Gift = A Bigger Story

The post Palm Sunday/Abijah’s Donkey (Luke 19) appeared first on Jesus Without Language.

A simple split pin Palm Sunday craft won’t phase even the most nervous of teachers, grab a craft knife and prepare the slit in advance for an even smoother craft time. Watch Jesus as he leaves the edge of the village and the crowds greet him, travelling the stem of a palm leaf!

To make this craft you will need a pair of scissors, one printout page and a split pin (craft knife optional). I’d recommend printing on thicker paper or card. Choose your template: For printing in full colour (for those with less time) PDF – 1 page For printing in partial colour (for those who like to colour) PDF – 1 page For printing with no colour (for those with no colour printer) PDF – 1 page

Cut out the two pieces – be careful around Jesus, more white space is better than chopping off an ear or head.

Using the 2 small back cicles as guides, make two holes for your split pin to pass through.

Make a long slit along the two parallel back lines that follow the stem of the largest palm leaf. (if you’ve not done this in advance)

Slide Jesus and the donkey into the slit.

Push the split pin through the two layers

Turn over and open out the split pin.

Move Jesus along the crowd by turning the base piece.

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This Palm Sunday magic window craft shows the sudden change in the environment, pace and atmosphere that the triumphal entry into Jerusalem is so well known for. The fixed point for this image is the donkey with Jesus riding, the quiet of the edge of the village turns into the crowded street of palm waving, people praising, coat dropping celebration.

To make this craft you will need a pair of scissors, one printout page, sticky tape and some glue. I’d recommend printing on thicker paper or card. Choose your template: For printing in full colour (for those with less time) PDF – 1 page For printing in partial colour (for those who like to colour) PDF – 1 page For printing with no colour (for those with no colour printer) PDF – 1 page

Cut out the three main pieces – don’t cut the window out just yet.

Taking the longest piece fold it along the middle line. Doing this now will be much easier.

Now remove the window. This doesn’t need to be too exact, scissors will work fine.

There are two long tabs that extend on the top and base of the viewer. Once finished these will stop the two pices from coming apart. With younger groups you can simply snip them off. Older children may want to fold these back now before we move onto the next piece.

The crowd piece needs an acetate duplicate. you don’t need to duplicate the tabs, just the rectangle. Lay the background ontop of your acetate and cut to size. (no acetate, clear plastic packaging that will work too as long as it’s flat)

Use a small piece of tape to attach the acetate or equivalent onto the handle end of your viewer.

Take your image of Jesus on the donkey and place it on your scene. It’s important to check so he’s not floating!

Glue Jesus and the donkey onto the acetate. Either under or over the acetate, it makes little difference. Try and get the edges well stuck or it will catch.

Slide the acetate into the viewer and the crowd picture behind.

If you are using the securing tabs this is the time to add a scrap of paper to join them together.

As you pull the pieces apart the donkey will journey from the quiet countryside along the crowded street.

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Abijah’s donkey played a huge part in the palm Sunday story, with very little children you may want to take the opportunity to talk about the animals that the children have at home. Palm Sunday is also often accompanied by a procession which is a lovely tactile learning opportunity. The following Palm Sunday and donkey based games will suit a variety of groups and preparation times.

Donkey treads – Lay down different textures for the kids to crawl across. Try and find something that could be similar to the worn paths, the leaves and the coats that echo the story. you can add a person leading the donkey or even a rider if you have mixed age groups.
 

Donkey teeth – This is a really really silly game a little bit like chubby bunnies but with less of a possibility of choking! you will need to find something small and flat to be donkey teeth, like small biscuits, wafers or similar, cut them down so they aren’t much over 2 cm long- if you find nothing you can even use card. Gather your children and ask them what they know about Donkeys. Try and elicit the 2 answers of ‘big teeth’ and they make a ‘bray’ sound. have all the children say ‘bray’… then slowly give them extra big teeth, after each additional tooth the children need to repeat the ‘bray sound’. (‘b’ is made by pushing your lips together, something impossible with oversized teeth, so expect frustration and giggles) Mirrors are recommended!

