Unit: Wandering in the Wilderness
Session Titles: Joshua and Caleb
Story Point: Joshua and Caleb trusted God to give His people the promised land
Big Picture Question: What does it mean to sin? To sin is to think, speak or behave in any way that goes against God and His commands
Unit Bible Verse: “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not rely on your own understanding; In all your ways know him, and he will make your paths straight.” Proverbs 3:5-6
Bible Passage: Numbers 13-14
Lesson Help: A Cluster of Grapes
A CLUSTER OF “GRAPE” EVENTS
Numbers 13
From brown poster board, make a large stem. I used a tree stem and modified it a little to look like a grape stem. Using a medium sized bowl, I traced circles onto purple construction paper for grapes. This was easy to do, so I made multiple grapes for all the different activities.
- On each grape, write a part of the story about the spies being sent into the promise land. As you tell the story, add a grape onto the stem to make a large cluster of grapes.
- After the lesson about the spies, turn it into a center or a review game. Mix up the grapes and have the children place the grapes in the correct order of the story.
- On other grapes, write different words to the memory verse you are leaning at the time as well as the reference. Scramble the words and have the children put them in the correct order as they form a grape cluster.
Grape Events: (What to put on each grape)
- God told Moses to send one man from each tribe to explore the land of Canaan. (13:1)
- Moses told the men to see what the land, people, and food were like in the area., and to see if they could bring back some fruit. (13:17-20)
- They traveled from the Desert of Zin to Rehob to Lebo Hanath to Negev and Hebron. (13:21-22)
- At the Valley of Eschol the men found a cluster of grapes to bring back to Moses. (13:23)
- The cluster of grapes was so big that two men had to carry the grapes on a pole between them. (13:23)
- After 40 days of exploring, the men came back to Moses to report. (13:24)
- 10 of the spies told Moses that the land flowed with milk and honey and the people, who were like giants, lived in great fortified cities. (13:27-29)
- Caleb and Joshua told Moses that the Israelites would be able to take the land and should take it. (13:30)
- The 10 other spies were scared and did not want to take the land because the people living there were too great. (13:31-33)
- After the Israelites heard both reports, they began to complain to Moses and Aaron about having to come here only to die. (14:1-4)
- Because the Israelites complained, God told Moses that none of them would see the Promised Land (14:20-23)
- The Israelites wandered in the desert for 40 years. (14:33)
A Grape Memory Verse (on each grape write a part of the memory verse)
Grape #1 – If God
Grape #2 – is for us
Grape #3 – who can
Grape #4 – be against
Grape #5 – us?
Grape #6 – Romans
Grape #7 – 8
Grape #8 – :
Grape #9 – 31
http://bibleschoolteachers.blogspot.com/2008/08/cluster-of-grape-events.html
Craft: Caleb’s Mountain
Materials needed: 12″ x 18″ dark blue construction paper, 12″ x 18″ dark brown construction paper, five 1″x 12″ strips of light colored paper,small puffs of cotton or cotton balls, white crayon, glue, scissors.
- Pass out dark blue paper. This is the foundation.
- Pass out brown paper.
- Gently scrunch or crumble the brown paper so it has a few major wrinkles. This is the mountain.
- Glue mountain to blue paper.
- Write “Caleb’s Mountain” and “Joshua 14:6-13” at the top of the blue paper.
- Glue two cotton clouds in sky.
- Write “HEBRON”, “85 years old”, “I will fight giants”, “He followed God”, “I am strong”, and “If the LORD is with me” on the strips of light colored paper.
- Glue short sentences to mountain.
- Draw ‘snow’ on top of mountain.
http://childrensbiblelessons.blogspot.com/2014/06/lesson-caleb-makes-request.html
Game: Word Tile Relay
Use the attached PDF to make two (or more) sets of tiles and have kids do a relay to get the tiles. Then see which team can put the phrase together the quickest.
https://sundayschoolzone.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/joshua_explored_the_promised_land_word_tiles.pdf
Object Lesson: Insects
Materials: toy plastic insects
Geography: locate Kadesh (Paran) and Canaan
Background: The Israelites were given freedom from Egypt by the miraculous hand of God. God gave the Israelites some rules called the Ten Commandments. These Commandments would be The Law that everyone in the nation would follow. These laws were given to the people by God to protect them, to set them apart from the other nations, and to teach them how to live for God.
By the time the Hebrews reached Mt. Sinai, they had seen many wonders by God. They were beginning to see God fulfill His promises to Abraham. A nation was beginning to form. A great nation needs rules and they now had the Ten Commandments, as well as many other laws and regulations. God had given Moses the directions to build the tabernacle and the priesthood was set up through the tribe of Levi and the family of Aaron.
{Choose 4-5 of the insects. Be sure one is a grasshopper. Hold up each one and have the children identify the insects. Ask:}
- Are these toy insects big or small? [Compared to the real insects, these are very big.]
- If this grasshopper was real and it looked around the room, would it think it was big or small? [Small]
- How would the grasshopper perceive us in the room? [It would think we were giants. Be sure to get the word “giants” from the kids.]
- Since these pretend insects are bigger than real insects, can we say that they are “exaggerated”? Bigger than they really are? [Yes]
https://www.futureflyingsaucers.com/the-story-of-moses-in-a-nutshell-exodus-26-numbers-14-wanderings/
