Preschool: The Rescue in the Desert

The Rescue In the Desert

Welcome to Worship

-We are in a special place because God is here
-This is our special place to be with God, we can talk to God, we can listen to God, we can hear stories of God

Teach them: The Lord Be With You (and Also With You)

Songs of Praise and Sadness

Intro—the Hebrew people sang songs of praise to God, but sometimes they felt worried or sad and would sing to God then too... can you hear it?  (What a mighty God we serve/When Israel was in Egypt land)

-Praise him, praise him, all of God’s children, God is love, God is love

-I will sing, sing a new song (x2), how long to sing this song (x2), how long (x4), to sing this song

(I waited patiently for the Lord, he inclined and heard my cry, he lifted me up out of the pit, out of the miry clay)

-Come into his presence singing alleluia

The Rescue in the Desert

(Set up the desert box with Hebrews & Moses, candle & smoke, rock/bread)

-Last time we heard about God’s great rescue of his people at the Red Sea

-The Hebrew people were trapped, but God made a miracle and rolled back the water and led his people to freedom

-They were free! And Miriam, Moses sister, led the dancing. 

-Now that they were a free people, they could go anywhere they want to go and do anything they want to do.  Where will they go now?

-They began the long journey to the land of Joseph: Canaan—the land God promised them

-The desert is a hard place to live.  Not much food, not much water.  No signs telling them where to go. 

-But God loved his people so much, he would show them the way.

-As the Hebrew people traveled in tents across the desert, they followed fire by night and smoke by day. 

-But the desert was hard, they began to complain, some even wanted to go back to Egypt.  There was not enough food, not enough water.

-So God made miracles.  He helped Moses find water in rocks.  He brought bread and meat to the ground outside their tents each morning.

-Each day, the Hebrew people were reminded of God’s rescue.

I wonder questions (trying to get at the rescue)

-I wonder how the Hebrew people felt when looked out over the desert?
-I wonder if they knew it would be a long journey?

-I wonder if the Hebrew people ever stopped believing God would rescue them?

-I wonder what part of the story you like best?

-I wonder where you are in this story or what part is about you?

Thanksgiving Feast

We have our time of thanksgiving; I wonder what you are thankful for today?

Read Jesus storybook bible

Response time: Everyone can pick a way to tell the story

-Re-tell the story
-Art/craft: Fire and smoke/ cut white and red tissue paper; cut out pictures of the ways God provides for our needs

-Tactile: playdough

-Imagination: Tent with pretend bread outside the tent

Preschool: Crossing the Red Sea

Crossing the Red Sea

Welcome to Worship

-We are in a special place because God is here
-This is our special place to be with God, we can talk to God, we can listen to God, we can hear stories of God

Teach them: The Lord Be With You (and Also With You)

Songs of Praise:

-Pharaoh, Pharaoh

         Well a Pharaoh Pharaoh, oh baby, let my people go, huh, yeah yeah yeah yeah

         Well me and and my people goin' to the Red Sea,


With Pharaoh's army comin' after me.


I took my staff, stuck it in the stand,


And all of God's people walked on dry land.

        

-Go down Moses

When Israel was in Egypt's land: Let my people go,

Oppress'd so hard they could not stand, Let my People go.

Go down, Moses,

Way down in Egypt's land,

Tell old Pharaoh,

Let my people go.

-What a mighty God we serve

-Come into his presence singing alleluia

The rescue at the Red Sea

(Set up green cloth for Egypt, Hebrews/moses & Egyptians/pharaoh, double river for red sea)

-Remember Pharaoh had finally told Moses to take the Hebrew people out of Egypt

-Where would they go? Moses would lead them back to their home. Where Joseph and his brothers had lived: Canaan.

-It was a long way to Canaan.  The Hebrew people would need to cross over a huge desert, but first they needed to go across the Red Sea.

-Behind them, they saw Pharaoh’s army coming.  Pharaoh had changed his mind and wanted the Hebrew people to come back as his slaves!  But they couldn’t run away, they were stuck at the edge of the sea!

-God told Moses to raise his staff and put it in the sand, and God rolled back the water to make a dry path for the Hebrew people.

-They hurried across and God rolled the water back again. 

-They were safe. They celebrated by making music and singing to God to thank him for rescuing them.

I wonder questions (trying to get at the rescue)

-I wonder how the Hebrew people felt when they left Egypt?
-I wonder if they knew it would be a long journey?

-I wonder if they ever stopped believing that God would rescue them?

-I wonder how God’s people will remember their rescue?

Thanksgiving Feast

We have our time of thanksgiving; I wonder what you are thankful for today?

Read Jesus storybook bible

-Pharaoh headress

-water example

Response time: Everyone can pick a way to tell the story

-Re-tell the story
-Art/craft: rolling back water

-Tactile: playdough

-Game: jumping game—jump from carpet squares further and further apart

last week's craft :)

Pharaoh Vera

Mixing things up

This past week we decided to take a little break from our weekly curriculum on "Why we got the Bible."  I've been wrestling with the balance of how much to bring each week for the students to take my lead on, and how much I should leave up to them.

I guess it all comes down to avoiding a consumerist Sunday School.  Maybe that sounds weird, but personally, I feel worship is best done actively, not passivly, waiting expectantly for the preacher, teacher, song, or prayer to "move me."  I need to participate.  Feel I have some kind of stake in the worship taking place all around me, so that it can take hold within me.

