I’ve combined the four accounts in the Gospels to write this lesson about Jesus’ triumphant entry into Jerusalem!  You’ll find the free download of this lesson on the Cooee Kid’s Ministry website:  https://cooeekidsministry.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Copycat-Kids.pdf

Warm-Up Activity:  Follow the Leader

This game is a fun way to collect your children for Kid’s Church before your service starts.

You may even collect a few grown-ups!

Ask a Kid’s Church leader to be head of a line and gather the children in a line behind him or her. The leader then moves around and all the children have to mimic the leader’s actions.

Bible Lesson:  Jesus Rides into Jerusalem

Bible References: 

Zechariah 9:9; Matthew 21:1-11; Mark 11:1-11; Luke 19:28-44; John 12:12-19

Improvisation:  You’re Copying Me!

Scene:  At a bus stop.

Leader 1 is sitting on the bench when Leader 2 enters and sits next to him.  Leader 2 copies every movement Leader 1 makes.  At first Leader 1 thinks it is a coincidence but as time goes by he makes more movement to see if Leader 2 is indeed copying him.  When Leader 2 continues to copy, Leader 1 makes funny movements that are hard to copy but Leader 2 still manages to keep up.  Leader 1 can add dialogue.  ‘You’re copying me!’  And Leader 2 says, ‘You’re copying me!’ And so on.  End the improvisation with Leader 1 throwing arms in the air and walking off, with Leader 2 doing the same thing! 

Note:  When you teach ‘copying’ in the Bible lesson, kids being kids, one or two may copy your actions or repeat everything you say!  Use them as an example of the children in the Bible story. Prepare your volunteers to sit alongside those children if it looks as though they are not going to quieten.

Illustrations for this story can be found at Free Bible Images under the heading ‘The Gospel’ and subheading ‘Last Week in Jerusalem.’  There’s a wonderful range of illustration styles.

Leader:           

Have you ever played a game like that?

Maybe to annoy your brother or sister?

Have you copied every word they’ve said?

Repeating it after them?

They say, ‘Stop copying me!’

Or, ‘Stop being a copycat!’

In today’s Bible story, there are lots of copycats.

But some people found the copycats very annoying.

Jesus and His disciples came to the village of Bethphage.

It was nearly time for the feast of Passover and

Jesus wanted to celebrate in the city of Jerusalem.

Jerusalem was buzzing. 

Everywhere, people were talking about Jesus.

‘Did you hear?  Jesus raised his friend Lazarus from the dead!’

‘Of course, I heard about it.  Do you think I am deaf?’

‘Well, if you were, Jesus would heal you.’

‘He’s the One we have been waiting for.  He will kick out

the Romans who rule over us and He will be our King.’

God had decided Jesus was not going to walk into Jerusalem.

Jesus was to ride in.

You see, the prophet Zechariah, inspired by God, had written in the Old Testament:

Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion!
Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem!
Behold, your King is coming to you;
He is just (righteous) and having salvation,
Lowly (humble) and riding on a donkey,
A colt, the foal of a donkey.

                        (Zechariah 9:9)

 So Jesus sent two of his disciples, saying to them, 

‘Go to the village ahead of you, and just as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, which no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here.  If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ say, ‘The Lord needs it and will send it back here shortly.’

 They went and found a colt outside in the street, tied at a doorway. 

As they untied it,some people standing there asked, ‘What are you doing, untying that colt?’They answered as Jesus had told them to, and the people let them go.

Do you know what a colt is?

It is a male foal.  In this case a male donkey foal.

It was under four years old and had never been ridden by anybody.

When they brought the colt to Jesus the disciples placed their cloaks on it for Jesus to sit on.

As Jesus travelled down the road, the whole crowd of disciples began to joyfully praise God in loud voices for all the miracles they had seen.

Great enthusiasm and eagerness gripped the people of Jerusalem.

‘Jesus is coming!’  ‘Jesus is coming!’

 The large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, while others cut palm

branches from the trees and spread them on the road for the colt carrying

Jesus to ride over.

The crowd shouted:

‘Hosanna!’

‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!’

‘Blessed is the King of Israel!’

‘Hosanna to the Son of David!’

The word ‘Hosanna’ is a plea for salvation.

It means ‘I beg you to save!’ or

‘Please deliver us!’ 

They called Jesus ‘the Son of David’ because the

Messiah was to come from the house of David.

Jesus was the promised Messiah!

The long-awaited deliverer, and the fulfilment of

Old Testament prophecy.

But there were certain men not at all excited by Jesus’ coming. 

The cold-hearted, legalistic Pharisees. 

They saw how popular Jesus was with the people.

They said, ‘Look how the whole world is gone after Him!’

They were jealous of Jesus.  They wanted to kill Him.

Yet they couldn’t think of a way to do it because the crowd

were listening closely and intently to every word Jesus said.

Jesus went into the temple and the blind and the lame came to Him and

He healed them. 

Their pride blinded the Pharisees. 

Jesus would not give them the honour they thought they deserved and they were angry.

Here’s where the copycats come in!

The children had seen what the grown-ups had said and done.

So they decided to copy.

They ran around the temple courts shouting,

‘Hosanna to the Son of David!’ just as the adults had done.

