ROTATION: MOSES & THE EXODUS CLASS SCHEDULE:

BIBLE TIMES SQUARE ROTATION: MOSES & THE EXODUS CLASS SCHEDULE: Here is a recommended outline for your lesson. Please feel free to adapt the schedule of events as you see fit! WELCOME Welcome kids to Bible Times Square as they arrive. Hand out name tags and create name tags for any new students. Introduce yourself. STORYThe Plagues of Egypt - Resources and Instructions included PLAGUE GAMES Resources and Instructions included PRAYER A sample prayer may look something like this God, we remember that You kept your promise and helped the people of Israel when they were suffering. We know that You still help people today when they are suffering. Help us also to care for people who suffer. Help us to remember and celebrate the good things You have done and are still doing today. Preschool/Early Elementary OVERVIEW Students may know of someone going through difficulties that they would like to pray for. Possibly a friend or family member that is sad, sick, lonely or in need of God s help. Pray specifically for those people. SEND OFF: Encourage parents to work on the memory verse with their kids during the week. They can find the memory verse on the Zion website or through their email newsletter. EXTRA TIME: If you have extra time please make use of the parachute/balls located in your supply crates to play coordinated group games. Perhaps come prepared with some game ideas to use. You will also find a sheet of parachute game ideas to help you with some last minute ideas. 1

STORY - THE PLAGUES OF EGYPT BEFORE READING THE STORY ASK: Has anyone here really needed help with something they were doing? Allow children to share examples of situations where they need(ed) help. Ask them for details such as why did you need help, who did you ask for help, how did that person help, etc. SAY: Today we are going to learn about a story in the Bible where God s people asked God for help. A long time ago God s people were slaves in Egypt. They cried to God for help and God listened to their prayers. God did not want them to suffer anymore so He asked a man named Moses to go and help them. He sent Moses to Egypt to tell the Pharaoh to Let God s people GO! The Pharaoh didn t want to listen to Moses or to God so he said No! I will not let your people go! God had to send 10 plagues before the Pharaoh finally let God s people go and be free. Everytime a plague came, all of God s people stayed safe but the Egyptians had to deal with the plague. Today, we are going to learn about 9 of those plagues. NOTE: The topic of plagues is a complex idea for young children, especially the final plague which centered around the death of all first born males. At this age we are trying to teach children about God keeping His promises and being powerful. We will skip over certain parts of stories, not to be incorrect in providing information, but to focus on age appropriate learning objectives. Children will learn more details of the story as they grow older or as their parents choose to instruct. READ: The Ten Plagues: An Illustrated Story for Children NOTE: This resource was created for a Jewish audience. The Jewish community does not believe in writing the name of God so it is substituted with the spelling G-d. AFTER READING THE STORY SAY: After God sent all 10 plagues the Pharaoh FINALLY let His people go. God sent all of the plagues so that His people could be free. Let s play some games to help us remember some of the plagues! Preschool/Early Elementary OVERVIEW 2

PLAGUE GAMES Competition is not a focus at this age. Games should focus on team cooperation and success as a class. Remember to cheer on students and make sure that everyone gets a turn! GAME #1 WATER TURNS TO BLOOD A relay is set up by placing a large bowl of water on one side of the room and an empty bowl on the opposite side. Students run (or walk carefully) with small dixie cups from one end of the room to the other trying to fill up the empty bowl. Once the bowl is full the game is complete. The trick in this relay is that the empty bowl has drops of red food colouring at the bottom so that as they add clear water it turns red just like the blood in the river. GAME #2 FROGS: Students take turns trying to jump hopping frogs into a bucket. Allow students to take turns. If they find it too tricky to hop the frog they can simply try tossing the frog into the bucket. GAME #3 GNATS & LICE: Sprinkle a very small handful of hole punch confetti onto each students head (allow students to pass if they would prefer not to participate). Tell them that they are pretending that the paper is tiny little bugs called lice. Have the students try to shake them off and see how many they can get off their heads! GAME #4 FLIES: Spread small black felt circles around the room to be flies. Hand out a fly swatter covered in velcro. Have students take turns trying to catch a few flies. GAME #5 BOILS: Teams have a chance to cover a poster with a large face on it with boils by dabbing on dots with a red bingo dabber. Let the kids take turns as the class works together to fill up the whole face. GAME #6 THUNDER & HAIL: Mark a line on the floor and have children stand behind it. Have children try to knock over crops (paper cups decorated as straw bails) with hail (dried marshmallows). When all the crops have been knocked over the game is over. GAME #7 LOCUSTS: Teams will play target practice with toy grasshoppers. Grasshoppers and targets are provided. Students can take turns throwing their grasshopper into the target. ENJOY SOME CANDY FROGS AS A PRIZE FOR PARTICIPATING! Preschool/Early Elementary OVERVIEW 3

