The 10 Plagues

 Hello and welcome to Christchurch Kids. We're glad you could join us online as we carry on exploring the story of Moses. 

Moses appears in the Bible in the book of Exodus. The word 'exodus' means the movement of a lot of people or things away from a place. In our story today, we hear about how the Israelites began their own exodus as they left Egypt. It wasn't easy to leave though as Pharaoh didn't want them to go.

Let's watch the video and find out what happened

How do you think Moses felt when he had done everything God had asked him to and all the people around him just got upset with him?

The Israelites were upset with him as he had said God would free them and they were still stuck in Egypt. Pharaoh wouldn't listen and kept saying :No!"

Moses listened to God and kept going back to Pharaoh to try and warn him but he wouldn't listen. Did you spot all of the 10 plagues that God sent? What do you think it would have been like to live in Egypt when the plagues happened?

1) The river turned to blood
2) Frogs were everywhere
3)Gnats (tiny annoying , biting flies)
4) Flies
5)Cattle became ill and died
6) Boils - these are large sore spots 
7)Hail storms
8) Locusts - insects like grasshoppers that eat all the plants
9) Three days of total darkness

Some of the plagues sound a bit weird. I quite like frogs but in the Bible it says that the frogs were on the people and in their beds and even in their ovens. I don't think I like frogs that much!

In the first plague the river turned to blood - what would the people have to drink?

In the 5th plague, the cattle died and in the 8th plague the locusts ate the plants. What did the people have to eat? 

After all of these plagues, Pharaoh's heart was still hard. He refused to do what God was asking him. There was only one plague left and it was terrible. God said that all the firstborn sons would die. 

God told Moses to tell the Israelites to paint the blood of a lamb on their doorposts and to eat special bread and so the plague passed over their houses and their sons did not die.The Jewish festival of Passover is still celebrated today when Jews remember when the plague passed over them and God rescued them. 

The last plague was the one that finally changed Pharaoh's mind. 

What does this story tell us about God? He didn't send the plagues because he felt like doing something weird. He did it because his chosen people had cried out to Him for help. It shows us how powerful God is. He gave Pharaoh lots of chances to change his mind too. The Israelites needed God to be the powerful God they knew him to be and He answered their prayer. 

It's interesting that the Israelites grumbled at Moses when they weren't freed straight away. Sometimes God's plans take some time to happen and we can get impatient. At those times we have to remember that God has good plans for us and we can trust Him.

In the Bible it says...

I say this because I know what I have planned for you,” says the Lord. “I have good plans for you. I don’t plan to hurt you. I plan to give you hope and a good future.

Jeremiah 29:11

Our Activity Book

If you are new to the Christchurch Kids blog and would like an activity book, please email Emy at childrenandfamilies@christchurch-clevedon.org.uk

We can have a look in our activity books now and find the pages about the 10 plagues. 

If you are in Splash, you have a frog and fly game you can make in the back of your books.

If you are in Xstream, you can have a go at making origami jumping frogs.

The instructions to make a jumping frog are in your activity book, but if you need some extra help, here's a little video.

Prayer

In our story today, we heard about how God protected and rescued the Israelites. He is a powerful God.

God protects us too and so today we are going to stick our prayers onto an umbrella. 

In the Bible, it talks about God being our shield. We don't use armour very much anymore so a shield isn't something we can easily imagine. An umbrella is a great symbol of protection for us today. 

You can write your prayers on post-it notes and stick then on your umbrella or you can draw a picture of an umbrella and write or draw your prayers on there. 

Dear God

Thank you that you love us and protect us. Thank you that you have good plans for us. Help us to listen to you with soft hearts so we are open to hear you.

Amen.

We've got one of our favourite songs today. It's 'Our God is a Great Big God'.

We've heard how powerful God is and that he is a great, big God but he still knows us and loves us. Let's praise God together as we sing and do the actions.

Thanks for joining us today on our blog. We hope you can pop back next week to find out what happened next in the Exodus and Moses' incredible journey.