Manna just appeared for Aaron and the Israelite’s, the sun came up not only dispelling the night’s blackness but revealing a morning gift. This traditional magic window craft does a similar job of transforming the Israelite’s world with both Manna and Quail. It’s a simple craft to prep and suitable for a whole range of ages.
To make this craft, you will need the 2-page template printout (one page printed on paper, the other on acetate), scissors, some paper glue, and a black pen. I’d also recommend a stapler.
Cut out all four pieces.
Line up the acetate with the coloured background. This is important and worth adult supervision as it’s the basis of the transformation.
While you could glue the two pieces together, I found stapling these yielded the best results.
Once attached, glue on the pull tab.
Slide the blank piece between the coloured background and the acetate.
Turn your craft over and fold the long thin pieces inwards. This will create a ‘stop’ when you slide your craft, preventing it from coming fully apart.
I’d recommend adding a sad mouth to Aaron at this point. Place your finger under the acetate to find the correct position.
Your magic window craft is now complete. As you slide the two pieces apart, Aaron’s frown should literally leave him and manna will appear on the ground and in the basket.
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Like Aaron and the Israelite’s we have all experienced hunger (at least on some level) and know how grumpy it can make people. This story of divine providence gives us some real, tangible props to tie into our games. Select the game that best suits your group age range and setup.
Gathering manna
All Ages
Any size group
Requires setup time
Noisy game
Space needed
Spread popcorn kernels around the room and have the kids collect them. You can use unpopped, or you can cook the “manna” and talk about how real manna may have tasted (like honey wafers). For younger groups, use a clean sheet and pre-popped popcorn.
Manna and more
Ages 7+
Small group
Requires setup time
Quiet game
Can be seated
Click on the image to download the PDF of this activity. Cut out then hand out the odd shaped manna pieces. Get the kids to make groups greater than 4. The challenge is to join the pieces together to make a quail (the bird shape appears in the gap between 4 pieces). Talk about how God gave the people food when there was no natural source for them in the desert.
Quail catch
All Ages
Any size group
Requires setup time
Noisy game
Space needed
Use a stuffed animal or soft ball to represent the quail in this variation of ‘piggy in the middle’. The quail would have flown close to the ground and been caught by throwing sheets or baskets over them. Gently throw your ‘quail’ from person to person, to simulate the flying bird. Give your catchers towels they can throw over the quail to ‘catch’ it.
Grumble ball
All Ages
Any size group
Requires setup time
Noisy game
Space needed
This is a discussion activity with a game thrown in. Explain that Moses led God’s people, and so he was the one they went to with their problems and their complaints. Label a large basket or container ‘complaints’ on one side and ‘prayers’ on the other – make sure the kids can only see the complaints label. Give the youngsters a pile of papers and have them take one and scrunch it up into a ball to throw into a basket while naming something that they may complain about. Once the paper has been used up, turn the basket around. If they had known these were prayers, would they have complained about the same things? Link to story – the people grumbled to Moses, but God said they were really grumbling at him.
Taste trial
All Ages
Small group
Requires setup time
Quiet game
Can be seated
Take various foods and have the youngsters try them blindfolded. (If possible, include honey and crackers) Can they identify what they are? Did they like the taste? How would they have felt about eating the same food every day?
These are the Character resources provided for: Aaron and the Manna (Exodus 16)
Each JWL lesson has a collectable card alongside high-quality character images and a colouring page that links to each lesson. Click on the images below to see a larger version. Save the images by right click + ‘save image as’ (computers) OR long press + ‘save image’ (mobile).
These images are NOT copyright free.
These resources are provided for personal/classroom use only. Use can use them for teaching, games, publicity, decor, big screen presentations, flannelgraphs, stickers, or any other non-commercial activity in your church, school, home, or organised group. You may not use them in products you are going to sell – both printed and digital, or to upload the original images online, on websites, social media or in YouTube videos. Any questions, please reach out to me using the contact page link at the end of the page.
The Israelite’s are safe, saved by the mighty hand of God, and yet, as Aaron soon realizes, when the celebration stops they are far from out of danger. This story may be assisted by gathering some measuring containers to show how much an omar is.
This retold version of the Bible passage is supplied for inspiration, feel free to omit or embellish to give it your personal voice.
Main Passage : Exodus 16
Sand, sand, sand and guess what… more sand. Aaron sat and watched the yellow grains run through his fingers. Why had God led them all into a desert? He could hear the people grumbling almost as loudly as his stomach, there was very little food left.
Not long ago, Aaron was a slave, that was before Moses came back. Amazing things happened after that, plagues and Passover and then when all seemed doomed, God has split the sea to lead them to safety. The party lasted all night, the men danced, the women sang, they were free. But food is difficult to carry and goes quickly. It was running out and there was no city in the desert to exchange their gold for bread. Some men were already talking about returning to Egypt, they may be slaves, but they would have food. It was simple really, in this desert they would all die unless they found something to eat. People would complain at him and Moses, day and night, it was like they had forgotten what God had done already. Aaron couldn’t take any more grumbling, so instead he sat and waited, his eyes on the flap of the tent waiting for Moses to appear. Finally, Aaron looked up and there was Moses, beckoning him to come over.
