Exodus 14: 10-15: 2 tell of Moses and the Israelites being chased by the Egyptians. When Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, it parted and the Israelites walked across on dry land; when the Egyptians tried to follow they were swallowed up by the sea. In response to God’s protection Moses and Miriam sang a song to the Lord.
First the children and I read the passage and talked through how we could act it out.
After we had a plan and set up what we needed, I sat on the couch to read the passage again. Now, I only have four children so we used our imaginations to fill in the gaps. One child played Moses, while another was the people of Israel. Two other children played the Egyptians following them.
As Moses and the Israelites came to the Red Sea (a rolled up blanket) they looked back and saw their enemies coming behind them. Moses held out his hand and the sea opened up. (Mom quickly unrolled the blanket) The Israelites walked across the sea on dry land. As they turned back to watch the Egyptians started crossing and when they were all (both) in the sea, they suddenly fell down and the sea closed in over them. (Mom covered them with both sides of the blanket) When the Israelites saw this they started to sing and dance around. (siblings in blanket squirmed out to become Israelites now) Vss. 1-2 of chapter 15 are a song we know: “I will sing unto the Lord, for He has triumphed gloriously, the horse and rider thrown into the sea.” We repeated that several times and then continued with verse 2, “The Lord, my God, my Strength, my Song has now become my Victory. The Lord is God and I will praise Him, my Father’s God and I will exalt Him.” With much skipping, swinging of arms and spinning around we enjoyed praising God for His deliverance.
At the time this was just a hands on way to learn God’s Word, but twelve years later my oldest can still relay that experience in much detail. We don’t know in the midst of our teaching what is going to stick with our children. Even so, Mom, we can know that as we explain, show and practice with our children, some is sticking and we are making lasting memories along the way.