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Holy Week Activities for Kids: Free Countdown Chain Printable

A free printable Holy Week activity for kids, an 8-link paper chain from Palm Sunday to Resurrection Sunday with one KJV verse a day telling the Easter story.

All ages

Holy Week Activities for Kids: Free Countdown Chain Printable

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⬇ Countdown chain, 8 strips + cross (PDF) · 3 pages

Free to print and copy for your church, classroom, VBS and home. Please don't resell or re-post our files; link to the page instead.

Ages: Preschool (3–5), Early Elementary (K–2), Upper Elementary (3–5), Whole Family
Time: 15 minutes to make, 2 minutes a day
Scripture: Matthew 21; Mark 11–14; John 13; Luke 23; Matthew 27–28
Bible story: The Triumphal Entry (Palm Sunday)The Last Supper Jesus Dies on the Cross Jesus Is Alive! (The Resurrection)

What you need

The printed strips and cross (pages 2–3)
Colored paper (or crayons to color the backs)
Scissors
A glue stick or tape

Steps

Print pages 2–3 on colored paper, or print on white and let kids color the blank backs.
Cut the strips and the cross apart on the dashed lines.
Loop strip 8 into a ring with the words on the inside and glue the end marked GLUE.
Thread strip 7 through that ring and glue it. Keep going down to strip 1, which hangs at the bottom.
Color the cross yellow and glue it to the top link.
Starting on Palm Sunday, tear off the bottom link each day, open it up and read the verse inside together. Link 8 is for Resurrection Sunday.

A Holy Week paper chain for kids, and one of the simplest Holy Week activities a family or class can do. It has eight links, from Palm Sunday to Resurrection Sunday (March 21–28, 2027). Each link carries one KJV verse on the inside, and together they tell the Easter story in order: Jesus riding into Jerusalem, the house of prayer, the first commandment, the woman who anointed Him, the Last Supper, the cross, the sealed tomb, and the empty tomb.

Each day, tear off the bottom link, open it up and read the verse inside at breakfast or bedtime. Every link also names a longer passage, so families can read that part of the story together. The Gospels don't say what happened on every day of that week, so the links follow the story in Bible order rather than naming a day for each event.

A finished Holy Week paper chain: eight purple, white, yellow and green paper loops with a yellow paper cross standing above the top link, on a wooden table with scissors, a glue stick and crayons

What it looks like finished.

The Easter story sets: the lessons, crafts, coloring pages and puzzles for The Triumphal Entry (memory verse Matthew 21:9), The Last Supper (John 13:34), Jesus Dies on the Cross (Romans 5:8) and Jesus Is Alive! (Matthew 28:6) use the same memory verses as links 1, 5, 6 and 8.

The 8 links

Day 1 (Palm Sunday) · Matthew 21:9: “And the multitudes that went before, and that followed, cried, saying, Hosanna to the Son of David: Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord; Hosanna in the highest.”
Day 2 · Mark 11:17: “And he taught, saying unto them, Is it not written, My house shall be called of all nations the house of prayer? but ye have made it a den of thieves.”
Day 3 · Mark 12:30: “And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment.”
Day 4 · Mark 14:8: “She hath done what she could: she is come aforehand to anoint my body to the burying.”
Day 5 · John 13:34: “A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.”
Day 6 · Romans 5:8: “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”
Day 7 · Matthew 27:66: “So they went, and made the sepulchre sure, sealing the stone, and setting a watch.”
Day 8 (Resurrection Sunday) · Matthew 28:6: “He is not here: for he is risen, as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay.”

Tips

Print on purple, white, yellow and green paper for a bright chain, or print on white and let kids color the backs.
Hang it low where kids can reach the bottom link.
On Resurrection Sunday, read the whole of Matthew 28:1–10 from the Easter story in the Bible, and learn the Easter scriptures together.

Frequently asked questions

What are good Holy Week activities for kids?

Read a short part of the Easter story each day from Palm Sunday to Resurrection Sunday. This paper chain gives kids one link a day with a KJV verse inside and a longer passage to read as a family, so the week walks through the story in order.

Does each link say what happened on that day of the week?

Not exactly. The Gospels tell us Jesus rode into Jerusalem before the Passover and rose on the first day of the week, but they don't tell us what happened on every day in between. So the links follow the story in Bible order, and link 8 is the resurrection.

How do you make a paper chain countdown?

Glue strip 8 into a ring, then thread each next strip through the last ring before gluing it. Link 1 hangs at the bottom, and you tear off one link a day. The verse is printed on the inside, so kids open the link to read it.