LEADERS HUB
Year 1, Term 3, Week 4: Ideas for Junior Group
Week 4: God Wants to Know His People - Israel!
Lesson Objective:
God showed his power by saving Israel from Egypt and leading them across the Red Sea on dry land.
Bible Passage:
Exodus 13:17 - 14:31 (Crossing the red sea)
Memory Verse:
Exodus 14:31 - Because of the mighty power he had used against the Egyptians, the Israelites worshiped him and trusted him and his servant Moses.
Story Idea: Act It Together!
Before the lesson:
- Create a cloud hat by attaching cotton wool balls to a hat
- Bring along a walking stick or other stick
- Set up the red sea using two blue bed sheets/tablecloths/tarps lying on the ground side by side
- For added effect, use a brown sheet under the centre of the blue sheets to make a 'dry ground' to cross on
- Gather a kings crown from the costume cupboard
Prepare the kids:
- Choose an older child to be Pharoah (wears crown)
- Have some helpers sit at the red sea, ready to pull the edges of the red sea sheets up in the centre to form a path
- The teacher (narrator) wears the cloud hat and carries the staff
- All of the rest of the kids are 'God's people' and follow the leader
Recap the Egypt story so far:
- God asked Moses in a burning bush to help save the people
- Moses was scared but God reminded him that He was powerful by turning a stick into a snake
- God sent a plague of frogs to Egypt to persuade the king to let the people go
Tell the story and act it with the kids, covering the main points:
- After all of the bad things that happened in Egypt, Pharoah finally decided to let God's people go!
- God led His people through the dessert with a big cloud!
- They followed the cloud everywhere it went, and when it stopped, they stopped and rested!
- God took His people to a place called the Red Sea, and they sat and camped there
- While God's people were camped by the sea, the nasty king changed his mind and decided to go catch them again!
- The king took his army and moved towards God's people!
- God's people could see and hear them coming and they were AFRAID!
- They were stuck between an army and a big sea!
- They asked God to help them!
- Moses trusted that GOD was POWERFUL and he told the people to be brave and trust God too!
- God told Moses to stretch out his hands, and as he did - the wind blew and the waters pulled apart! (helpers pull sheets up to reveal dry ground)
- God's people walked safely to the other side between the water, but Pharoah's army was still chasing them
- The army followed them down between the water but Moses held out his staff again and the waters collapsed on them!
- God's people knew that HE had saved them!
- It says in the Bible that the people praised and thanked God for rescuing them!
Quiz Questions:
1. How did God lead His people through the dessert? With a cloud
2. Where did God tell them to camp? By the sea
3. How do you think the people felt when they saw the nasty king coming? Scared
4. What did they do when they felt scared? Asked God for help
5. Did God rescue the people? Yes
6. How did God save them? By making a path through the water
7. Can we trust God to help us when we are scared too? Yes
Game Idea: Crossing the Sea!
- Set up a sea (two ropes/broom handles/lines of markers separated by two metres) at one side of the room
- Place markers around the outskirts of the room for the kids to run around
- Play music and have the kids run around the markers and through the sea
- When you pause the music, anyone standing in the sea is out
- The last player remaining wins!
Game Idea: Parachute Fun
- Use the small parachute from the cupboard or a bed sheet
- Have the kids stand around and hold on to the edge
- Ask everybody to go low to the ground and shake their edge to make waves like the sea
- Remind the kids that God's people were stuck and couldn't cross the sea
- God made a way for them to cross by making the waters stand up!
- Have everyone stand up and hold the parachute higher and allow the kids turns crossing under to the other side
Craft Idea: Jelly Scene!
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Before the lesson:
- Download and print the Red Sea template on blue paper and cut along the centre line)
- Print the Moses template and cut out, leaving excess paper around his feet to fold and stick to the ground
- Gather yellow paper, scissors, glue, pencils and torn pieces of blue tissue paper
Have the kids:
- Colour their Moses
- Cut along the dotted lines on their blue paper
- Glue the blue sections to the yellow, then bend the wave strips upwards (young ones will need help)
- Glue on their Moses
- Glue on bits of blue tissue paper
Activity Idea: Sing 'My God is so Big'
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- Play the following youtube video, have the kids sing and do the actions with you:
