Background Scripture (read 2-3 times during the week)
Story Summary
Shortly after God brought the people of Israel out of Egypt, they traveled through the desert to Sinai where they camped in front of Mount Sinai. Mount Sinai, also called Mount Horeb, is a very significant place. There God met and spoke with Moses, telling him why he had rescued Israel from Egypt. God had chosen these people to be made into a holy nation, his treasured possession. ("Now obey me completely. Keep my covenant. If you do, then out of all of the nations you will be my special treasure. The whole earth is mine." Exodus 19:5) There at Mount Sinai, God gave the Israelites the Ten Commandments.
Moses Goes Up and Down the Mountain (Exodus 19–24)
The story of Moses on Mount Sinai is really a story of Moses going up and down the mountain multiple times, speaking with God and speaking with the people. It is a picture of what it means to be a mediator.
Below is a summary of those trips up and down the mountain. Depending on the ages of your kids, you can teach this in as much or little detail as you would like. You might consider teaching this in a place where there is a high place and a lower place so you can simulate all the trips up and down. As you tell the story, have the class be Moses and move them up and down.
Here is a teaching guide for you to follow the trips and their scripture references.
Trips 1-6: Preparation (Exodus 19)
In Exodus 19, Moses went up and down the mountain 6 times (3 times up and 3 times back down).
- Trips 1-2: God offered a covenant to the people to become a "kingdom of priests" and the people agreed.
- Trips 3-4: God told the Israelites to go through a 2-day preparation period. We don't know much about what this 2-day period entailed. The scripture does tell us that they were supposed to wash their clothes and abstain from sexual activity. Other than that, God just told Moses: "have the people ready and tell them not to try and go up the mountain".
- Trips 5-6: On the morning of the third day, God came down to the mountain in fire, smoke, an earthquake, and the sound of a trumpet that kept getting louder and louder. He called Moses to come up and he did (that took some guts!). God had Moses tell the Israelites one more time not to try to go up the mountain, not to break through the boundaries Moses was to put in place.
The Giving of the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20)
While Moses was at the base of the mountain with the people, God spoke and gave the Ten Commandments. We sometimes think of God only giving Moses the Ten Commandments, but by paying attention to Moses' many trips up and down the mountain, we learn that Moses was at the bottom of the mountain with all the people when God spoke the Ten Commandments. Everyone heard them.
Trips 7-11: More Detailed Laws and the Stone Tablets (Exodus 20-32)
After God gave the Ten Commandments to the people, Moses had more trips up and down the mountain.
- Trips 7-8: Moses went up into the thick darkness where God was, and God gave him more detailed laws (sometimes called ordinances) about all sorts of things that would help the people become the kind of people God wanted them to be. The laws taught the people how they were to treat slaves or servants, how they were to deal with people who hurt others, property rights, how to remember the Sabbath, how to party (or feast), and how they were to take over the promised land. Moses went back down and told the people everything God had told him.
- Trip 9: Moses took Aaron, two of Aaron's sons (Nadab and Elihu), and 70 elders (or leaders) up about halfway up the mountain with him. While they were there, they saw God! (Read more about what they saw in Exodus 24:10).
- Trip 10: God called only Moses all the way up to the top of the mountain and he stayed there for 40 days! (Spoiler alert, the people got bored...) During this 40 day stay, God gave him the plans for the Tabernacle and the priesthood (that's Exodus 25-31) and then wrote the Ten Commandments on two stone tablets to take down to the people.
- Trip 11: With the stone tablets in hand, Moses went down from the top of the mountain to find out what his brother Aaron had led the Israelites to do when they got bored waiting for Moses to come down from his 40-day stay at the top of the mountain.
We'll learn about that in the next lesson, The Golden Calf, along with the trips 12-14.
The Ten Commandments List for Kids
Commandments #1-4 teach us how to show love towards God.
Commandments #5-10 teach us how to show love towards others.
