Exodus Story for Children

Search Library

The Story of Passover

Reader 1
Every year we sit at a table
Fit for a king and queen.
We retell the story of our ancestors,
Who were slaves to Pharaoh, so mean.

Reader 2
The Jews they worked in Egypt.
No rest, no time to play.
They built the city, they built the palace.
Oh, how they wished to run away!

Reader 1
"We need some help," they cried to God.
God heard their cries and made a plan.
God needed a partner to lead the people.
Moses was the one who would lead the clan.

Reader 2
When Moses was born, his mommy knew
She had to save him, so her plan grew.
She used a teva for a boat,
And down the river Moses did float.

Reader 3
Lucky for us he was saved by Pharaoh's daughter,
When she was bathing in the water.
She found little Moses, took him into her home,
And cared for him like he was her own.

Reader 4
When Moses grew up big and strong,
He found out where he really belonged
And knew he had to make right from wrong!

Reader 1
God spoke to Moses from a bush that was burning
And told him that the tide was turning.
Moses with God's help would be
The leader who would set the Jews free!
He went to Pharaoh and made his plea,
But Pharaoh just laughed and laughed with glee.

Let My People Go (song)

When Israel was in Egypt Land…
Let my people go!
Oppressed so hard they could not stand…
Let my people go!

Pharaoh Doesn't Pay

(Sung to the tune of "I've Been Working on the Railroad." This could be an action song where everyone acts out the activity on each line.)
I've been working on these buildings; Pharaoh doesn't pay. (Shake heads no)
I've been doing what he tells me, like making bricks from clay. (Form bricks with hands)
Can't you hear the master calling? "Hurry up, make a brick!" (Hold hands to mouth as if shouting)
Can't you hear the master calling? His voice just makes me sick! (Hold stomach)
Oh, is this a mess (Repeat and hold hands to heads)
Oh, this is a mess for Jews, for Jews.
Oh, this is a mess (Repeat)
Oh, this is a mess for Jews.

Reader 2
What do you think Pharaoh said back to him?
No, No, No, I will not let you go! (Stamp feet)
No, No, No, I will not let you go!
(Everyone says with determination!)

Take Us Out of Egypt
(Sung to the tune of "Take Me Out to the Ballgame")
(Borrowed from Ron Wolfson's The Art of Jewish Living: The Passover Seder)
Take us out of Egypt.
Free us from slavery.
Bake us some matzot in haste.
Don't worry about flavor, give no thought
to taste.
Oh it's rush, rush, rush to the Reed Sea
If we don't cross it's a shame!
It's the 10 Plagues down and you're out
At the Pesach history game!

Reader 3
Moses tried really hard to make Pharaoh see
That his people just had to be free.
And God sent 10 plagues to strengthen the plea.
So, Pharaoh said, "You may go!
Take your people and leave today."

Reader 4
We had so little time to gather and pack our things.
We put our possessions on carts, in a basket or sack.
We hurried so fast across the parted sea.
The Jewish people at last were free.
(Have the children go around the room and name one thing that they would bring, perhaps explain why, and then pretend to put it in a bag. They could whisper itsecretively to their neighbor, as well.)
(Several "crossing the sea" activities could be done here, such as each participant jumping over a blue plastic streamer that two people are holding and wiggling.)

Reader 5
We have lots of fours on Pesach: Four cups of wine, four kinds of children, four names for Pesach, four questions to ask and four times Moses went to Pharaoh to ask for our freedom.
How many symbols are found on your seder plate? Count them and see.

- See more at: http://www.reformjudaism.org/passover-seder-young-children-4-5-years#sthash.YRD8XoZs.dpuf

haggadah Section: -- Exodus Story

Source: Reform Judiasm