How to Make Palm Leaf Crosses for Easter
Lent kicked off yesterday, so we are officially on the lead-up to Easter/Resurrection Sunday. Last year I made this tutorial on how to make palm leaf crosses, so I’m sharing it again this year to help us plan for the upcoming holiday. You could make these with your kids to explain the importance of Palm Sunday, or you could even make them as a congregation to align your hearts to prepare for the week leading up to Good Friday and Resurrection Sunday.
What is Palm Sunday?
Palm Sunday is the celebration and remembrance Jesus’ fulfillment of Old Testament prophecies found in Zechariah 9:9. The events are recorded in various Gospels, including John 12:12-19:
12 The next day the large crowd that had come to the feast heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem. 13 So they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him, crying out, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel!” 14 And Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it, just as it is written,
15 “Fear not, daughter of Zion;
behold, your king is coming,
sitting on a donkey's colt!”16 His disciples did not understand these things at first, but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things had been written about him and had been done to him. 17 The crowd that had been with him when he called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him from the dead continued to bear witness. 18 The reason why the crowd went to meet him was that they heard he had done this sign. 19 So the Pharisees said to one another, “You see that you are gaining nothing. Look, the world has gone after him.”
These events are leading up to Jesus’ crucifixion on Good Friday, as well as his triumphal return on Resurrection Sunday. Learning how to make palm leaf crosses is a simple way to fix your eyes and hearts on Jesus.
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Supplies you’ll need:
Palm leaves (24-26” long, about 2” wide)
Scissors (if you want to trim the ends)
Step 1: Fold down the base.
To start your palm leaf cross, measure up from the bottom about 5 to 6 inches, and fold down the top part of the palm leaf. The bottom portion creates the vertical portion of your cross while the remaining hanging tail will be folded in the horizontal side pieces.
Step 2: Fold the horizontal side pieces.
Next, you’re going to fold the horizontal side pieces of the cross. Go down from the fold about 1 to 2 inches (depending on how big you want the top portion of your cross to be), and then fold the hanging tail piece up and to the right at a 45-degree angle (see first picture).
With the hanging tail piece, which is now pointing to the right, fold your first horizontal side piece about 1 to 2 inches away from the center stem, and then do the same thing on the other side, creating both horizontal sides of the cross.
With the hanging tail piece, fold another 45-degree angle at the center (see third picture).
Step 3: Fold around the center stem.
Next, you’re going to fold the hanging tail piece across the center of your stem (first picture), then fold around the bottom piece (second picture), and then back up and over (third picture). You will have wrapped around both sides of the center and have a hanging tail at this point.
Step 4: Tuck in the tail piece.
To finish your palm leaf crosses, tuck your hanging tail piece through the horizontal piece wrapped around the bottom of the center stem. Then wrap through a second time and pull tightly to secure your palm leaf crosses.
Trim the excess hanging tail, if desired.
Step 5: Flip over.
All of that folding and tucking is on the back side of your palm leaf crosses, so flip them over and you’re done!
This is such a simple and fun craft to celebrate Palm Sunday leading into the week before Good Friday and Resurrection Sunday. I really enjoyed learning how to make these myself.
If you make your own palm leaf crosses, I’d love to see a picture! Please share in the comments.
I hope you enjoyed learning how to make palm leaf crosses! Check out the video tutorial below if you prefer to follow along in that format.
Blessings Friend.