“Aaron, go fetch the people,” Moses said quietly. Aaron started to shout, to call, and the message spread quickly, the crowd swelling bigger and bigger by the second. Moses whispered the message Aaron was to say. “I don’t understand,” he whispered back at Moses. “You’ll have an omar of bread by tomorrow” Moses whispered and smiled a little grin that said he knew a secret. “Can’t I tell the people that” whispered Aaron, “no” replied Moses firmly, “They must trust God is going to rescue them – don’t you trust?” Aaron looked at his brother’s face, it was a picture of peace. “I trust” he responded.
Then Aaron took a deep breath and lifted his voice for the people to hear. “Who are we, that you should grumble at us? You are not grumbling against us, but against the Lord. The lord who rescued you, who split the sea, The Lord has heard your grumbling against him.” Aaron paused, the people looked down at their feet, they knew they had done wrong. “Today you will know that it was the Lord who brought you out of Egypt. The Lord will give you meat to eat in the evening and all the bread you want in the morning.” The faces of the crowd lifted eagerly at the sound of food, and yet, Aaron said no more. Instead, he looked across the desert, there in the cloud, something was moving, something so amazing he could barely look at it. The Glory of the Lord moving. People followed his gaze and the whole place fell silent. How could they not trust their God who had guided them here, how could they doubt? Slowly the people moved back to the shade of their tents, their stomachs still empty but their mouths closed.
As evening fell, a whirring sound filled the air and squawks of birds filled the camp. Small quail landed and people quickly threw cloaks and blankets over the birds to catch them. Soon the people feasted on roast quail and the joy in the camp grew loud. The next morning the camp was covered in tiny water droplets and as it dried it left white flaky pieces like small seeds on the ground. “What is it?” the people asked Moses – and Moses showed them the pieces could be lifted and eaten, it was heaven’s bread. They called it Manna. The people started gathering.
Moses told Aaron that the people should gather an omar each (a little more than 2 litres or 9 cups) and that none should be stored overnight. He quickly passed the message around as the children started to munch on the small white seed-like pieces. Aaron loved the manna, it was like honey wafers. Aaron put men in charge of weighing the amounts everyone gathered to make sure each had an omar. The men soon came back to tell Aaron their job was not needed, for those who gathered little and those who gathered a lot both had an omar. When the sun rose high, any manna left melted into the sand.
The next morning, the manna was back, but the camp was really smelly. Some people had stored the manna overnight, and it was now full of maggots and stinky. Moses wasn’t happy. The morning after that, the manna was there again, and the morning after too. The Lord told Moses there would be no manna on the seventh day, so the people were to gather twice as much the day before. Once again, people did not listen, they thought the manna would be full of maggots again, but it wasn’t, others went out to gather and found nothing but sand. Weeks went by, and the manna did not stop appearing. It was good that Aaron liked manna because it was on the menu every day.
The Lord who had sent the plagues and split the sea, had rescued his people once again by providing manna bread.
I’m really excited to introduce our Alvin from Bible games central today, who is going to share a fantastic game for the Miriam’s song – Parting of the Red Sea lesson.
Hi, My name is Alvin Gan and I am the father of three noisy (but lovely) teenagers and founder of 2 websites that provide creative evangelism and discipleship resources. This is one of the games from my site Bible Games Central. Bible Games Central is all about conveying Bible truths through games.
Fan a-way
All Ages
Small group
Requires setup time
Noisy game
Space needed
Up to 4 players can play at a time. If you have more than 4 players, either take turns to play, or set up multiple sets and play in teams to compete against each other: Place a Hula hoop in the middle of the room. Place 20 ping pong balls inside the Hula hoop (2 different colors, 10 each). (Consider using fewer ping pong balls for younger children.) Give each player a paper plate to use as a fan. On “go”, work as a team to fan the ping pong balls. The goal is to separate the two colors with a “path” between them. If the ping pong balls are knocked outside of the Hula hoop, place them back in the middle and continue playing. Use this game to introduce the story of Moses and the parting of the Red Sea.
Head over to Bible Games Central for more bible games for kids that you can use to introduce popular bible stories. Great for Sunday School or other children’s ministry events, these bible games for children will bring an added dimension of fun and energy to your lesson. You may also want to check out their youth group games and bible games for adults as well.
Alvin’s other site is : Let The Little Children Come and specializes in unique child evangelism tools and resources to help convey the gospel message to children effectively – you may want to take a look there too.
Thank you so much Alvin for sharing your game with us today, it looks fantastic, and I’m excited to try it out myself.