PLAGUE GAMES Children will learn about all of the plagues by playing games in the style of Minute to Win It. Divide a class into 2-3 teams depending on the number of students. Most games you can play one person at a time (each team sending a representative to participate). The class watches during each turn and cheers on their team participant. The winning student will score a point for their team. Before each game their will be a scriptural introduction and a short discussion. Have different students take turns looking up the scripture and reading it. INTRODUCTION ASK: Have you ever had someone change a plan or break a promise to you? What happened and how did it feel? Share answers. SAY: Today we are going to be learning about how Pharaoh kept breaking his promise to let the Israelites go. The Pharaoh probably didn t believe that God was as powerful as he was. Maybe the Pharaoh thought he could get away with keeping God s people as his slaves, but God proved him wrong. God proved that the Pharaoh couldn t outsmart God or keep the Israelites against God s will. God sent 10 plagues to command the Pharaoh to let His people go and it wasn t until the last plague that the Pharaoh finally listened. Explain that you will play a game to learn about each one of the plagues. GAME #1 WATER TURNS TO BLOOD Scripture Introduction: Exodus 7:14-21 Ask: I wonder what it would be like to have all your water turn to blood? Ask: I wonder how long the Egyptians could have survived with their water turned to blood? Ask: I wonder why God thought that turning water to blood would make the Pharaoh let His people go? Say: The pharaoh didn t believe in God. He and all the Egyptians worshiped their own false gods. God wanted to show the Egyptians that He was more powerful than their fake gods and that their fake gods couldn t stop Him. Every one of the plagues actually proved that He was the true God and the Egyptian gods were not. The people of Egypt worshiped the Nile river because they believed its water kept them from famine and saved their lives. They also believed that the fish in the river represented a goddess. When the river was turned to blood it was an attack on the river god and it also killed all the fish. A relay is set up by placing a large bowl of water on one side of the room and an empty bowl on the opposite side. Teams run with small dixie cups from one end of the room to the other trying to fill up the empty bowl. After one minute, the team with the most water in their bowl wins. The trick in this relay is that the empty bowl has drops of red food colouring at the bottom so that as they add clear water it turns red just like the blood in the river. 5

GAME #2 FROGS: Scripture Introduction: Exodus 8:1-7 Say: The Egyptians believed the frog-headed goddess, Hekt played a part in creation. She supposedly gave power to fertility which meant that she helped people have many children. But she could not control the fertility of all these frogs! Through this plague frogs multiplied so much that they became a stench to the Egyptians. Ask: I wonder what you thought when you heard that some Egyptian magicians could make many frogs too? Teams will have a chance to fill a bucket with hopping frogs. The team that is able to get the most frogs into their bucket at the end of one minute wins. Play one team at a time. GAME #3 GNATS & LICE: Scripture Introduction: Exodus 8:16-19 Say: At present there is no known link between this plague and a god of the Egyptian pantheon. However, the Bible tells us that Egyptian magicians were unable to duplicate this plague. As soon as they saw that they could not make lice appear they attributed the plague of lice to the finger of God (Exodus 8:19) and they went away. Ask: I wonder how the Egyptians would have felt when they realized they couldn t copy what the Israelites God was doing? Sprinkle a small handful of hole punch confetti onto a student s head. They have one minute to shake off as much as they can - without touching their heads. After one minute, the person with the least amount of confetti or lice on their head wins. GAME #4 FLIES: Scripture Introduction: Exodus 8:20-24 Ask: Can anyone guess what the fly-god of Egypt was supposed to do for people? Say: This plague may have been against the fly-god. As a symbol of bravery, soldiers who had proven themselves as strong and powerful were decorated with the golden fly. I bet soldiers didn t feel so powerful when they were covered in swarming flies wherever they went! Spread small black felt circles around the room to be flies. Hand out a fly swatter covered in velcro. After one minute the student who has swatted and collected the most flies wins. GAME #5 LIVESTOCK DISEASED: Scripture Introduction: Exodus 9:1-7 Say: This judgment was against the bull god. People often referred to the pharaoh as the bull god and they believed that he gave life to all people. When all of the livestock were diseased and killed this proved that the bull god was not the giver of life. Have all students sit in a circle. Hand each student a small stone - one stone should be painted black. Have students close the stone in their hand. Pass stones behind backs. When leader says stop all students look at their stone. The student holding the black stone lays down dead like livestock. The game continues until there is only one person remaining. This person wins for their team. 6

