Lesson 2: Moses and the burning bush.
Passage: Exodus 2:11-4:17 - Moses grew up in the palace of Pharaoh, and one day he went out and saw an Egyptian beating an Israelite, one of his own people. When he thought no one was looking, Moses killed the Egyptian and buried him in the sand. But word got out about what he’d done, and Pharaoh became angry and wanted to kill him. So Moses ran away to a place called Midian, where he met seven daughters of a priest named Jethro. He helped them draw water from a well for their flocks and was invited to their home. Moses married one of the daughters, whose name was Zipporah, and lived with them for many years. One day, when Moses was tending to the flocks in the wilderness, he saw a bush that was caught on fire but didn’t burn up. When he came closer, he heard God speaking to him from the bush. God told Moses that God had not forgotten about the Israelites’ misery and was now sending Moses to go back and rescue them. Moses was afraid and reluctant to go, but God gave him two signs so that the people would listen to him - a staff that turned into a snake and back again, and his hand becoming leprous when placed in his cloak and then healing again.
Big Idea: God calls us to seek justice.
For Teachers:
Lesson plan.
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WelcomeActivity: (10 minutes) — All Leaders
Have one leader greet the children with the iPad roster outside the classroom door. Check-in the children in your classroom as they arrive.
Have another leader invite the children in to sit in a circle on the circle time rug. Introduce yourselves.
Activity: — Bible Story Memory Tray
The leader will reveal a tray of items that have to do with today’s bible story. Items suggested: a candle, a toy snake, sandals, a few toy sheep, Moses character etc.
The leader will then ask the children to close their eyes as they remove one item from the tray and keep it hidden.
The leader then tells the children to open their eyes and ask the children to take turns guessing what item is missing. Play for multiple rounds as time allows.
Preliminary Discussion — Bible Story Leader
Leader: “Good job using your memory today kids! Did you know that all of the items from our tray here have something to do with today’s story? That’s right, this is our second lesson all about Moses. So last time we learnt that God is always taking care of us, just like God took care of baby Moses. Today we’ll be learning about what happened when Moses grew up and became an adult. We have a video about the story today. Can you find a seat so you can see the TV? Can you give me a thumbs up when you are ready?
Video Lesson — Bible Story Leader
Play Moses and the Burning Bush Video from Lesson Playlist.
Follow Up Discussion — Bible Story Leader
When Moses was taking care of the sheep out in the wilderness, what was the amazing thing that he saw? (A bush that was on fire but didn’t burn up)
What happened when Moses came closer to the burning bush? (He heard God’s voice)
Have you ever seen someone being mean to someone else? What did you do? Is it sometimes scary to stand up to a bully?
Prayer — Bible Story Leader
“Dear God, thank you for the story we learned about today about how you spoke to Moses through the burning bush and told him to go back to Egypt and save your people, the Israelites from those who were treating them so badly. Thank you that you are a God who cares about us and sees everything that happens. Please help us to be brave enough to stand up for what is right, and to say something when we see something bad happening to others. In Jesus’ name, Amen.”
Leader: Alright friends I think we should get up and do a little dancing before our craft can everybody stand up?
Body Break Activity: — Action Song Play action song video ‘I might be Little but my God is big’ song from Worship Songs Playlist
Sing and follow the actions from the video
After the body break activity move to the tables for craft time.
Craft Activity: Tissue Paper Art— Activity Leader
Children will create a burning bush craft by gluing coloured tissue paper squares to the a printed bush outline.
If a child is not interested in the craft, allow them to move into free play.
Dismissal: Dismiss children manually with Roster iPad and make sure each child leaves with their caregiver.
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Welcome — All Leaders
Welcome the children to the front of the classroom.
Manually Check-in each child using the iPad Roster. Introduce yourselves.
Warm Up Activity: Four Corners Bible Story Game
Leader: Today we are going to play a game to get started. It has to do with our bible story for today. Here are the rules:
This is a twist on the classic 4 corners game.
Children will dance and move while the music plays, when the music stops they will go to 1 of 4 corners.
Each corner will have a poster with a symbol of something related to the story. The corners are: 1. burning bush, 2. sandals, 3. a snake, 4. The pyramids.
When the music stops the leader will draw a card from a basket and call out what symbol is on the card. Anyone who is at the corner with the symbol will be out and come to the middle.
If the leader draws a switch corners card the kids will need to quickly switch corners before another symbol card is called.
If the leader calls a symbol and no one is at that corner those in the middle can go free.
The last child remaining is the winner.
Preliminary Discussion — Bible Story Leader
Leader: “Today is our second lesson all about Moses and the Exodus. Last week we learned all about baby Moses’ birth.
