Scripture: Exodus 1-2
Learning Objectives:
- Students will learn God has a plan, but sometimes bad things still happen.
- Students will learn God is working even when bad things happen.
- Students will learn sometimes things in our lives don’t make sense, because we are only one piece of a much larger plan of God’s.
- Students will learn how to make a reed Moses basket.
Guiding Question: What was the basket Moses was put in like?
Materials: basket reeds, water, rosin, charcoal powder, crushed plants, mortar and pestle, beeswax, old pot
Procedure:
Introduce the activity. Have students make miniature reed baskets like Moses would have been placed in. You can use these instructions to help them weave a small basket . Young children may find it easier to weave a flat mat. Using all safety procedures, have an adult make pitch and let cool enough where students can still work with it to coat the insides of their “baskets” but not so hot they can get burned. Use protective clothing so students won’t get pitch on their clothes (rubbing alcohol will remove it from skin). Recipe 1: part violin rosin or sap from pine tree, melt on the lowest possible heat as it is extremely flammable. Add one part hardwood charcoal powder, one part plants crushed to fine powder (students can use mortar and pestle to make this powder themselves) and one part fat or beeswax. Mix and use craft sticks to apply to inside of basket. Once it dries thoroughly put baskets with and without pitch in water to see which would have been better for Moses.
Additional Questions: Why might Moses’ family placed the basket where they did?
Supplemental Activity: Have interested students research the Nile river and royal habits in ancient Egypt. Can they develop a theory as to why the basket might have been placed where it was?