Palm relay – Jesus is coming and we need coats and palm leaves to prepare the way. Have your youngsters run across the room, one at a time, and collect either a branch or coat and run back to their team. The first team to bring everything wins. lay out the coats and branches for the rest of the session.

See the king comes – A simple form of copy the leader this game will get your youngsters to think about what they would expect when they see a ‘celebrity’. Say ‘See the king comes…’ then what you expect to see accompanied with an action. Have the children copy the action. Dependent on your group the youngsters may want to take turns or supply ideas.

Examples :
See the king comes waving at the crowds – wave
See the king comes wearing a crown – adjust crown
See the king comes driving an expensive car – steer car
See the kind comes with soldiers – march on the spot
See the king comes with trumpets – hand out gifts
See the king comes with trumpets – blow trumpets
 

Donkey tails – Print the 2 part picture of the donkey (click on image below for PDF), paste it together and you’ll notice the tail is separate, grab a blindfold and enjoy the classic ‘pin the tail on the donkey’ game. It includes 4 colour coded tails.

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English

Extra’s

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Abijah finished his morning prayers and found himself thinking of the young donkey colt tied up outside the house – again. Every time he prayed recently he would end up thinking of this animal. He didn’t understand why, he even asked the rabbi but he didn’t understand either. It wasn’t the only animal Abijah kept. There was the lamb he would take to the temple soon, the older donkey, a goat and a few chickens too. The young donkey, was growing fast, he didn’t need a second donkey so he had planned sell it to some travelers on their way home after Passover but something felt wrong about that plan.

Through the window he could hear the crowds of people moving towards Mount of Olives and then Jerusalem. It was always crazy around Passover. Everyone who worshiped the one true God would need to visit the temple in Jerusalem. Abijah could also hear the animals outside, they were particularly noisy so he we went to check on them. As he approached two men walked towards the colt and started untying it’s rope.

Somehow they didn’t look like thief’s, they weren’t trying to hide what they were doing and didn’t run when he came outside.
“Why are you untying the donkey colt?” he asked calmly.
“The Lord needs it” came the equally calm response.
Abijah knew it was crazy but he didn’t stop them. Instead he decided to follow them and see what would happen.

The two men walked the colt over to a large crowd on the side of the road. It was a warm spring day and some of the men were carrying their cloaks. They threw the cloaks over the donkey and on climbed another man. Abijah watched amazed, this young donkey had never been ridden, it wasn’t trained, it wasn’t even fully grown. Abijah has never seen anything like this in his life, the donkey seemed perfectly happy to carry the man.

Who was this man on his donkey? He must be very special for the young animal to react like that. He didn’t look weak of frail or like he couldn’t walk, so why would he need a donkey to ride on?

As the crowd moved towards Mount of Olives Abijah heard his answer.
‘Look! It’s Jesus of Nazareth’ the crowd started to whisper and then shout.
‘Jesus the miracle worker’ came a loud scream.
‘Jesus the messiah’ another voice cried out.
The crowd was growing larger and larger and it was becoming harder for Abijah to see his donkey.

As the road dipped down the Mount of Olives the disciples of Jesus started to join in with the cries of the growing crowd. They praised God calling out; “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!” and “Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”

It was less than 15 minutes to the city now and from edge of Jerusalem people began turning back up the road to see who was coming. They ran towards the crowd laying their coats on the stony ground for the donkey to walk on and ripping huge palm branches from the trees to wave in celebration.

“Hosanna” came the cry, “Blessed is the king of Israel!” and “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”
“Just like the scripture said, ‘your king is coming, seated on a donkey’s colt’” came a calmer voice besides Abijah
Abijah turned to see the face of his rabbi.
“Our king is coming riding on my donkey colt’ replied Abijah to the smiling face besides him.
“Your prayers!” came the wide eyed response
“Honsanna” the two men said in unison.

Today’s hero is Abijah’s donkey, he shows us the gift of a bigger story.

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