GAME #6 BOILS: Scripture Introduction: Exodus 9:8-11 ASK: I wonder if anyone can tell me what a boil looks like? SAY: Boils are very painful sores and are usually filled with puss. Boils came as an attack against the god of healing, Im-Hotep. Im Hotep could do nothing to help the Egyptians get rid of their boils. Teams have a chance to cover a poster with a large face on it with boils by dabbing on dots with a red bingo dabber. At the end of one minute the team with the most boils wins. GAME #7 THUNDER & HAIL: Scripture Introduction: Exodus 9:13-26 This is quite a long passage, it can be read by the teacher or broken into smaller sections for multiple students to read. ASK: I wonder why some of the Egyptians were starting to fear God? SAY: Maybe after 6 plagues they had already seen that their gods were not very powerful against the Israelites God. When the plague of hail came, the sky goddess Nut (who was supposed to control the weather) was not able to control the severe weather. Many crops and homes were destroyed by the powerful storms. Teams have a chance to knock over crops (paper cups decorated as straw bails) with hail (dried marshmallows). The team knocking over the most crops in one minute wins. GAME #8 LOCUSTS: Scripture Introduction: Exodus 10:3-6; 12-15 ASK: I wonder if anyone can tell me what a locust is? SAY: Locusts are like large grasshoppers. They like to eat vegetation. Seth was the Egyptian god that was supposed to be the protector of the crops. The locusts destroyed crops so the plague of locusts was a way to defy Seth. Teams will play target practice with toy grasshoppers. At the end of one minute the most targets hit by a player wins. GAME #9 DARKNESS: Scripture Introduction: Exodus 10:21-23 ASK: I wonder what it might be like to live in complete darkness (remember that they didn t have electricity like we do now)? SAY: The Egyptians had many sun gods. One of the greatest gods next to the Pharaoh was Ra. The plague of darkness was to challenge the sun gods and Ra was unable to bring light into the darkness. Blindfold one player. Scatter 10-15 ball pit balls around the room. Have one player at a time try to find and collect the balls in a bag/bowl. After one minute the player that collected the most balls wins. Each team can select one representative. Remember to cheer and also guide the participant away from wall/ objects that could cause injury. 7

GAME #10 DEATH OF THE FIRSTBORN: Scripture Introduction: Exodus 11:1; 4-8 12:1-8; 12-14 SAY: The last plague was certainly the worst. There would have been extreme sorrow in Egypt. Even though this plaque was very tragic, it was the only plague that finally made the Pharaoh let God s people go. The last plague was not only against the supreme god of Egypt, Pharaoh himself, but also against the future pharaoh, his son, the very next god of Egypt. He was to die on the same level as animals, for the prophecy was that the firstborn of man and cattle would die. No god of the Egyptians could save the firstborn. When the Pharaoh lost his eldest son he finally decided to let the Israelites go. Their freedom is still celebrated by Jewish people today at Passover celebrations. One member of each team will race against each other to be the first to paint a doorframe drawn on a poster. PRAYER & LIFE APPLICATION SAY: It took a lot of devastation for the Pharaoh to finally obey God. God had to prove Himself over and over again before the Pharaoh finally listened to what God wanted him to do. Today there are still people who don t believe in God or don t follow His rules. ASK: I wonder why some people don t believe in God or don t want to learn about Him? Allow students to share their thoughts. No answer is incorrect here and some sensitivity may be required as some children may come from homes where their very own parents are not believers. ASK: I wonder how people could be convinced that God is real today? Some answers may include sharing our faith, looking at creation, witnessing miracles, reading the Bible, hearing testimonies, etc. SAY: Believing in God has many blessings! He is our creator, He loves us more than anyone, He takes care of us and He wants us to be in His family forever! PRAYER TIME: Take some to pray for people who don t know about God or don t believe in Him. Ask God to help their hearts be opened to believing in God. Some children may wish to pray specifically for people they know who do not yet believe in God. 8