Lesson 3: Moses returns to Egypt.
Passage: Exodus 4:18-6:12 - Moses returns to Egypt and meets his brother Aaron whom God has sent to help him speak to the Israelites and to Pharaoh. The two of them speak to the Israelites and tell them that God has sent them to rescue them from slavery. The Israelites, however, don’t believe them, so Moses performs two signs that God gave him to prove that God really sent him. Then, Moses and Aaron go to Pharaoh and demand that he let the people go and take a journey into the wilderness to worship God. Pharaoh is angry and refuses to let the Israelites go, instead making their lives even more miserable by forcing them to meet the same quota of bricks built each day without being given the straw needed to build them. The Israelites are angry at Moses and Aaron, but God promises the Israelites that God will deliver them from Egypt and from their slavery.
Big Idea: God is on our side.
For Teachers:
Lesson plan.
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Welcome Activity: (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: — Tower building with cups
Supplies: solo cups, hula hoop
Work together to build a very tall tower using these cups inside the hula hoop.
Preliminary Discussion — Bible Story Leader
Leader: “Good work building today! Did you know that the building has to do with today’s story? That’s right, this is our third 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. 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 Exodus Video from Lesson Playlist.
Follow Up Discussion — Bible Story Leader
What did you think about the story so far, about how God sent Moses to help the Israelites escape from Egypt?
What do you think is going to happen in the end?
Prayer — Bible Story Leader
“Dear God, thank you for the story we learned about today ,Thank you that Moses trusted in you, even though he was scared, and that even though no one listened to him at first, you were taking care of things, and sending signs to show them that you were on his side. Please help us to also trust in you, even when we have to do things that are kind of scary sometimes. Please help us to remember that you are always there for us when we need you. 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 video ‘Brave’ 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: Play-doh exodus activity— Activity Leader
Children will use play-doh to create things related to the exodus story. (No physical craft will go home.)
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: Build a Pyramid challenge
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:
Number Off the kids into 3 or 4 groups. Each group will have a stack of solo cups and a hula hoop
Each group will try to build their own pyramid in 5 minutes.
The tallest or strongest tower is the winner.
Preliminary Discussion — Bible Story Leader
Leader: “Today we’ll be learning all about what happened when Moses went back to Egypt and met his brother Aaron who was going to help him. Moses and Aaron spoke to the Israelites and told them that God was going to save them, but the people didn’t believe them at first. So Moses performed two miracles to prove that God was really the one who sent him. Then the people believed him.
But, when Moses and Aaron went to the Pharaoh to tell him to let the people go, the Pharaoh wouldn’t listen to them. Instead, he made things even worse for the Israelites, making them work 10 times as hard and telling them to make bricks but that they wouldn’t have any straw to make it with. It was horrible. So Moses warned Pharaoh that God would send a bunch of really scary signs to Egypt until he finally listened and let the people go.
Let’s watch the video 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 Exodus’ Video
Then Play Exodus Trivia: Episode 3 video from the lesson playlist.
Follow Up Discussion — Bible Story Leader
What did you guys think about the story so far?
What do you think is going to happen next?
Prayer — Bible Story Leader
“Dear God, thank you for the story we learned about today about how you sent Moses back to Egypt to save the Israelites from the people who were treating them so badly. Thank you that Moses trusted in you, even though he was scared, and that even though no one listened to him at first, you were taking care of things, and sending signs to show them that you were on his side. Please help us to also trust in you, even when we have to do things that are kind of scary sometimes. Please help us to remember that you are always there for us when we need you. In Jesus’ name, Amen.”
Activity: Pyramid craft
Children will use paper and tape or glue to create 3d paper pyramids.
Dismissal: Use Ipad Roster to dismiss children making sure each child leaves with their care-givers
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Welcome — All Leaders
Welcome the kids to class, ask how their week was and one interesting thing that happened.
Manually Check-in each child using the iPad Roster. Introduce yourselves.
Warm Up Activity: Build a Pyramid challenge
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:
Number Off the kids into 2 groups. Each group will have a stack of solo cups and a hula hoop
Each group will try to build their own pyramid in 5 minutes.
The tallest or strongest tower is the winner.
Preliminary Discussion — Bible Story Leader
Leader: “Today we’ll be learning all about what happened when Moses went back to Egypt and met his brother Aaron who was going to help him. Moses and Aaron spoke to the Israelites and told them that God was going to save them, but the people didn’t believe them at first. So Moses performed two miracles to prove that God was really the one who sent him. Then the people believed him.
But, when Moses and Aaron went to the Pharaoh to tell him to let the people go, the Pharaoh wouldn’t listen to them. Instead, he made things even worse for the Israelites, making them work 10 times as hard and telling them to make bricks but that they wouldn’t have any straw to make it with. It was horrible. So Moses warned Pharaoh that God would send a bunch of really scary signs to Egypt until he finally listened and let the people go.
Let’s watch the video 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 Exodus’ Video
Then Play Exodus Trivia: Episode 3 video from the lesson playlist.
Follow Up Discussion — Bible Story Leader
What did you guys think about the story so far?
What do you think is going to happen next?
Prayer — Bible Story Leader
“Dear God, thank you for the story we learned about today about how you sent Moses back to Egypt to save the Israelites from the people who were treating them so badly. Thank you that Moses trusted in you, even though he was scared, and that even though no one listened to him at first, you were taking care of things, and sending signs to show them that you were on his side. Please help us to also trust in you, even when we have to do things that are kind of scary sometimes. Please help us to remember that you are always there for us when we need you. In Jesus’ name, Amen.”
Activity: Pyramid craft
Children will use paper and tape or glue to create 3d paper pyramids.
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?
Why do you think the Pharaoh didn’t want to let the people go? What did he do instead?
How do you think the Israelites and Moses felt when Pharaoh didn’t listen but just made their work even harder?
Do you think that God will save the Israelites in the end, even though it seems impossible? How do you think God will do it?
Do you think God is always with you, even when you’re feeling bad and things are going wrong?
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What was the story you learned about in class today?
Why do you think the Pharaoh didn’t want to let the people go? What did he do instead?
How do you think the Israelites and Moses felt when Pharaoh didn’t listen but just made their work even harder?
Do you think that God will save the Israelites in the end, even though it seems impossible? How do you think God will do it?
Do you think God is always with you, even when you’re going through something really hard?
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What was the story you learned about in class today?
How do you think the Israelites must have felt after so many years of slavery in Egypt?
Why do you think it was hard for them to believe Moses at first when he said that God was sending him to save them?
How do you think Moses must have felt when he was trying his best to do what God asked him to, but Pharaoh wouldn’t listen and only made things worse for the Israelites?
Do you think it’s hard to trust that God is on our side when our situation doesn’t seem like it at all? What can we do when we feel that way?
