More Hands-On Holy Week Activities, by Gina Vetsch Robles
Holy Week—the culmination of Lent and the lead up to the greatest liturgical feast on the Church’s calendar. Every year, I vow to have our family fully prepared, and every year… reality happens. With little kids, we usually start strong but fizzle out by Easter. Last year, illness derailed us, and while we completed most of my planned activities, joy was in short supply. This year, I’m aiming for readiness—but with a special needs child, who knows? Will it be grace-filled? A week of survival mode? A holy train wreck? Only God knows, but I’m not giving up! Here are the websites I used to help create this year’s Hands-On Holy Week plan:
- The “You Can Still Do This” Guide to All Things Holy Week, Catholic All Year
- Holy Week: Ideas for Families, TeachingCatholicKids.com
- Sensory Easter Activities for Kids with Special Needs and Disabilities, Different Dream Living
Hand-On Holy Week 2025
Palm Sunday
The Palm Sunday Mass is longer and different from the start, so no matter how much we prepare our Autistic son for it, the Mass will pose a unique challenge. I’ll prepare a special Mass bag containing (affiliate links):
- Puzzle Cubes (Small, Medium and Large)
- Soft Marble Material Mazes
- Crayons and Mass Prep Coloring pages from Holy Heroes for our other two children
- Catholic or Christian picture books
- Infinity cubes
- Calendar
- Headphones
- Fidget rings
Palms are always given but usually we need to set them aside so no one gets poked. This year, I am planning to cut smaller palm shaped leaves out of different materials (foam, felt, paper, fleece and maybe a silky or bumpy sort of material) to distribute to our children throughout Mass. Hopefully this safer alternative will work for our kiddos if the palm branches are too much.
Holy Monday and Holy Tuesday:
We are going to prepare our house for Easter by cleaning clutter and donating things that we haven’t used. This is also a great time for spring cleaning and pretty much any level can join in at some capacity. (Allowing your children to play with clean wet rags throughout your cleaning/decluttering time is a fun alternative.) We will also clean the interior of our vehicle (weather permitting here in Minnesota).
Spy Wednesday
I love the idea of hiding silver for the betrayal of Jesus. I am not sure how my Autistic son will do with it but we will find out. We will hide 30 pieces of silver around the house and then discuss how we feel as everyone finds coins and takes them for their own.
Holy Thursday
We are going to do a washing of feet just as Jesus did for his disciples. We may try some foods that would have been found at the Passover meal as well. I am thinking flat bread or some sort of unleavened bread so that we can also talk about how the Eucharist was instituted during this special night as well. (Our youngest son, 3, has been very interested in this part of Mass lately.)
Good Friday
We’ll attend church for the veneration of the cross. We will also have a small plain cross on display in our home. We are going to keep the lights dim and remind ourselves of the darkness that falls over the Earth. We will pray a version of the Stations of the Cross for children at some point as well. We have a little kit with an object for each station that I made while I was a teacher similar to this one. I am sure the conversation of death will likely arise with our children as we have lost two close relatives in the last year. I am not exactly sure how we will approach this yet but we have several grief books for kids that we may turn to. We will also start assembling our Resurrection set from Catholic Icing. I made this last year and this year our daughter intends to help me.
Holy Saturday:
Another day of silence and waiting. We will continue our Easter preparations by finishing our Resurrection set if necessary and decorating paper eggs to hang around the house.
Easter Sunday:
First thing Easter morning, we will uncover the Alleluia we buried under the rug. (Hopefully my kids will remember where we put it!). After attending Mass we will have a meal and an Easter egg hunt. We will spend time with family and try to call all those we know to share our Easter joy. We may also add a scavenger hunt of sorts for our daughter who insists they are the most fun ever!
“The tragedy of the passion brings to fulfillment our own life and the whole of human history. We can’t let Holy Week be just a kind of commemoration. It means contemplating the mystery of Jesus Christ as something which continues to work in our souls.”
-St. Josemaria Escriva
Prayers for a fruitful and grace filled Holy Week and Easter for us all!