How to Make a Palm Cross (Easy Palm Cross Instructions!)

Do you know how to make a Palm Cross?

If you attend a church that passes out palm fronds on Palm Sunday, you may have seen others fold them into cute little crosses.

Making palm crosses is surprisingly easy.

And in today’s post, I’m going to show you how to make a cross with palm leaves with easy, step-by-step instructions!

Scroll down to find written, video, AND printable PDF palm cross instructions.

What is Palm Sunday?

Palm Sunday (the Sunday immediately before Easter Sunday) is a Christian holiday that commemorates Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem before his crucifixion.

At the original Palm Sunday (which we can read about in Matthew 21:1–11), many people spread their cloaks and palm branches on the road to prepare a path for Jesus as he entered the city where he would ultimately be crucified.

Today, many Christian churches commemorate Jesus’ triumphal procession into Jerusalem by passing out palm fronds and/or having a special processional in or out of the church.

Why Do Christians Make Palm Crosses?

If your church passes out palm fronds, making palm crosses is an easy and fun way to remember Jesus’s sacrifice on the cross. Many families will take the crosses home and display them all year long! It’s completely optional but a lot of fun.

How to Make a Palm Cross – Video Instructions

Prefer to learn how to make a palm cross by watching someone else?

Watch the video above for an easy-to-follow, step-by-step video tutorial showing how to make a cross from a palm leaf.

Download Your “How to Make a Palm Cross” PDF Instructions

Want to share this fun Palm Cross craft with your Sunday School class, your kids, or your students at school?

Need printable palm cross PDF instructions you can fold up and take with you?

Grab this printable palm cross instructions sheet for free!

This one-page cheat sheet has all of the Easter palm cross instructions laid out in a very easy-to-follow format–complete with pictures, so even kids can make their own palm crosses as well.

Simply enter your name and email below so we know where to send it.

(And YES, you are more than welcome to print out multiple copies to share with your Sunday School class or church group.)

Related Reading: Easy Easter Resurrection Rolls Recipe

How to Make a Palm Cross — Step-by-Step Instructions

Alright, ready to get started making palm crosses? Let’s dive in with your easy, step-by-step palm cross instructions!

1. Separate Your Palm Frond and Remove the Strings

If your palm frond is folded over on itself, gently tear the two halves of the palm frond apart and remove any extra strings. This will make your Palm Sunday cross easier to fold.

Plus, with two palm fronds instead of one, you can make TWO Palm Sunday crafts — both this Palm Cross and possibly a braided palm cross? The options are endless!

2. Fold the Palm Frond

Bend the thick end of the palm frond over on itself, being careful to keep the fold “loose” or “rounded.” (Don’t squish it.) Aim for between one-quarter to one-third of the way down the thick end of your palm frond.

Tip: If the pointy end of your palm frond has a looong skinny end, don’t count that part when estimating — it will be extra when you’re done.

This folded area (on the right side in the picture above) will be the front, vertical section of your finished Palm Sunday cross. The bigger this folded area, the bigger your palm leaf cross will be, and vice versa.

And, of course, the thicker end will be the top, while the pointy end will be the bottom.

3. Fold at a 90° Angle to Create the First Arm

Once you have the vertical section of your palm cross folded (step 2), flip your palm cross so you’re looking at the BACK — the long side. Bend the long side of your Palm Sunday cross at a 90° angle to the right to start the first arm.

In the picture above, you’re looking at what will be the back of the palm cross and what will be the left arm once you flip it over.

4. Continue Folding Around to Start the Other Arm

Once you’ve started the first arm, you’ll bend the long length of the palm frond back the other way to start the second arm. Be sure to wrap around in front of your palm cross here. You want to basically go in a big circle around the vertical part to create both arms.

This is my favorite way of learning how to make a cross from a palm frond because you can easily see all the parts right away.

I find it’s more difficult to remember how to make a cross with palm leaves when you have to remember a series of random folds before you even get started making your palm frond cross.

