Church Skits & Plays
A Palm Sunday skit with childrenTell Them to Be Quiet6–10 actors · 5 min

Easter · 6–10 actors · 5 minutes · Children 5–11, with one adult and a reader

Tell Them to Be Quiet

On the road down the Mount of Olives, a worried man named Nathan tries to quiet the praise, and the children around him copy everything he does half a second late, louder every time. A funny Palm Sunday skit for one adult and a crowd of children that ends with the whole church shouting.

$8USD, tax included
  • Instant PDF download, yours to keep
  • Performance rights for your whole church
  • 30-day refund if it doesn’t fit your church
Running time5 minutes
Cast6–10 roles · Children 5–11, with one adult and a reader
PrepOne rehearsal, for the echo. Nathan carries most of the words (about 250) and should know them well; the children’s lines are short and repeated.
Best forPalm Sunday service, before the sermon or the Palm Sunday hymn; children’s church; a Holy Week program
ScriptureLuke 19:37–40 (KJV)
ThemeWhen some wanted the praise stopped, Jesus wouldn’t stop it. He said that if His disciples were silent, “the stones would immediately cry out.”
FormatPrintable PDF

About the skit

The children come up the aisle shouting “Hosanna,” lay their jackets down as a road and gather around Nathan, who would like a word. He isn’t against joy, and he knows the psalm they’re singing. But they’ve changed one word to “the King,” and he knows what a Roman soldier hears in that. Every “Shh,” every “Quiet” and every deep breath comes back at him half a second late, and bigger.

Nathan isn’t a villain. He was six the last time a crowd shouted for a king on this road, and he’s afraid for these children. When nothing else works, he calls up the aisle toward the One riding past, and a reader at the back answers with Luke 19:40. In the silence, the children look at the stones by the road.

One man, four to eight children and a reader, with one rehearsal; nobody plays Jesus. It goes right before your Palm Sunday hymn. The staging notes give the children three simple rules for the echo, a way to teach the congregation its line, and a mic plan for small voices.

Read the first page

(The CHILDREN come up the center aisle, cheering and waving. Near the front, just below the platform, they lay their jackets down in the aisle like a road. Then they gather on both sides of NATHAN in a shallow arc, a step behind him and turned a little toward him, so every child can see his hands. Nobody stands directly behind him.)

CHILDREN: Hosanna! Hosanna!

(They wave their arms over their heads.)

CHILDREN: Blessed be the King that cometh in the name of the Lord!

(NATHAN lifts both hands for quiet. Half a second later, every CHILD lifts both hands too.)

NATHAN: Excuse me.

CHILDREN: (half a second late) Excuse me.

NATHAN: (to the congregation) They do that. (He puts his hands on his hips. Half a second later, so do they.) They've been doing it since Bethany.

NATHAN: My name is Nathan. And before anybody gets the wrong idea: I'm not against joy. I like joy. I have four children of my own. At the feasts, I sing louder than anyone.

CHILD 1: He does. It's very loud.

NATHAN: Thank you. (to the congregation) And that song they're singing? I know it. It's a psalm. We sing it every year, going up to the temple. My father taught it to me on this road. I was up on his shoulders. "Blessed be he that cometh in the name of the LORD."

CHILDREN: (joining in) …in the name of the Lord!

NATHAN: "He." The psalm says "he." (He holds up one finger. So do they.) They changed one word. They're singing "the King."

CHILDREN: (happily) The King!

NATHAN: (looking around fast) Shh! (finger to his lips)

CHILDREN: (fingers to lips, half a second late, very loud) SHH!

The script continues in the full PDF.

Characters

  • Nathan, a man by the road who knows the Scriptures; not a villain, but afraid for the children in front of him
  • The Children, the crowd down the Mount of Olives, 4–8 in all, copying Nathan half a second late
  • Child 1, confident and loud
  • Child 2, cheerful and very literal
  • Child 3, the youngest speaker, ideally about six; two very short lines
  • The Reader, offstage at the back of the church; reads Luke 19:40 and nothing else
  • The Congregation, shouts the crowd’s words once, at the very end

Props

  • Jackets or coats for the road
  • Four or five smooth, egg-size stones
  • Optional: palm branches
  • A robe and head covering for Nathan
  • Optional: the crowd’s line in the bulletin or on the screen

What you get

  • The full script with stage directions
  • Cast list, props list and simple staging notes
  • Four discussion questions for a small group, youth group or Sunday school class
  • Performance rights for your church: perform it as often as you like and print copies for your cast

Performance rights

One purchase covers one church or ministry. Perform it as many times as you like, make copies for everyone in the cast and crew, adapt the lines and include it in your livestream. Please don’t resell the script or share the file publicly. Read the full license.

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Questions

Can I change the names or lines?

Yes. Change names and genders, trim lines for time or adapt a joke for your church. The script is yours to fit to your people.

Can we record and stream the performance?

Yes. You can include it in your livestream and post the recording on your church’s own channels.

How do I get the file after I buy?

Right after checkout you get a download link on the confirmation page and by email. It works for up to 20 downloads, and each copy is marked with your order so it stays licensed to your church.

Who is the seller on my receipt?

Payments are processed by Link, Stripe’s checkout, which acts as the reseller. Your card statement shows LINK.COM* CHURCHSKITS. Questions about the script itself come to us at hello@churchskits.org.

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