Moses as a baby

Exodus 1, 2: 1-10

Craft - Moses in a floating basket



Moses in his basket

 

At Toddler Praise we have changed our topic; having gone through Jesus life, death and resurrection and then onto Pentecost and the early disciples, we are now going back to the old testament, looking at Moses for the next few weeks.

This week's simple craft requires beads, only a few but beads are not a cheap craft material like most my crafts use. I only buy expensive materials for special occasions, these beads were bought for making Mothers Day gifts last year. Beads are great for threading and kids love them, as well as developing their fine motor skills. At the time, we made key-rings with heart charms but today we are making baby Moses with them. When I buy more expensive materials, I tend to buy them from online shops. I plan ahead to see what's coming up and what I might need to top up on, as well as buying for Sunday school activities. Then I'm only paying postage once or not at all if they have an offer for purchasing more than a certain amount. The site I favour is www.yellowmoon.org.uk (also known as Baker Ross), I find their craft materials to be good quality and good value. They also sell religious craft materials too, which is really useful when you require foam nativity or Easter stickers or need some small crosses. Of course if you are not from Britain, you will need to find a different company. If you know of any other companies, feel free to leave a link in the comments below for others to use and say which country they are in.

The book of Exodus in the old testament is the story of Moses and how he led the Jewish people out of Egypt, to God's promised land of Israel. Saving them from the tyranny of Pharaoh and slavery in Egypt. We are looking at this story for next few weeks, starting today with Moses birth. The Jewish people had grown in number since Joseph and his brothers had settled in Egypt. This frightened the Pharaoh, he was scared that they would rise up against him and fight for his enemies. He decided to make them slaves, he oppressed them and forced them to build great structures and farm the land. The Egyptian slave masters worked them hard and were ruthless. But the Jews grew more in number, the king decided that all boys must be killed at birth but the midwives would not do it. He then ordered that newborn boys should be thrown in the river Nile. Moses was born at this time, his mother hid him for 3 months but he was too noisy. So she made a basket out of papyrus and coated it in tar to make it waterproof. She hid Moses in amongst the reeds on the river Nile. Pharaoh's daughter was walking along the bank of the Nile, when she heard the baby crying. She knew it was a Jewish baby but she took pity on it. Moses sister was keeping a eye on him, she asked Pharaoh's daughter if his mother could be his wet nurse. The princess agreed and when Moses was old enough he went to live in the palace and was brought up as her son.

 

Materials required:

·         Plastic cups (brown would be preferable but any will do)

·         Cotton wool

·         Beads with large holes (2 sizes optional)

·         Pipe cleaners

·         Scrap material

·         Scissors

·         Bowl of water

Prepare before session:

Cut off bottom of the cup

1.    Cut the bottom off the plastic cups, by cutting down the cup from the top until about 2cm from the bottom. Then cut around the cup, take care as the cup easily splits.

2.    Cut pipe cleaners to roughly 2 inch or 5cm lengths.

3.    Cut scrap material down to size to make little blankets.

Instructions:

Thread a larger bead onto the pipe cleaner

1.    Choose a big bead for the head of Moses and thread onto the pipe cleaner. Fold over end of pipe cleaner to secure head. If you only have one size of bead, choose a different colour to the body beads.

2.    Choose 4 smaller beads for Moses body. Fold over the other end of the pipe cleaner to secure body.



3.    With a permanent marker draw eyes and mouth on the head bead. An adult may wish to do this.

4.    Put a ball of cotton wool in the bottom of the cup for soft bedding, place Moses in the middle.

Place Moses on soft bedding

5.    Place blanket over baby Moses, we don't want him to get cold!

6.    When everyone has finished, try floating them all in a bowl of water, or even make a little stream to float down.

A line of Moses' in baskets being washed down a pipe

 

My son had great fun making Moses in his basket with the leftovers from Toddler Praise. He spent a good half hour sliding them down a gutter half pipe, by pouring water down the pipe with a watering can. Lots of fun to be had, especially on a sunny day.

You can visit the Toddler Praise Facebook page by following the link below:

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Toddler-Praise-St-Lukes-Church-Scarborough/791165617571028

If you like this idea don't forget to 'Pin' it on Pinterest, tweet on twitter, share on Facebook, Google+ or email it with the links at the bottom.

Have fun