The Chief Priests and Pharisees were angry and annoyed with the children.

They said to Jesus, ‘Do you hear what these children are saying?’

‘Yes,’ said Jesus.  ‘Haven’t you ever read:

            ‘From the lips of children and infants you,

            Lord, have called forth your praise?’ (Psalm 8:2)

Jesus was saying the children’s praise was perfect! 

The power and the glory of God and His strength could be seen in them! 

Jesus thought the copycats were great!

Ministry to the Children:

Jesus wants you to be a copycat!  He wants you to copy Him!  Jesus is your example of how to behave and how to live your life.  And do you know what?  Jesus was copying His Dad!  He said, ‘I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing alone.  The Son does only what He sees the Father doing because the Son does whatever the Father does.’ (John 5:19)  Jesus showed us exactly what God wants us to do.  To be kind and compassionate.  To pray for people and to point them to God who wants to be their loving Father, too.  

You can be like the copycat kids in the Bible story.

You can call out, ‘Hosanna, save now!’

And Jesus will save you, too.

(Sing: I Have Decided to Follow Jesus)

Activity:  A Jesus Call!

A call from a Leader and a response from the children.  Warning!  This call and response can get very loud.

Leader:            Give me a ‘J’

Children:         ‘J’

Leader:            Give me an ‘E’

Children:         ‘E’

Leader:            Give me an ‘S’

Children:         ‘S’

Leader:            Give me a ‘U’

Children:         ‘U’

Leader:            ‘Give me another ‘S’

Children:         ‘S’

Leader:            What does it spell?

Children:         Jesus!

Leader:            Who do you love?

Children:         Jesus!

The Leader can ask more questions with the children answering ‘Jesus!’

Memory Verse:  Ephesians 5:1 (NLT)

Imitate God, therefore, in everything you do, because you are his dear children.

You Will Need:

• Two harmonicas or two whistles or two recorders (or even kazoos)
• The words of the Memory Verse written out on pieces of paper.
• Baby wipes for cleaning the instruments between turns  (if you’re concerned you could use two drums, or clap hands, for this Memory Verse game, but it isn’t as funny)

What to Do:

• A leader has one of the instruments and a child has the other
• The leader plays a simple rhythmical pattern on the instrument
• The child must copy the exact rhythmical pattern to receive a word of the Memory Verse (it sounds easy, but the more laugh the harder it gets!)
• The rhythmical pattern does not have to be in syllables (or beats) unless you have younger children
• When all the words of the Memory Verse are collected, the children must arrange them in the correct order and say the words aloud in unison (and perhaps with accompaniment from an instrument by the leader)

Game 1:  Copycat

Children must copy the actions of a leader.  The leader stands or sits in a crazy position.  When the leader calls out ‘Copycat!’ all the children must imitate the leader’s position (and funny faces if you’d like).  The last person in the position is out!

Game 2:  Simon Says

A leader is Simon. Standing in front of the children, Simon tells them what they must do. However, the children must only obey commands that begin with the words ‘Simon Says.’  If Simon says, ‘Simon says touch your nose,’ then players must touch their nose. But, if Simon says, ‘jump,’ without first saying ‘Simon says,’ the children must not jump. Those that do jump are out of the game.

Game 3:  Changing the Leader (Older children)

Arrange the children into a circle facing inward.  Ask one child to leave the room, accompanied, for one minute.  They are the ‘guesser’ for this round.  While the child is gone, another adult chooses a child to be the ‘leader’ in the game.  The ‘leader’ chooses a movement for the round.  The ‘guesser’ is invited to come back and stands in the centre of the circle.  When the round begins, everyone starts swinging their arms up and down. The ‘leader’ will eventually begin to do other movements, and everyone else in the circle mimics the ‘leader’s’ actions, without being too obvious so the ‘guesser’ can’t tell who the ‘leader’ is.

The ‘leader’ can:

• Clap
• Jump
• Pat head
• Twist
• Nod

Children must try to avoid looking at the ‘leader’ for too long so their identity is not given away. The ‘guesser’ can keep turning around to figure out which person is the ‘leader’ (the person who is starting all the group’s movements). The ‘guesser’ can make 3 guesses.  If the guess is wrong, the round continues. If the guess is right, the ‘leader’ becomes the new guesser for the next round. If all three guesses are wrong the round ends and you choose new children to be the ‘guesser’ and the ‘leader’.

Craft 1:  Palm Leaf Cross (Older children)

Make a strip of palm leaf into a cross.  You’ll find the instructions on the internet.  When I had no access to palm leaves, I cut green cardboard into skinny triangular strips instead.

Craft 2:  Peg Leg Donkey (Young children)

You Will Need:

• Donkey (with no legs) photocopied onto white card (1 donkey per child)
• Two wooden pegs per child
• Glue
• Wool for mane and tail
• Scissors
• Felt pens or crayons
• Goggle eyes (optional)
• Little coat made of material (optional)

What to Do:

• Pre-cut everything for young children
• Children colour their donkey
• Add mane and tail with glue
• Glue on eyes
• Glue on the coat
• Peg on wooden peg legs (add black hooves with a felt pen)

(You may find older primary aged children will like this craft, too!)