5. Finish the Second Arm

Continue your circle around the vertical section of the palm frond so you have two arms, both arms are “doubled up,” and your extra length is pointing past the first arm you made (to the right when you’re looking at the back of the palm leaf cross).

6. Bend the Extra Length Up at a 45° Angle

At this point, you have a decent-looking palm cross. (See, I told you making palm crosses was easy!) Now, you just need to secure it.

We will do that by creating two “sashes” to hold the cross in place. So fold the extra length of palm cross up and to the right, at a 45° angle, so it goes right in between the top of the vertical section and the first arm.

7. Create the First “Sash”

Next, turn the palm Sunday cross over and fold the extra length of the palm frond diagonally across the front of the palm cross so it looks like a “sash.”

^^ This is what your palm cross will look like from the front.

^^ And this is what it will look like from the back.

8. Fold the Extra Length Straight Across the Bottom

Hopefully, you’re not running out of extra length yet! (Figuring out how much palm frond you need is definitely the trickiest part of folding palms into crosses.)

Here, you’ll run the extra length straight across, left to right, right under the “arms.”

9. Create the Other Sash

This sash will also go diagonally across the front of the palm leaf cross, but this time, it will go from bottom to top.

^^ Here’s what your palm cross will look like from the back.

^^ And here’s what it will look like from the front.

10. Tuck in the Extra Length

Now, you just have to tuck away any extra length, and you’re all done!

Fold the extra length to the back of your Palm Sunday cross and tuck it in. You can either go “top down” or “bottom up” — whichever is easiest for you, depending on how much palm frond you have left and how thick it is.

You may have to do this several times (1-3), but just keep going until it’s all tucked in, it looks neat and tidy, and it feels nice and secure. You can also trim the ends if you’d prefer. This part of making palm crosses is pretty hard to mess up. Just do whatever works!

11. Adjust the Lengths and Crease the Ends

Want your palm cross a little taller or shorter? Are the arms a bit uneven? Make any adjustments you need to (even with easy palm cross instructions, every palm is a bit different, and you may need to adjust accordingly).

Then, carefully push on the folds to get a strong, clean crease that looks nice and tidy.

Congratulations! You just learned how to fold a palm cross!

Be sure to display your palm cross in your home where you’ll see it often!

(And don’t forget to pin these easy palm cross instructions so you’ll have them again for next Palm Sunday when you’ll want to remember how to make a Palm Cross again!)

Related Reading: He is Risen! Empty Tomb Craft for Kids

How to Dispose of Old Palm Branches

While folding palms into crosses is a lot of fun, you may not want to hang on to your palm leaf crosses forever.

Eventually, you’ll probably want to know how to dispose of old Palm Sunday palms.

It’s important to note: IF you attend a Catholic church that blesses its palms for Palm Sunday mass, you cannot dispose of palms in the trash once they’ve been blessed.

Here’s how to dispose of palms:

Bury them
Burning them and spreading the ashes
Returning your old palms to church to be turned into ashes for Ash Wednesday next year.

Note: Protestant churches typically don’t bless palms for Palm Sunday, so you’re completely fine to throw your palm crosses away when they get old or you no longer want them.

But if you attend a denomination that blesses the palms before handing them out, you’ll definitely want to check if your palm frond was blessed before you throw it away so you can check how to dispose of palms properly.

And don’t forget — this includes any extra strings or any pieces you cut off making palm crosses as well as any palms you may have “messed up” while you were learning how to make a palm cross for the first time.

(It happens!)

Don’t Forget Your “How to Make a Palm Cross” PDF Instructions!

Yes, making palm crosses is easy, but do you want to risk forgetting how to make a palm cross on Palm Sunday?

(You don’t want to have to pull out your phone during church!)

A better idea: Download this one-page cheat sheet with easy-to-follow, step-by-step Easter palm cross instructions–complete with pictures, so even kids can make their own palm crosses as well.