Three Activities for Preschool Families: Plagues & Passover

I love the subtitle for The Jesus Storybook Bible – “every story whispers His name.” It delights my heart to find Jesus revealed all over the Old Testament from creation to Isaiah. There are some Old Testament stories, however, that do more than whisper Jesus’ name. Our current lesson in Starting Blocks is one of those that shouts the name of Jesus and gives a great preview of the Gospel. Take some time with your preschoolers this week to continue talking about the Plagues and Passover with the fun activities below.

HIGHLIGHTS from the Weekend…

Last week we heard the story about how God spoke to Moses through a burning bush. God told Moses to go back to Egypt and tell the king, or Pharaoh, to let His people go! Moses obeyed God and went to Pharaoh, telling him exactly what God told him to say. Pharaoh would not let the Israelites leave Egypt. His heart was unyielding. God sent Moses to tell Pharaoh that if His people were not released, plagues would come. Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, and God sent 10 plagues before the people were freed. First, God turned Aaron's stick into a snake. Then there were the plagues of blood, frogs, gnats, flies, livestock, boils, hail, locusts, darkness and, finally, the death of firstborn children. God is all powerful. The Israelites were saved from this final plague as long as they obeyed God and took the blood of a lamb and painted it on the doorposts of their houses. If they did this, death would pass over their household. Pharaoh’s son died in this last plague, and he finally let the Israelites go. Today Jesus is our Passover lamb! When we trust Jesus to forgive us for all the wrong things we have done, He saves us from our sin. (Exodus 7-12:36)

Teaching Truths:

1. God is all powerful.
2. Jesus is our Passover Lamb.

Memory Verse:

"Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.” Joshua 1:9

3 Activities that Help Us Learn This Week's Teaching Truth:

1. Silly Snack

Tell your child you are going to make a fun and silly snack based on some of the plagues. Ideas you can use:

• Water into Blood: Color water with red Kool-Aid or Crystal Light
• Darkness: Choose one (graham cracker, apple slices, or celery sticks) and spread Nutella or peanut butter on it. Explain how the entire whole land became dark.

Gnats, Flies, or Locusts: Use any type of cracker, spread on peanut butter, use pretzels

for legs, and raisins for the eyes.

Hail: Put ice cubes in a cup.

While your child eats his snack, ask these questions to review the story.

1. What did Moses say to Pharaoh? (Let my people go!)
2. What did Pharaoh say to Moses? (NO!)
3. Why did God send the plagues? (Pharaoh’s heart was hard, and he would not let God’s people go. The plagues showed the Israelites that God was all powerful and how much God loved them.)

2. God is Powerful

Grab 10 lunch sacks, so your child can create a puppet for each plague. Your child can decorate the sacks with as much detail as he wants.

1. The Nile changes to blood – color the sack red
2. Frogs – color the sack green, add eyes & a tongue
3. Gnats – draw several small black circles with tiny legs all over the sack
4. Flies – color the sack black, add large eyes and white wings
5. Livestock – color the sack white, add large black spots and eyes
6. Boils – color red dots all over the sack and then place a few Band-Aids over the dots.
7. Hail – glue white cotton balls over the sack
8. Bugs – choose any crayon to color the sack, add paper wings and pipe cleaners antennae
9. Darkness – color the sack black
10. Death of first born – draw a sad face on the sack.

After your child has finished the sacks, call out a plague, have your child choose the correct puppet and say, “God is All Powerful.”

3. Passover Lamb

On a piece of construction paper, draw one large circle in the center of the paper for the lamb’s body.Draw one smaller circle on top of the large circle for the head.Grab a paper plate for the glue and let your child dip the bottom of small cotton balls in glue and place them in the circle for their lamb’s body. For the eyes you can glue small circles or draw it with a sharpie. Glue two black rectangles below the circle for the legs of the sheep. On the top of the page write Jesus is our Passover Lamb! This is also a perfect opportunity to share the gospel story with your child!

Pray

Pray a short, simple prayer thanking God that He is all powerful.