
Unit 12 / Lesson 1
Intro To The Ten Commandments
Slides for the Lesson
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Teacher's Prep
Games
Balloons Up
Materials:
One balloon for every child. Have several balloons inflated before the lesson, so that they are ready to be deployed for the game.
Speed Play-Doh modeling
Materials:
Play-Doh – enough for each child to do some basic modeling of simple objects. Play-Doh can be found in small containers at the dollar store. One container should be enough for 1-2 children.
Set up a table for every 4-6 children, ideally before class
Pantyhose Bowling
Watch this video to see the game concept
Note: to make the game more sanitary and more ergonomically friendly, have the children use their hands to hold the pantyhose up to their heads for the same effect.
Materials:
1 leg of pantyhose (women's nylon) per group of five
1 tennis ball per group of five
Plastic water bottles -- three per group of five
Before the lesson, put a tennis ball into the bottom of each pantyhose, as you see in the video.
Main Activity (Movie Night):
Materials (optional): snacks, such as popcorn and drinks
Note: it is normally illegal to play a regular movie in a classroom setting. However, there are legal alternatives:
You can search Youtube for the "VeggieTales Official" channel, and select a full-length VeggieTales
You can make a trial account on Rightnow Media and search the selection of Christian videos for children. You may be interested in The Adventures of Ryan Defrates, season 1, episode 1.
There are other shows, such as 3-2-1 Penguins and Superbook, which can be watched for free on YouTube.
Intro
SLIDE 1
Gathering
How was your week?
SLIDE 2
Intro Game: Balloons up!
Instructions
Let's start our lesson with a game.
We'll call it "Balloons up." We'll start in a circle, and I'll toss in a balloon. We'll all try to keep it from touching the ground by hitting it. You're free to move around, so you don't have to stay in the circle. The only catch is, you can't hit the balloon twice in a row before someone else hits it. You all need to work together to keep the balloon up.
When there's only one balloon, you'll probably find it pretty easy. So, I'll keep adding balloons and we'll see what happens. Remember, you want to keep all the balloons up, and you can't hit a balloon twice in a row.
If a balloon touches the ground, we'll stop and then start with one balloon again. We'll see how many balloons we can manage at the same time.
Teacher: It is probably best to call out the number of balloons as you introduce new balloons, as a way of keeping score. Also, you may want to discuss strategy between rounds. For example, you may want to break them into sub-groups, and each sub-group can handle their own balloons. Or, you may want to have the children spread out across the floor for a kind of zone coverage. Play as long as time and interest allows.
Debrief
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We played this game because it's a bit like the rules that God gives us. Just to be clear, the Bible is not really a rule book. Instead, it’s one big story. But, the Bible contains a lot of rules for us. When we learn more and more rules, it might feel like we're adding more and more balloons that we need to keep up.
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It can be frustrating to have so many rules. It might feel like we have no freedom, so a lot of Christians have a bad attitude. Sometimes Christians get angry at God. Other times, a Christian can feel like they are better than other people because we follow the rules and other people don't. That's an attitude that can lead to a lot of trouble.
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Big Question
Our big question today is: how can we follow God's rules without getting frustrated?
Big Idea
Our big idea is: we can remember that:
1. God has helped us in the past, and
2. God is helping us now with His rules.
Bible Reference
Today we're starting a new group of lessons on God's rules. Near the beginning of the Bible, God gave His people a very famous list of rules called the Ten Commandments. Let's watch some of the story that leads up to the Ten Commandments. The story has a lot to do with a guy named Moses.
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Teacher: watch this YouTube video:
Moses in the Wilderness | Stories of the Bible
Now let's read the very start of the Ten Commandments.
k SLIDE 7
Exodus 20:1-3 (International Children's Bible)
1 Then God spoke all these words: 2 “I am the Lord your God. I brought you out of the land of Egypt where you were slaves. 3 “You must not have any other gods except me.
Point 1
Our first point is, we can remember that God has helped us in the past.
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Game: Speed Play-Doh modeling
Instructions
Let's start this point with a game! It's called speed Play-Doh modeling! Everyone, please go to a table.
We'll all get a bit of Play-Doh. Then in a moment, I'll tell you some things to make out of Play-Doh, and you’ll have one minute to make each of those things. Ready? Make a…
Things to model (for one minute each)
Snowflake
Pizza
Toilet
Crab
Debrief and Relevance
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We played this game because in order to do well,we need to keep the big idea in mind, and we need to keep working at our big idea to make it clearer.