- Do not put any other gods in place of me. (v. 3)
- Do not make statues of gods that look like anything in the sky or on the earth or in the waters. Do not bow down to them or worship them. (v. 4-5)
- Do not misuse the name of the Lord your God. (v. 7)
- Remember to keep the Sabbath day holy. Do all of your work in six days. But the seventh day is a Sabbath in honor of the Lord your God. Do not do any work on that day. (v. 8-10)
- Honor your father and mother. (v. 12)
- Do not commit murder. (v. 13)
- Do not commit adultery. (v. 14)
- Do not steal. (v. 15)
- Do not give false witness against your neighbor. (v. 16)
- Do not long for anything that belongs to your neighbor. (v. 17)
My Notes
What You Will Need
Supplies
- Poster board with commandments
- Trumpet (real or homemade)
Snack
graham cracker tablets or Bugles snacks
Video Options
From Crossroads Kids Club
From Saddleback Kids
Resource Sheet
This coloring sheet depicts Mt Sinai, when God spoke to Moses and gave him the Ten Commandments
1 Warm Up get your kids talking and engaged
You can do several things to get the kids' attention to start this lesson:
- If possible, get your hands on a smoke machine. Start it up, getting smoke to pour into the room (be careful to announce to them that there is not a fire!)
- Blow a trumpet to gather the children to the lesson. If you can't get your hands on a real trumpet, make one! Instructions here: http://www.instructables.com/id/Make-A-Homemade-TrumpetBugle/
- You can do the "Rule Maker" reinforcement activity.
Ask the children: how do you feel about thunderstorms? Do you like watching the lightning or do they make you a little nervous?
Today, we're going to learn about a time when God appeared to the Israelites in a thunderstorm and gave them some very important directions.
2 Teach the Story teach a holistic story
Read story from a Children's storybook Bible for younger children.
For older children, read story from an age-appropriate Children's storybook Bible or tell the story yourself.
As you are teaching the lesson, write the commandments on a poster board to display in your classroom.
Try your best to help the students really get a feel for what was happening on that mountain, but be sensitive (especially in younger classrooms), not to scare them.
You might consider teaching this in a place where there is a high place and a lower place so you can simulate all the trips up and down. As you tell the story, have the class be Moses and move them up and down.
3 Bible Mastery give them basic Bible skills
Scripture for Kids to Read Aloud Exodus 19:16-19; Exodus 20:3, 4-5, 7, 8, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17
4 Comprehension Questions make sure they understand the story
First, ask the children if they have any questions about the story. What to do if you don't know the answer?
- What was the name of the mountain where the Israelites were camping?
- Mount Sinai
- Why did God bring them out of Egypt?
- To make them his treasured people
- Who went up onto the mountain?
- Moses, Aaron, Aaron's sons Nadab and Elihu, and 70 elders of Israel
- What occurred prior to God speaking?
- Thunder, lightning, smoke, fire, the mountain shook, and sounds of a trumpet
- What did God give Moses?
- Ten commandments, lots of detailed laws about how to be God's people, and plans for the Tabernacle and priesthood
- What are the Ten Commandments?
- See lesson background, see if the kids can come up with them as a group
- What Mountain Did Moses Receive the Ten Commandments On?
- Mount Sinai
- What is another name for Mount Sinai?
- Mount Horeb
- Where was Moses when God gave the Ten Commandments?
- At the base of the mountain with all the people
5 Faith Questions open up a conversation about faith and the gospel; close with prayer
- Have you kept every one of the Ten Commandments perfectly?
- We are all sinners (we miss the mark of God's perfect law), but through God's grace, he forgives us if we will ask and repent.
6 Memory Verse hide God's Word in their heart
Clay or Play dough Tablets
- Make clay according to the instructions below
- Craft into tablet shapes.
- Can take a sharpened pencil and lightly trace commandments into clay before allowing it to air dry.
- Each student can make their own to take home, but make an extra set of larger tablets and keep them to place in the Ark of the Covenant in lesson 20.
Learning Ten Commandments - Commandment #1
- Teach the first commandment.
- When the child can tell you each commandment correctly, without assistance, they are given a bead for a bracelet.
