Bible Verses
Work with your child and your students to learn each verse. Then, discuss the meaning of the verse and how it can be applied to everyday lives. On Sundays during class, riding in the car, or at dinner, it's fun to share stories of how the children have used the verse in their lives that week.

We provide memorization verses for each week. You can add your own.

October 5
(NKJV) Ex. 20:12 Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the LORD your God is giving you.

• Who is your Father? Mother?
• What does “to honor” mean?
• How do you honor God as Father-Mother?
• How do you honor your human parents?
• What happens to our family relationships if we disobey God?

October 12
(NKJV) Ex. 20:13 You shall not murder.

• Why is it wrong to take someone’s life?
• How do we “murder” without actually taking someone’s life?
• How does murder ruin our relationships with others?
• How do we pray for our world to stop violence?

October 19
(NKJV) Ex. 20:14 You shall not commit adultery.

• This commandment is about keeping promises. How do you keep your promises?
• Why is it important to God for us to keep our promises?
• What happens to a family or close friends when promises are broken?

October 26
(NKJV) Ex. 20:15 You shall not steal.

• Why do you think people steal?
• Why is not stealing even little things such a big deal?
• How do we help people not want to steal?

Bible Stories
This month we continue a ten week review of the Ten Commandments. Stories are used to support each commandment.

Fifth Commandment Ex. 20:12
Read: Luke 2:42-52
Younger: Lost
Older: Jesus at the Temple

Sixth Commandment Ex. 20:13
Read: Genesis 4: 1-5
Younger: Cain and Abel
Older: The Story of the First Children

Seventh Commandment Ex. 20:14
Read: Genesis 39:1-20
Younger: Joseph Obeys God
Older: The Rich Man's Son Who Was Sold as a Slave

Eighth Commandment Ex. 20:15
Read: Genesis 27:1-41
Younger: The Blessing
Older: How Jacob Stole His Brother’s Blessing

Exercise: Commandment Work
Teachers might like to look at Mary Jane Chaignot's article called, "The Ten Commandments - The Making of the Covenant" for background information. What is a commandment?

Exercise for 5^th Commandment
Discuss the importance of the 5^th Commandment by talking about all the Bible characters who kept the fifth Commandment. You might look at those who broke it and discuss what it did to the family. Absalom and David; Jacob and Isaac and Rebekah. Jacob obeyed his mother, but what about honoring his father? How did breaking the 8th and 9th Commandments affect family unity?

Exercise:
Ask the students to write each of the commandments as if they were beatitudes. This helps them think of the message of the Commandment and the reward for obedience. For example: Blessed are ye when you make God your first priority for you shall be happy. Or: I am happy when I don’t let anything interfere with my relationship to God. That way I’m always safe. Or: Blessed are those who adore only one God for they shall truly know God. Do two a week as you work through the Ten Commandments.

Exercise:
Design a Ten Commandment game. Have spaces that ask for a specific commandment by number. For example – you land on this space. What is the 3^rd Commandment? If you get it right, you move forward 2 spaces. If you get it wrong, you move backward 4 spaces. On the other spaces, list different Bible stories. Name a Commandment that the character kept or broke. This will help them in memorizing what the Commandments mean as well as seeing Bible characters who lived the Commandments and the consequences when they don’t.

Exercise: 6^th Commandment
Read: Ex 20:13 and Genesis 4:1-5

Why did Cain react so violently against his brother? Discuss anger management and make a list of ways to overcome anger. Which commandments get broken before a person arrives at the point of breaking the 6th Commandment? Coveting, lying, stealing, breaking promises. Work with the students to help them establish Love’s sweet control over their mouths and their actions.

Make a chart. Label the left column: If Bad Thoughts Suggest. And label the right column: Think Good Thoughts and Actions. Title it: WHO IS IN CONTROL?

The important part of this chart is the discussion of how to respond to negative thoughts with good thinking and acting.

Exercise: 7^th Commandment from Swap Shop SS teacher
I really struggled with how to teach "Thou shalt not commit adultery" to my class of 6-7 year olds. I finally decided to approach it from the standpoint that we don't break our promises to each other or to God. So we each made a puzzle to take home that we could break and put together. This is how we did it.