That's one thing we can do as Christians. We might have some idea of what God has done for us, but we need to keep that idea in mind, and we need to make it clearer. Otherwise, if we forget what God has done for us, we won't feel His love for us, and we'll start to disobey Him and we'll get ourselves into all kinds of trouble.
Bible Reference
Our Bible passage tells us to remember what God has done. Let's read those verses again.
SLIDE 10
Exodus 20:1-3 (International Children's Bible)
1 Then God spoke all these words: 2 “I am the Lord your God. I brought you out of the land of Egypt where you were slaves. 3 “You must not have any other gods except me.
Explanation
After these verses, God gave His people a lot of rules which we’ll cover in the next couple of weeks. But the Ten Commandments don't start with rules,
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they start with God reminding us of what He’s done for us. This will help us remember that the rules came from someone who loves us.
If you were an Israelite back then, you would know how lucky you were, because you could have been a slave, and people could have treated you terribly. But, God gave you a better life. It was really important to remember what God had done. God's people were supposed to take time each week to stop and remember what He had done for them.
Application
But what about us? We're not Israelites, none of us are slaves, and we didn't escape from Egypt. But, God saved us from a much bigger problem. The Bible says we were all slaves to sin. Sin makes us lose our way in life, results in death, and takes away hope. To fix this, God sent Jesus to save us from our sins, and just like the Israelites, we need to take time each week to remember what God did for us.
Remembering will help us to have the right attitude when we are following God's rules. The rules come from a God who loves us, who has done more for us than we could ever do for ourselves.
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Even if we lost everything we had, we'd still be okay as long as we have God and His love for us. So, we don't need to be afraid of what we will lose if we follow His rules.
Discussion Question
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Let's pause to brainstorm for a bit. What has God done for us?
Point 2
Our second point is, we can remember that God is helping us now with His rules.
Game: Pantyhose Bowling
Instructions
We'll start this point with a game! This one's called Pantyhose Bowling. Let's watch this video to see what it's like:
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Now to make it easier, we’ll be using our hands to hold the top end of the pantyhose to our head.
Teacher: demonstrate how to knock over a water bottle with a pantyhose, using your hand to hold the top end of the pantyhose to your head.
This will be a relay race with teams of five people each. When I'm done explaining, we will split into teams.
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Each member on your team will have three water bottles to knock down.
After you knock down your three bottles, set them up again for the next person, and then pass the pantyhose on to them.
When each team member has knocked down three bottles, your team wins!
Debrief
We played this game because it has rules, and the rules actually make the game more fun. The game wouldn't be very fun if we could just kick the water bottles over, and it wouldn't be very fun if we could just start whenever we wanted, rather than all at the same time.
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The rules actually make the game better.
That's how it works with all of God's rules in the Bible. He explains why He gave us the Ten Commandments.
Bible Reference
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Let's read what God says about His rules.
Deuteronomy 5:29 (International Children's Bible)
29 I wish their hearts would always respect me. I wish they would always obey my commands. Then things would go well for them and their children forever!
Explanation
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God is saying, when we respect Him and obey His commandments, it's good for us! He wants us to obey Him so that it will go well with us, and one day when we’re older, if we have children of our own, God’s rules will be good for our children too.
Some people think that God helped us, so we need to help God back. But, that's the wrong way to think about it.
The right way to think is, even when God tells us what to do, He's helping us. That’s why He reminded us of everything He did for us before giving us the Ten Commandments.
He's not saying "now you need to help me back." God doesn't need our help.
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But God was saying, "you can trust me. I was good to you back then, and I’m still being good to you now."
Application
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If God tells you to do something in the Bible and you feel angry about it, it means you don't understand the rule properly. When we understand God's rules right, they are gifts to us and we should thank Him for His rules.
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We should enjoy God’s rules as much as we can. For example, when God tells us to be kind to others, we shouldn't just be a little bit kind. We remember that God gave us the rule to help us. So, we should be as kind as we can be. Then, God's rule will help us a lot.
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Discussion Question
Let’s pause for a discussion question:
Can you think of a rule that helps people?
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Conclusion
Let’s wrap up our lesson by going over the big ideas again.
Our big question today was: how can we follow God's rules without getting frustrated?
Our big idea was: we can remember that:
1. God has helped us in the past, and
2. God is helping us now with His rules.
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Main Activity: Movie Night (Part 1)
Our main activity is movie night!
A movie helps us to remember our lesson. Normally in a movie there are people who do things the right way, and people who do things the wrong way, and we get to think about what we want to do.
Teacher: you may want to decide on a movie with the children. Note, the next lesson will also have a movie as the main activity, so you can break a long movie into two parts. For your feature film, you may want to pick a show from the official VeggieTales channel:
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