- Keep the bracelet in the classroom and when they have learned all Ten Commandments, they get to take it home.
- To help them remember the commandments, you can separate them into 2 groups for the children.
- The first four commandments are concerning our relationship with God.
- The last six are concerning our relationship with others.
Dry Ice Smoke
- Purchase dry ice at your local grocery store (try and get it the morning of your lesson, or just a couple hours beforehand)
- Heat about 1/3 to 1/2 gallon of water almost to a boil
- Pour the hot water into a bucket
- Use tongs (with gloves on) to place a chunk of dry ice into the bucket
- What looks like smoke will immediately begin pouring out of the bucket. It is actually gaseous CO2 (carbon dioxide), which is heavier than air, so it will settle to the bottom.
- You can "pour" the smoke out of the bucket by tipping it slightly (being careful not to pour the hot water out)
- Be sure there is good ventilation in the room you are doing this activity in.
Come On Up, Moses! Game
- In this relay race, players climb up "Mount Sinai" to collect the Ten Commandments. Use this game to introduce and review your lesson on the Ten Commandments.
- (From biblegamescentral.com)
Mother May I?
Have all the children stand in a line and create a finish line about 10-15 feet away from them.
Go down the line and give one child at a time instructions to do something.
For example:
- The child must say, "Mother May I?" before they move.
- If they don't, they must go back to the starting line.
The first child to the finish line is the winner.
Make Thunderstorm pictures
- Mix paint colors to make various shades of blue and gray.
- Paint clouds on white paper to make thunderstorm clouds.
Rule Maker
- One student is chosen to come up with 10 rules.
- Write the "commandments" on a posterboard
- The rest of class has to follow rules.
- Encourage rule maker to be creative (ex: students must cluck like a chicken before answering questions)
Climbing Mount Sinai to get Commandments
- Have each word of each of the 10 commandments written on separate cards.
- Divide class into teams and give each team a commandment.
- One person from each team has to run to Mount Sinai (would be great to have cards at the top of a staircase, or can use a table or other obstacle to climb in room) and retrieve their stack of cards.
- When they return to their group, the team works to put them in order.
- You can have them go get another commandment and work on more than one, if the class size is too small to have separate groups do all 10.
Hot Potato Commandments
- Sit up chairs in a circle.
- Have students pass a rock.
- When music stops, the person with the stone has to say one of the 10 commandments.
- They cannot re-use a commandment that someone else has said.
- If they cannot remember, they are out.
Commandments Balloon Pop
- Place a strip of paper with one of the 10 commandments in each balloon.
- Repeat for each color of balloon, depending on how many teams you need.
- Place balloons on one side of the room. (Colors can be mixed up now)
- Divide students into teams.
- One person from each team must go choose a balloon that has their color.
- Take balloon back to their group and pop balloon.
- Repeat until you have all of the strips of paper.
- First team to put the commandments in order wins.
- Can also have them separate commandments into the two groups (relationship with God or others)
Sounds on Mount Sinai
- Have students meditate on the sounds that came from Mount Sinai, consider having them close their eyes.
- Blow a trumpet, gradually increasing in volume.
- Turn on a smoke machine.
- Use a computer to play sounds of thunder.
- After this amazing display, verse 20 tells us that the Lord descended to the top of Mount Sinai and called Moses to the top of the mountain. So Moses went up.
- How do you think Moses felt about going up the mountain with all of this going on around him?
Smoke Bombs!
- Smash and cut up 2 ping pong balls.
- Put a hole in a 3rd ball.
- Put the smashed pieces into the ball with the hole.
- Stick a pencil into the hole and cover with aluminum foil, leaving the pencil end uncovered.
- Mold foil tightly around ball and pencil.
- Remove pencil.
- Light bottom (end with ball) of the smoke bomb.
- It should take about 10 seconds. It takes longer if your foil is thicker.
Tablet
- have kids fold over a piece of cardstock and cut a tablet shape out of it (so that it can open like a book)
- have them title the cover 'the 10 commandments'
- allow the kids to color and decorate the tablet
- glue the commandments inside of their tablet/book
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