We had already talked about a rainbow (from Noah and the Ark) being a symbol of God's promise to love and protect us, so I combined the rainbow with a ring, which is a symbol of our promise to love and protect each other. We talked about how a rainbow is actually a complete circle even though we can only see part of it at a time. Then I gave each child a sheet of paper I designed on the computer with the heading, "Thou shalt not commit adultery," a picture of a rainbow, and a quote: "And the bow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth" Gen 9:16 (KJV). The page also had a picture (clip art) of a ring with this quote: "A new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another" John 13:34 (KJV). The children glued the page onto a sheet of thin cardboard (like a gift-box), turned it over, and then drew as many lines on the back as they were old (6 year olds drew 6 lines, etc.). Then they cut along the lines to break apart the puzzle. We put it together once in class, and then I sent the pieces home in ziplock baggies so the children could do the puzzle on their own. It was a very successful way to illustrate the reason for not breaking our promises to each other and to remember God's promise (covenant) to always love and protect us.

Kerste Helms
Bellevue, WA

Exercise: Have the students create a pneumonic that will help them memorize the order of the Ten Commandments.

The following is used by permission from Moses and the Law by K. Merrill and K. Christian, 1991 p. 97. Infinite Discovery.

Directions: Take the first letter of a key word in each commandment and build a memory sentence around them. For example:

O = one God
I = idols
N = name
S = Sabbath
H = honor
K = kill
A = adultery
St = steal
B = bear
C = covet

An example sentence:
Oscar invited Nancy south; however, Kathy asked Steve before Christmas.

Exercise: Complete What Did Jesus Do?

Print/Download What Did Jesus Do?
Print/Download What Did Jesus Do? Answer Sheet

Exercise: Complete On the Trail

Print/Download Complete On the Trail
Print/Download Complete On the Trail Answer Sheet

Exercise:
Create a set of commandments for you personally, that you will obey at home, school, church, and in your community. One of your commandments at home might be: I will listen to my parents without talking back. You might have this one at school: I will be polite to my teachers and classmates. And a church-related commandment might be: I will be loving and not rude or disrespectful.

Exercise: Complete Be Like Joseph

Print/Download Be Like Joseph
Print/Download Be Like Joseph Answer Sheet

Exercise: Joseph Puzzle

Print/Download Joseph Puzzle
Print/Download Joseph Puzzle Answer Sheet

Exercise: Break the Code – 8^th Commandment

Print/Download Break the Code – 8^th Commandment
Print/Download Break the Code – 8^th Commandment Answer Sheet

Exercises: Follow the Birthright Stew Maze

Print/Download Birthright Stew Maze
Print/Download Birthright Stew Maze Answer Sheet

Exercises: Break the Code – Forgiveness

Print/Download Break the Code – Forgiveness
Print/Download Break the Code – Forgiveness Answer Sheet

Exercise: Find the Hidden Message - Forgiveness

Print/Download Find the Hidden Message - Forgiveness
Print/Download Find the Hidden Message - Forgiveness Answer Sheet

Exercise: Make a poster of the Commandments for Sunday school. See Swap Shop for examples of the first four Commandments.

Exercise:
If your Sunday school allows it, ask your pupils to come dressed as their favorite Bible Character. The other members of the class must guess who each student is. Each child should be prepared to give five clues about his/her identity for the others to guess. After the character is revealed, the student dressed as that Bible figure needs to tell a story about that person and where to find his/her story in the Bible. For example: One child came dressed as Moses. He was wearing a striped robe and sandals. He carried a big stick to look like a staff. He had on a cotton ball beard and sideburns.

He told the class:

• The Pharaoh's daughter found me in the Nile.
• I was forced to take off my sandals.
• My staff turned into a serpent.
• God helped me free the Children of Israel.
• God told me the Ten Commandments.

Who Am I?

Another child dressed as Joseph with a robe with many colors on it.

She told the class:

• I was my dad's favorite child.
• I could tell people their dreams.
• I had ten older brothers.
• My dad made me a special coat.
• My brothers threw me in a pit.

Who Am I?

Even if your Sunday school doesn't allow for costumes, it is a good exercise for the children to select a character and prepare clues for others to use to guess who they are.

I have dressed as Noah, Moses, and Joseph to teach Sunday school -- all with great success.

Teachers: If you feel up to it(!), dress as your favorite character and give a press conference. Open with a statement about your life and then let the children interview you and get the details. After the interview, ask them to write stories and draw pictures in order to write their own news articles.

