June 12–18

Exodus 1–6

“Certainly I Will Be with Thee”

Start by reading Exodus 1–6. Come, Follow Me for individuals and families can help you understand these chapters, and this outline can give you teaching ideas.

Record Your Impressions

Improving Our Teaching

Children benefit from repetition. Don’t be afraid to repeat activities multiple times, especially with younger children. This will help the children remember what you teach.

Invite Sharing

Show several objects that relate to the accounts in these chapters—for example, a large basket or a baby doll. Invite the children to use these objects to share their favorite parts of Moses’s story.

Teach the Doctrine

Younger Children

Exodus 1–2

Faithful women help fulfill God’s purposes.

Moses’s mother, his sister, and Pharaoh’s daughter protected and cared for Moses. It may benefit the children you teach to know about important roles played by women in the scriptures.

Possible Activities

• Use the activity page and chapter 15 in Old Testament Stories to tell the children how Jochebed (Moses’s mother), Miriam (his sister), and Pharaoh’s daughter cared for Moses.

• Sing together the first verse of “The Dearest Names” (Children’s Songbook, 208). Ask the children to talk about what their mothers and other women in their lives do for them.

• Invite the children to draw a picture of their mothers, grandmothers, or other women who care for them.

  

Exodus 3–6

Jesus will help me to do things that are right.

Moses worried about whether he could deliver the Israelites out of bondage. But the Lord promised that He would help Moses. The children you teach also likely have worries and fears as they try to do what is right, but they can know that the Savior will always help them.

Possible Activities

• Summarize the story of the burning bush in your own words, reading selected verses from chapter 3. Use props and have the children take off their shoes.

• Share how Moses felt (see Exodus 3:6). What did the Lord tell him? Memorize the phrase “Certainly I will be with thee” (Exodus 3:12) together.

• Help the children share times when they felt that it was hard to do what was right. Explain that just as Jesus helped Moses, He will help them.

• Sing “Jesus Is Our Loving Friend” (Children’s Songbook, 58). Testify that the Savior will help us when we are worried or scared.

Exodus 3:1–5

I can be reverent in holy places.

Use the story of Moses and the burning bush to help the children understand why we treat sacred things with reverence.

Possible Activities

• Read Exodus 3:1–5 and explain that Moses showed reverence by removing his shoes. What do we do to show reverence at church?

• Sing “Father, I Will Reverent Be” (Children’s Songbook, 29).

• Show pictures of situations where we should be reverent and where we don’t need to be reverent, such as a sacrament meeting, a prayer, a park, and a birthday party. Ask the children to sort the pictures to show where we should be reverent.

Teach the Doctrine

Older Children

Exodus 1–2

Faithful women help fulfill God’s purposes.

Through righteous women, God preserved the life of Moses, the future deliverer of Israel. How can you help the children you teach understand the vital role women play in fulfilling God’s plan?

Possible Activities

• Invite the children to share what they know about Moses. Use this week’s activity page and Exodus 1:22; 2:1–10 to summarize the story of Moses’s childhood.

• Read the scripture references on the activity page, and ask the children what each of the women did to preserve Moses’s life.

• Tell the children about a woman whom you admire because of her faithfulness in fulfilling God’s purposes.

• Invite the children ahead of time to bring to class pictures of women who are important in their lives and share why they are grateful for them. How are these women like the women described in Exodus 1–2?

Exodus 3–4

The Lord will help me accomplish His will.

When the Lord told Moses that he was to deliver the children of Israel from bondage, Moses felt overwhelmed. But the Lord promised He would be with Moses and help him. How might this account inspire the children you teach?

Possible Activities

• Using the account in Exodus 3 and 4:1–17, let the children take turns pretending to be Moses. Bring props for them to use, such as a flashlight and plant to represent the burning bush.

• Ask the children to read Exodus 3:11; 4:1, 10 and note Moses’s concerns about his call to serve. What advice could the children share with Moses to make him feel better? How did the Lord respond to Moses? (see Exodus 3:12; 4:2–9).

• Share an experience when you felt the power of God in a calling or in your service to someone. Invite the children to share a time when the Lord helped them.

Exodus 3:1–5

I can be reverent in holy places.

The Lord asked Moses to remove his shoes at the burning bush as a sign of respect and reverence. How can you use this account to teach the children about reverence?

Possible Activities

• Read Exodus 3:1–5 and ask the children to summarize these verses in their own words. What can we do to show reverence in holy places, such as at church or in the temple?

• Sing together “Reverence Is Love” (Children’s Songbook, 31), and ask each child to write and share a definition of reverence based on the lyrics.

• Create “reverence bags” for each child to take home containing strips of paper with ideas about how to be reverent.

Encourage Learning at Home

To help the children share what they learned from Exodus 1–6, encourage them to draw a picture of one of the people they learned about in class to share with their family.

Sharing Time

Singing Time (25 minutes)

Use the Children’s Songbook and Hymns to select a variety of songs that reinforce the doctrine the children are learning. For example:

• “Redeemer of Israel,” Hymns, no. 6

• “Reverently, Quietly,” Children’s Songbook, 26

While the children sing “Reverently, Quietly,” show pictures that inspire reverence, such as a picture of the Savior or a temple.

Sharing by Children (10 minutes)

Create opportunities for children to share how they are learning and living the gospel.

Younger Children

• Cut out paper hearts and write on them ways the Lord helps the children. Place the hearts facedown on the floor. Invite children to take turns choosing hearts and sharing what is written on them.

• Invite the children to draw pictures of themselves and point to their pictures as you discuss ways we can be reverent with different parts of our bodies, such as eyes, ears, mouths, hands, and feet.

Older Children

• Invite several children ahead of time to talk about women who have influenced them.

• Use the picture Jesus Cleansing the Temple (Gospel Art Book, no. 51) to tell the story in Matthew 21:12–13. How was Moses’s attitude, recorded in Exodus 3:1–5, different from the moneychangers’ attitude? How can we show our respect for sacred things and places?