Does anyone remember where Moses was born and grew up?
So what we learned from that story was that God is always taking care of us, just like God took care of baby Moses. Today we’ll be learning about what happened when Moses grew up and became an adult. Let’s watch a video that will tell us a little bit about the beginning of Moses’ story. And then afterwards, we’ll watch our own Commons Kids video to see if we can answer some trivia questions…”
Video Lesson — Bible Story Leader
Play Saddleback Kids ‘Moses and the Burning Bush’ Video
Then Play Exodus Trivia: Episode 2 video from the lesson playlist.
Follow Up Discussion — Bible Story Leader
What was the amazing thing that Moses saw?
What happened when Moses came closer to the burning bush? And what was it that God told Moses?
Have you ever seen someone being mean to someone else? What did you do? Is it sometimes scary to stand up to a bully?
Prayer — Bible Story Leader
“Dear God, thank you for the story we learned about today about how you spoke to Moses through the burning bush and told him to go back to Egypt and save your people, the Israelites from those who were treating them so badly. Thank you that you are a God who cares about us and sees everything that happens. Please help us to be brave enough to stand up for what is right, and to say something when we see something bad happening to others. In Jesus’ name, Amen.”
Craft Activity: Tissue Paper Craft — Activity Leader
The children will create a burning bush craft by colouring the bush outline and then glueing tissue paper squares to their paper.
Dismissal: Use Ipad Roster to dismiss children making sure each child leaves with their care-givers.
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Welcome Activity:
Welcome the kids to class, ask how their week was and one interesting thing that happened.
Check-in kids using the iPad roster.
Warm Up Activity: Plate on the Head Game
Kids will receive a plate and and a sharpie
The leader gives a series of directions that the kids will draw on the plate while it is on their head.
After the prompts are done, the kids will receive points based on how their art turned out.
Preliminary Discussion — Bible Story Leader
Today is part two of our new series on Moses and the Exodus. Last week we talked about the birth of Moses.
Does anyone remember where Moses was born and grew up? (Egypt)
How did Moses end up being saved from Pharaoh? (His mother put him in a basket in the Nile river and he was rescued by Pharaoh’s daughter)
Today we’re going to be learning about the next part of the story which was when Moses had already grown up. We will watch a video about the story and then a trivia video to see if we can answer the questions.
Play Saddleback Kids ‘Moses and the Burning Bush’ Video
Then Play Exodus Trivia: Episode 2 video from the lesson playlist.
Follow Up Discussion — Bible Story Leader
When God spoke to Moses through the burning bush, what did God say to him? (Remove your shoes this is Holy Ground, God had heard the Israelites prayers and would deliver them from Pharaoh)
What was Moses’ response? (He was afraid. He was worried people wouldn’t believe him. He was worried he was a bad public speaker.)
What do you think is something we can learn from all this about God’s way of fighting injustice versus our human instincts?
Prayer — Bible Story Leader
“Dear God, thank you for the story of Moses and the burning bush, and how you called him to go back to Egypt to rescue the Israelites from slavery. Thank you that you are a God who sees us and cares about us and knows about everything that we’re going through. You never forget about us, just like you never forgot about the Israelites and sent Moses to rescue them. Please help us to not be afraid to stand up for what is right when we see injustice happening around us. Please help us to use our voices to speak up for others who are in need. In Jesus’ name, Amen.”
Activity: Tissue Paper Painting — Activity Leader
Using a printable bush outline, the kids will apply coloured tissue paper onto the bush using glue to create the “fire”.
They can also continue decorating their pictures using pencil crayon / markers.
Dismissal: Use Ipad Roster to dismiss children making sure each child leaves with their care-givers.
For Parents:
Follow-up questions.
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What was the story you learned about in class today?
How did God end up speaking to Moses? What did God tell him to do?
Why do you think Moses was so scared to go and help the Israelites? Is it sometimes hard to stand up for what is right?
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What was the story you learned about in class today?
How did Moses feel when he saw one of his people being treated badly? Do you think he was right to be angry?
What did he do then? Do you think he did the right thing? What would have been a better thing to do?
How did God end up speaking to Moses later on? What did he say to him?
Why do you think Moses was scared to go back to Egypt and help the Israelites? Why do you think it’s sometimes hard to stand up for what’s right?
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What was the story you learned about in class today?
Do you think it was fair for Moses to be so angry at the injustice against his people? Do you think he could have handled the situation better? How?
Do you think Moses was actually in a pretty good position to help them as the adopted grandson of the Pharaoh? Why?
Has anything unjust ever happened to you or someone you know? How did or would you react to that situation?
Why do you think Moses was so reluctant when God called him to go back to Egypt and rescue the people? What was God’s response?
