Quails and Manna

Central Truth: God cares for his people and provides for their needs.

Scriptures: Exodus 15:22-27; 16

After they crossed the Red Sea, the Israelites continued into the Sinai Peninsula. As they traveled into the wilderness of Shur they only found water that was so bitter they could not drink it. The people complained and murmured against Moses. God told Moses to cast a tree into the water, and the water became sweet. God made a covenant with the people, promising to protect them from the diseases he brought upon the Egyptians if they obeyed him.

When they traveled into the wilderness of Sin, they became hungry and again complained and murmured against Moses. They told Moses and Aaron that they should have stayed in Egypt where they had plenty of food. God saw their needs and sent quails in the evening and rain bread from heavin in the mornings. Each morning the people gathered a daily portion for each person in their household. They were to gather enough for one day. Any bread remaining would spoil the next day. On the sixth day, they were to gather twice as much because the people were to observe the sabbath day. Miraculously, the extra portion did not spoil overnight and no bread was to be found on the seventh day. God instructed Moses and Aaron to put a measure of manna in a pot and to keep it as a memorial for future generations.

A measure of manna ready to be placed into the Ark of the Covenant.

As we talked about the manna, the children got to try some honey crackers that simulated what the manna may have tasted like. I found the recipe on Pinterest along with several others that will be fun to try.

Interactive Display

To help the story to come alive for the children, I put together an interactive display for the story of Moses. Each week, something new is either revealed or added or taken away.  

This week's lesson took the children on a journey from the Red Sea through the wilderness. We pointed out all of the major geographic features prominent within our story and marked with the assumed location of Marah (#6 on the map) where God made the bitter waters sweet by having Moses throw a tree into the water. 

Interactive map of Egypt and the Sinai Peninsula.

Over the last few weeks, we have been watching segments the Ten Commandments, which can be found on YouTube. 

The Birth of Moses

Pharaoh's daughter discovers a baby in the river (image from freebibleimage.org).

Central Truth: God always plans a way of escape.

Scriptures: Exodus 1, 2:1-10

After Jacob's family settled in Egypt, they multiplied and increased in numbers. Many years after the death of Joseph, a new pharaoh reigned in Egypt who did not Joseph. Because of their number, the new pharaoh was afraid that the Hebrews would overthrow them. The Egyptians enslaved the Hebrews and forced them to build cities. When the number of Hebrews continued to grow, the pharaoh issued a decree that every male child was to be thrown into the river.

One family courageously hid their newborn son and, when they could no longer hide him, his mother placed him in a basket and into the river where the daughter of pharaoh found him. She named the baby Moses, which means "to draw out" because she had withdrawn him from the Nile, not knowing that God intended Moses to draw his people out of Egypt. The Egyptian princess raised Moses as her own son.

Interactive Display

Front of the display with the poster behind the Tabernacle.

Over the next few months, the children will go on a journey through the story of Exodus. To guide us along, I set up a trifold poster with visuals (some interactive). The visuals include a map of Egypt, descriptions of the plagues, a paper model of the Ark of the Covenant, a paper model of the Tabernacle among other items that will be described in greater detail as the narrative progress.

Free bookmarks, puzzle book, and brochure along with a paper model
of the Ark of the Covenant and a video from YouTube of the story.

Using the map, I show the children where the story takes place. The map came with a short summary of events - each event has its own number. With the birth of Moses, we begin in the land of Goshen located in the Nile Delta of ancient Egypt. After each lesson, we will mark on the map where the events take place. Today's story is marked with a number 1 in a fluorescent green circle.

Map It Life of Moses (Lesson 1).

Here is the video we began watching today I found on YouTube:

Christmas and the New Year

Throughout the month of December, the Tabernacle of Praise Children's Church studied the Christmas story. Each week we talked about different parts of the events that led up to the birth of Jesus, including the angels visiting the shepherds and the wise men who came in search of the Messiah. We finished our study of the Christmas story with a cute craft project I ordered from Oriental Trading Company. Every thing you needed came in the kit except for the glue. I suggest you have some Elmer's glue or wood glue on hand even though the description for the project says you do not need any. Above is a picture of a few of the projects done by the class. 

For the new year, we began our lessons using Uncovering Bible Treasure by Dave Strehler with the story of Creation. We learned how God created everything from nothing simply by speaking. After our lesson, we had time to show our excitement about the coming year by creating a short video using the FX Guru app on my iPhone.

God Welcomes the Lost: The Parable of the Prodigal Son

The Parable of the Two Sons (image from freebibleimages.org).

Central Truth: God wants all those who are lost to return to him.

Scriptures: Luke 15:11-32

This week the children learned about the Prodigal Son who left his father's house and squandered his inheritance. Much like the Prodigal Son, God also desires for the lost to return to him. Those who do return to God are honored and cherished. God celebrates those who believe in him.

As part of the lesson, I created a video book. I used pictures from freebibleimages.org, a wonderful website of visual materials that can be used for Sunday School classes. I used their synopsis of the story and narrated it using the Book Creator app, and I added the final touches using iMovies on my iPad. The children enjoyed the video and were excited about helping me narrate the next one for Christmas.

This week's lesson comes from the book Children Sunday School Lessons: The Parables and Teachings of Jesus, Vol. 2 by Rev. Stephen R. Wilson.

Why Pray?

From "Prayer" and can be found at bibletoday4kids.com

This week, the children began a seven-part lesson on prayer, using a lesson plan developed by Margaret Law and can be downloaded for free from www.bibletoday4kids.com. Part one of "Prayer" discusses why we should pray - because prayer is "our lifeline to God." The children learned that they should pray at all times and talk with God as if talking to a friend. We pray to develop a relationship with the Father. Prayer is something that should be a big part of a Christian's life.

Memory Verse: "Pray at all times." (I Thessalonians 5:17)

I also introduced a fun app on the iPad called Jesus Loves Me by Listener Kids. It is a fun app mainly for smaller children, but my ten-year-olds had fun with the recording section of the app where they sang "Jesus Loves Me" to several different music mixes, including dance, hip-hop, and video game. There are more games and songs that are not free ($2.99), but I think it is worth the price. Below you will find Listener Kids's video on YouTube.



The kids did their own recording of "Jesus Loves Me" to the dance mix and can be found on the Tabernacle of Praise website. Unfortunately, Blogger does not have a way to share audio. 

John 3:16

Central Truth: The theme for the Bible can be found in John 3:16.

“Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.'” John 14:6

Memory Verse:  “Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.” Romans 8:37

Scriptures: John 3:16

We had fun with this lesson. The kids and I practiced saying the verse over and over with a video and played bingo. (I downloaded the bingo cards and the video from Children's Ministry Deals).

Kids' Bulletin



After our lesson today, we had a few extra minutes to play with a video app on my iPad called "Reverse Camera Fun," which turns video play in reverse. Here is one of our practice takes:

Fun with the iPad and "Reverse Camera Fun" app