Exercise: Halloween - what is it? Why do we have it? Tie some of the commandments to wearing masks.

• What do masks and costumes represent?
• Have you ever thought that you were just wearing a costume when you have disobeyed your parents?
• What do masks do?
• Why would we want to hide our identity?
• When you say "trick or treat," what does it mean?
• Make a list of those who were "tricksters" in the Bible.
  • What are their names?
  • What did they do?
  • Who did they hurt?
• Make a list of those who were "treaters" in the Bible.
  • What are their names?
  • What did they do?
  • Who did they help?

Can you see a difference between tricking and treating?

5^th Commandment; Ex 20:12
Read: Luke 2:42-52; Lost; Jesus at the Temple

• How do you honor God?
• How do you honor your human father and mother?
• Do you know what the commandment means?
• How old was Jesus when he came up missing?
• Why did it take so long for his parents to figure out he wasn’t in the group?
• Have you ever been lost?
• Do you think Jesus felt lost?
• Where do you think he stayed during the three days his parents were looking for him?
• Where did they find Jesus?
• What was he doing?
• Do you stay after Sunday school to talk with your teacher or other teachers about the Bible?
• How do you think Jesus’ parents felt when they discovered he was missing?
• What did Mary say to Jesus when she found him?
• How do you think Mary felt when she found Jesus?
• What was his response?
• What do you think Jesus meant?
• Did Mary and Joseph understand what Jesus meant?
• How did Jesus honor Mary and Joseph?

6^th Commandment; Ex 20:13
Read: Genesis 4: 1-5; Cain and Abel; The Story of the First Children

• Why do you think we have a commandment that tells us not to kill?
• Why is killing bad?
• Who are Cain and Abel?
• Did they know the commandments when they were kids? [NO – not written yet]
• What kind of offering did Cain bring God?
• What kind of offering did Abel bring God?
• Why do you think Cain’s offering wasn’t acceptable to God?
• What did he do? Why did he do it?
• How does Cain respond to God when he asks him where Abel is?
• What does God do to Cain for killing his brother?
• What kind of mark do you think God put on Cain?

7^th Commandment; Ex. 20:14
Read: Genesis 39:1-20; Joseph Obeys God; The Rich Man's Son Who Was Sold as a Slave

• Why did Joseph’s brothers throw him in a pit?
• What happened when Joseph was in the pit?
• Who took him out?
• Who sold him as a slave in Egypt?
• Who bought him?
• Up to this point, Joseph is a teenager. His mother is dead, his brothers almost killed him, his father thinks he is dead. What would have been wrong if Joseph gave into the temptations of Potiphar’s wife?
• Wouldn’t Joseph have been justified if he’d given into Potiphar’s wife?
• What was Joseph’s response to her?
• Why wouldn’t she leave him alone?
• Did he do the right thing by running out of his robe?
• Why did Potiphar’s wife lie about Joseph’s actions?
• Which commandments did she break?
• Did Joseph break any commandments?
• Why wasn’t it fair for him to be thrown in jail?
• How did Joseph react to this injustice?
• Which qualities would you use to describe Joseph?
• Would you hire Joseph to work for you? Why or why not?
• Why does God want us to keep promises?
• Which promises do you keep?
• How does it help us when we keep our promises to God?
• Is it ever right to break a promise?

8^th Commandment Ex. 20:15
Read: Genesis 27:1-41; The Blessing; How Jacob Stole His Brother’s Blessing

• Why is it wrong to steal?
• Is it ever right to steal?
• Why did Jacob steal his brother’s blessing?
• Whose idea was it for Jacob to steal the blessing?
• What did he have to do to get it?
• How many commandments did he break in stealing his brother’s blessing?
• What happened to Jacob’s family after he did that?
• Did his mother ever see him again?
• Was his Dad really ready to die?
• How do you know he wasn’t going to die yet?
• Why do you think he wanted to give Esau the blessing privately?
• In that day when someone thought he was dying, he called in the whole family, not just one member. Do you think Isaac was being fair?
• Where does Jacob go after receiving the blessing?
• How did stealing the birthright change his life?
• Why did Jacob do such a dishonest act?
• Is Jacob a moral person?
• How does God see him?
• How do you help friends or family members when they want to steal?
• Is stealing someone’s time really stealing?
• What other kinds of stealing can you think of?