Story of the World Ancient Times - Chapter 14 - Moses, the Isaelites, and the Exodus from Egypt

Painting in header is "Mother of Moses", by Simeon Solomon, 1860
and is in the public domain

This is part of my Story of the World lesson series, but this post especially can be used by those not using that curriculum.  In stead of reading these stories about Moses in SOTW, we actually read them in our Children's Bible (since we were reading other parts of the story as well to supplement).   And we didn't do a lot of activities, since we had just recently attended a Vacation Bible School camp related to the story of Moses and the Israelites.  But there are SO MANY hands on activities you can do related to the story of Moses, so I decided to share links to some of the best of those with you (both ones directly related to the parts of this story SOTW includes, and ones not included...I've noted which are which in the activity section below.).  


But before I get to those activities, here are some Children's Bible versions I suggest for these stories...

 

 

The Jesus Storybook Bible
This is a beautiful retelling of various Bible stories, told in a way that  shows how each separate event is  really part of ONE story...a Love story about how God rescues his people.  It's gentle and perfect for younger children, yet brings out aspects of the stories that even adults can learn from. 

I suggest buying the version with the audio CD, as David Suchet's reading of this story is really wonderful (my oldest listened to these tapes over and over...he couldn't get enough of them).   You can also purchase just the book by itself or get it with the animated movie version of this on DVDS too (which I haven't seen so can't comment on).

 

(DK) Children's Illustrated Bible

This book has faithful retelling of the Bible stories along with beautiful illustrations, and sidebars with helpful maps, pictures of artifacts and places, and historical and cultural information related to the text.   It's really a perfect book if you want to connect the Bible stories with other aspects of history.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Action Bible
This comic book style Bible is great for older elementary age kids and middle school kids.   My own kids really liked this one...it was the first one they read on their own. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ACTIVITIES


For All Sections

Old Testament Notebooking Activities

Baby Moses Activities

(Included in SOTW Narrative)

• Printable (Ages 4 - 7)
• Baby Moses Craft - This uses a walnut shell, but I think a large acorn cap would work, and you could subsitute a smaller acorn (without cap) for Moses, or make a paper Moses.
• Baby Moses Peg Doll Craft and Activity
  
• Simple Paper Basket (Ages 6-8)
• Yarn Basket
• Baby Moses Wave Bottle
• See also "Notes for Christian Homeschoolers" at the bottom of this page for additional discussions, especially for older children
  

Moses and the Burning Bush Craft

(NOT included in SOTW narrative)

• Burning Bush Luminaries
• More Burning Bush Crafts

The Israelite Make Bricks
(NOT included in SOTW narrative, but it would be easy to add this without additional reading just by explaining that this was one thing the Isrealites had to do when they were slaves).

• How to make mud bricks.

10 Plagues Activity

(Included in SOTW Narrative)

• 10 Plagues Snacks
• 10 Plagues Activities

Crossing the Red Sea
(Included in SOTW Narrative)

Crossing the Red Sea 3D Paper Craft
Cross the Red Sea Interactive Coloring Page

Crossing the Red Sea - Jello and Lego Activities*

*Technically, these are crossing the Jordan activities, but they would totally work for crossing the red sea too. 

See also "Notes for Christian Homeschoolers" at the bottom of this page for additional discussions, especially for older children


EVENTS AFTER THE SOTW NARRATIVE

 
The following things that happened to the Israelites while they were wandering around in the desert aren't part of what was included in Story of the World narrative, but if you want to extend this by reading Bible stories from the Exodus, here are some fun activities to go with this.

10 Commandments Activities

While this was not included in SOTW Narrative, a picture of Moses carrying the 10 commandments is one of the illustration)

10 Commandment Ornament 

10 Commandments Tablets (larger)

10 Commandments Lapbook

Various 10 Commandments Crafts

10 Commandments Spinner

Wandering in the Desert

Exodus (and other Bible Stories) Play Activity with Sand (Ages 4-8)
A way to tell the Exodus story to very young children using a sand box and wood figures (you could print out figures in stead and glue them to popsicle sticks to use in the sand in similar ways).

Learn about the Sinai desert

The Israelites wandered for 40 years in the Sinai.   This would be a great chance to explore a little bit of what this desert is like.   Below are some great resources for that.

• Foods of the Sinai (With Recipes) - This blog post from one of my other blogs, which I wrote largely using info from the three previous sources, has suggestions for snacks that relate to various parts of the Exodus, and at the bottom has a list of edible plants in the Sinai, and recipes, most using only foods that the Israelites would have had. It includes some activities you could do for learning about God's provision  manna and quail to the Israelites.

• Wandering Through the Wadis  - An blog with beautiful pictures of Sinai flora and fauna which is fun to explore. 

• Wildlife of the Sinai - This site has pictures of animals and insects that live in the Sinai.

• Wild Plants of the Sinai - A short list of plants that grow in the Sinai (not all plants, but just some common ones), with pictures.

• Bedouin History Desert Safari - A blog with lots of great stories about what life is like today for Bedouins in the Sinai desert.   This post, with a story about children digging for wild tubers in the desert, I thought would be a good one to read to children. 

The Making of the Tabernacle

• Paper Tabernacle
  

Spies Enter Canaan

• Find the 12 spies
  

MORE NOTES/COMMENTARY FOR CHRISTIAN HOMESCHOOLERS

SIMILAR ANCIENT STORIES TO MOSES

There are stories similar to the story Moses' and how he was placed in the Nile by his mother.    One of these stories is the story of Sargon, and some people have claimed that the Moses story was based off of that.    This article does a pretty good job of refuting that claim. 

Another ancient myth that is similar to the Moses story is the story of Isis and Horus.   According to the myth, while hiding from Set, Isis gave birth to Horus in the swamps of the Delta.   She kept the baby hidden in the thickets, and the goddess Selket (or in some versions Neith) watched over Horus when Isis needed to go out for food.   (Source: https://www.ancient.eu/Horus/)

This is similar to how Moses' mother hid Moses in the reeds, and had her sister watch over him. 

While it's just conjecture, this idea popped into my head:   What if Moses' mother knew these stories?   What if what happened to Moses was BOTH a copy and a reality?   What if, having heard these stories from the Egyptians she lived with, she hid her baby in a way that she thought would make any Egyptian who found her child hesitant to harm him?  Horus was an important god in Egypt, associated with the rule of the Pharaohs.  If an Egyptian found a baby in a basket hiding in the reeds, I imagine it could make them pause, possibly treat the child a little more kindly (or have second thoughts over turning it over to be killed if they realized it was a Hebrew child).  


CROSSING THE RED SEA

This blog post discusses the question "Did Pharoah die with his army?" 

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