I want our children to feel this too.  I want them to know that while they may have a lot to learn about life's trials, mathematics, theology, etc that they also have something beautiful to give.   They have their energy, creativity, and encouragement of one another even as each of them discovers new things about the Bible, about God's love, and about our relationship with Him.

This past week was a reminder for me of how much we need our kids.  And I'm seeing more and more exactly why Jesus desired children to "come unto him."  Can't wait to see what the coming weeks and months hold for us!

Joey

Preschool: Passover

Here's the lesson plan for tomorrow's preschool lesson on the 10 plagues and the passover

Passover

Welcome to Worship
-We are in a special place because God is here
-This is our special place to be with God, we can talk to God, we can listen to God, we can hear stories of God

Teach them: The Lord Be With You (and Also With You)

Songs of Praise:

-Pharaoh, Pharaoh

         Well a Pharaoh Pharaoh, oh baby, let my people go, huh, yeah yeah yeah yeah

        

-Go down Moses

When Israel was in Egypt's land: Let my people go,

Oppress'd so hard they could not stand, Let my People go.

Go down, Moses,

Way down in Egypt's land,

Tell old Pharaoh,

Let my people go.

-Come into his presence singing alleluia

The night God rescued his people

(Set up green cloth for Egypt, Hebrews/moses & Egyptians/pharaoh)

-Moses came back to the Hebrew people, God’s people, and saw they were suffering as slaves

-He knew God would make him brave so he went to talk to Pharaoh

-He told Pharaoh God says, Let my people go! But Pharaoh said no!

-Pharaoh needed to Hebrew slaves to build his kingdom

-9 times Moses came to Pharaoh to ‘let my people go’, and 9 times he said ‘no’

-9 times disasters happened to warn Pharaoh and his people: blood, frogs, flies, locusts, sickness, darkness, and hail covered the river and land, people and animals. 

-The 10^th time, when Pharaoh would still not let the Hebrew people go free, God sent death to the firstborn of Pharaoh’s people, but it passed over the Hebrew people

-Finally, Pharaoh said, Go! And the Hebrew people quickly left Egypt

I wonder questions (trying to get at the rescue)

-I wonder why the Egyptian people thought this was happening to their land?
-I wonder how the Hebrew people felt when death passed over their families?

-I wonder if they ever stopped believing that God would rescue them?

-I wonder how God’s people will remember their rescue?

We are going to have a special Thanksgiving Feast today

First, we have our time of thanksgiving; I wonder what you are thankful for today?

Second, seder meal lesson:

-Today we are going to celebrate with some special foods, the way the Hebrew people do still today

-Each year, they remember how God rescued them from Egypt by having a special celebration called Passover, where they remember how death Passed Over their homes

-The feast is called a Seder meal
-They use a special plate and special foods to remember the story we heard today

-Crackers are like the special bread that did not rise up like regular bread, because they were in a hurry to leave Egypt

-The fruit and nuts mixed together reminded them of the color of the bricks they used to build Pharaohs kingdom when they were slaves

-They also had an egg and green vegetable to remind them of new life, bitter herbs to remind them of their bitter life as slaves, and lamb to remind them of death passing over their houses

-At the special meal, the children ask why? Why is this night different, why do eat these foods? Why do we celebrate this way?

-Do you ever wonder why we do things in church to celebrate our rescue? Why do we sing songs? Why do we pray? Why do we read the bible? I wonder.

Read Jesus storybook bible

Response time: Everyone can pick a way to tell the story

-Re-tell the story
-Art/craft: color pharaoh’s headdress & plague coloring sheet

-Tactile: frog game

-Game at the end: Hide the matza— in the Seder meal, sometimes the leader will hide the desert piece of the matza and the children will have to find it

Preschool: Moses and the burning bush

Moses and the Burning Bush (lesson plan)

Welcome to Worship
-We are in a special place because God is here
-This is our special place to be with God, we can talk to God, we can listen to God, we can hear stories of God

Welcome song: Hello Anna, hello Nicholas…

The Lord Be With You (and Also With You)

Songs of Praise:
Halle lu Halle lu

He’s got the whole world in his hands
Come into his presence singing

Story: Moses and the burning bush

-Set up green and Nile River in desert box

-Baby Moses grew up to be Prince Moses but he knew he belonged with the Hebrew people, who were slaves

-He defended the Hebrew people and the new Pharaoh wanted to kill him

-He ran away to the desert

-While he was in the desert, he saw a strange bush

-When he got closer, he was it was on fire, but not burning up

-He heard a voice—it was God—telling him to go back to Egypt

-Tell Pharaoh to let the Hebrew people leave Egypt

-Moses was afraid—Pharaoh wanted to kill him

-But God told him, do not be afraid, I will help you rescue my people

I wonder questions (trying to get at the rescue)

-I wonder how Moses felt knowing his people were slaves

-I wonder how it felt for Moses to leave his home and go to the desert

-I wonder why God used fire to speak to Moses

Let's have our Thanksgiving Feast (at the table)

Everyone gets snack (bring some healthy stuff from home and water cups)
-This is our time of thanksgiving: our feast and our thanks
-What are we thankful to God for this week?

Read (a part) of the story from the Jesus Story Book Bible (with a candle)

Response time: Everyone can pick a way to tell the story (put away the desert box)
-Art supplies: Red and orange tissue paper, pipe cleaners; scissors, red & orange paper, glue bottles

-Game/Activity: Hot lava with the carpet squares (ala musical chairs)

-Playdough: Make Pharaoh, Moses, bush