Holy Week, Week 1 (Mar. 10, 2024)
The Last Supper
Bible Passage: Matthew 26:17-28
Big Idea: Jesus Gives His Life For Us
Preschool-Kindergarten
Welcome — Activity Leader — 2 minutes
Have the children sit in a circle on the circle time rug. Welcome them to class and introduce yourselves.
Warm-Up Activity: Storytime — Activity Leader — 3 minutes
Read: Easter Love Letters from God (pages 8-15)
Intro & Bible Story— Bible Story Leader — 5 minutes
Does anyone know how many weeks until Easter? Are you excited? What does your family do to celebrate Easter?
For the next 4 weeks we will be talking about the Easter story from the Bible, and about some of the things that happened during the last week of Jesus’ life
For today’s lesson we’ll be learning about something called The Last Supper… that was the last time that Jesus had a big meal with his friends and some interesting things happened
Let’s watch our video to find out more about that special dinner…
Video Lesson — 5 minutes
Follow Up Discussion — Bible Story Leader — 5 minutes
In the video, we learned that Jesus had his last big meal with his friends during something called the Passover Festival. Jewish people celebrate this festival to remember the time when God rescued the them from a very bad situation in Egypt long long ago.
Can anyone remember from the video, what was the name of Jesus’ friend that Jesus said was going to turn his back on him? (Judas) How was Judas going to turn his back on Jesus? (he was going to give him to the people who wanted to arrest him)
Then, after Jesus talked about that, he did something else called Communion, have you ever heard of that? It’s when Jesus gave his friends bread to eat and wine to drink, and it meant something important. Do you know what the bread and wine are supposed to mean? (bread stands for Jesus’ body, and wine stands for his blood or his life, which Jesus was going to give up for all people)
So that’s what Easter is really all about - how Jesus was willing to give up his own life for us and for everyone, to show us how much God loves us. But don’t worry, because we know that on Easter, Jesus came back to life again
Prayer — Bible Story Leader — 1 minute
“Dear God, thank you for the story we heard today about Jesus’ Last Supper with his friends, and how he told them everything that was about to happen, how someone was going to turn their back on him, and then he was going to give up his life for them and for us. Thank you for the great love that Jesus showed up by going to the cross and giving his life for us. Thank you for your power to bring him back to life again. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Craft: Last Supper Cut Outs — Activity Leader — 7 minutes
Kids will draw and colour pictures either of the disciples or the food that they may have eaten at the Last Supper. They will cut them out and leave their cutouts on the table after class, so we can add them to a wall mural.
If a child is not interested in the activity, allow them to move to free play.
Free Play — Both — 7 minutes
Dismissal: Collect tags and make sure each child leaves with their caregiver
Grades 1-3
Welcome —Both— 3 minutes
Have the children sit near the TV. Welcome them to class. Introduce yourselves .
Warm Up Activity: Human Alphabet — Activity Leader — 3 minutes
Call out letters one at a time. The kids will work together to use their bodies to make that letter on the floor. If you want to make it more tricky, you could get the kids to split up in groups and have each group spell out a short word, like “DOG” or “CAT” (you may need to spell it out for them)
Preliminary Discussion — Bible Story Leader —5 minutes
Today we are starting a brand new series for Easter. Does anyone know how many weeks until Easter? Are you excited? How does your family normally celebrate Easter?
So in the next 4 weeks we will be learning about the story of the last week of Jesus’ life, leading up to him going to the cross and, of course, coming back to life again after 3 days!
The first part of the story that we’ll be talking about is something called The Last Supper. Has anyone heard of that before? It was the last time Jesus and his friends shared a big meal before Jesus went to the cross
Let’s watch our video to find out more about that…
Video Lesson — 5 minutes
Follow Up Discussion — Bible Story Leader — 5 minutes
Can anyone remember the name of the Festival that was happening when Jesus and his friends had this Last Supper? (Passover Festival - which celebrated God rescuing the Hebrew people from Egypt in the Old Testament)
What was the name of Jesus’ disciples who Jesus said would betray him? (Judas) How was Judas going to betray Jesus? (he was going to help the religious leaders arrest Jesus)
After Jesus mentioned this betrayal, he did something that we call Communion. Does anyone know what that is? (that’s where Jesus took bread and wine and gave it to his disciples to eat and drink as an important symbol)
What do the bread and wine represent? (Jesus’ body and blood that he willingly gives up for us when he goes to the cross)
So that’s really what this story is about — how Jesus was letting his friends and disciples know what was going to happen, that he was going to go to the cross, and that even though he was going to be betrayed, the truth is, he was willing to do this and give up his life for all of us, because of his love for us… and that’s why we celebrate Easter.
Prayer — Bible Story Leader — 1 minute
“Dear God, thank you for the story we heard today about Jesus’ Last Supper with his friends, and how he wanted them to know and be prepared for what was about to happen… that he was going to go to the cross and give up his life, willingly, for their sake and ours. Thank you for that great love that you showed us. In Jesus’ name, Amen.”
Craft: Last Supper Cut Outs — Activity Leader — 10 mins
Kids will draw and colour pictures either of the disciples or the food that they may have eaten at the Last Supper. They will cut them out and leave their cutouts on the table after class, so we can add them to a wall mural.
They’ll also make a heart this way, and glue one of the printed verses onto it.
Dismissal: Collect tags and make sure each child leaves with their caregiver
Grades 4-6
Welcome and Warm-Up — Activity Leader— 5 minutes
Welcome the kids to class, introduce yourselves.
Game: Dice Roll Game
Instructions will be printed on a sheet and left in the classroom
Preliminary Discussion — Bible Story Leader —5 minutes
Does anyone know how many weeks until Easter? Are you getting excited? How do you and your family usually celebrate Easter?
So for the next four weeks we’ll be doing a brand new series leading up to Easter, which will be all about the last week of Jesus’ life before he went to the cross and came back to life again 3 days later.
The first part that we’ll be learning about today is called The Last Supper, has anyone ever heard of it? It was the last time Jesus and his friends had a big meal together.
There were some interesting things that happened at that meal, so let’s watch our video to find out more…
Video Lesson — 4 minutes
Follow Up Discussion — Bible Story Leader — 5 minutes
Can anyone remember the name of the Festival that was happening when Jesus and his friends had this Last Supper? (Passover Festival) Do you know what the Passover Festival is all about? (it celebrates God rescuing the Hebrew people from Egypt in the Old Testament)
What was the name of Jesus’ disciples who Jesus said would betray him? How was he going to betray Jesus? (Judas; he was going to help the religious leaders arrest Jesus)
After Jesus mentioned this betrayal, he did something that we call Communion. Does anyone know what that is? (that’s where Jesus took bread and wine and gave it to his disciples to eat and drink as an important symbol)
What do the bread and wine represent? (Jesus’ body and blood that he willingly gives up for us when he goes to the cross)
So that’s really what this story is about — how Jesus was letting his friends and disciples know what was going to happen, that he was going to go to the cross, and that even though he was going to be betrayed, the truth is, he was willing to do this and give up his life for all of us, because of his love for us… and that’s why we celebrate Easter.
Prayer — Bible Story Leader — 1 minute
“Dear God, thank you for the story we heard today about Jesus’ Last Supper with his friends, and how he wanted them to know and be prepared for what was about to happen… that he was going to go to the cross and give up his life, willingly, for their sake and ours. Thank you for that great love that you showed us. In Jesus’ name, Amen.”
Craft: Backdrop Designs — Activity Leader — 10 minutes
Kids will be making abstract backdrop designs for our mural, using oil pastels and watercolour paint
Dismissal: Collect tags and make sure each child leaves with their caregiver
