. It is about how Jesus died on the cross. It is a sad story in many ways but it does eventually have a happy ending but that s for another day. Talk about if they have ever been blamed for something they didn t do or has anyone ever taken the blame for something they did. This is what happened with Jesus he took the blame for what we did wrong. Explain the after the Last Supper Jesus was arrested by some of the leaders who wanted to get rid of him. And although he was not found guilty Jesus was crucified. Explain his body was put into a tomb in the rocks At the beginning of the week people had been cheering Jesus as a king how do you think those people are feeling now? How do you think Jesus friends are feeling? Create a piece of art from metal and wood that might inspire faith. Watch the film about Shelley and the Wave to show how and why these materials inspire her as an artist. Metal and wooden objects The Good Artist explains this well for younger children or for slightly older children The Cross http://request.org.uk/jesus/deathand-resurrection/why-did-jesus-die/ for a film on the Crucifixion Shelley and the Wave http://request.org.uk/life/faith-inspired-art/
Sense: See Bible Passage: The Resurrection John 20:1-29 Play a game where you zoom into a small part of a picture and see if the children can guess what the picture is. Gradually zoom out and see at what point the picture can be identified. Or take distorted photographs of everyday objects and see if they can be identified. Explain that for Christians Easter is a little like this game. On Good Friday with Jesus dead things seemed hopeless and yet by Sunday the focus had changed and the full picture of God s plan could be seen. Discuss what is meant by: seeing is believing unless you see it with your own eyes you will never believe it. The story today is all about the disciples seeing for themselves that Jesus was alive again. Tell or watch the story of the resurrection. Emphasise the point that although the resurrection may seem an impossible thing to happen it is central to the Christian faith. Images or photographs for a film on the Resurrection Consider how emotions changed from Friday to the Sunday think about different people s views the disciples, the guards, the women, Peter What difference did the resurrection make to these people? Recap the whole of the Holy Week journey. It is often said that life is a roller coaster how is this statement true for this week? Holy Week timeline chart.