The Ten Commandments Children's Sunday School Lessons Part 1

Welcome, holy teachers of children. This is the first of my two-part series on the Ten Commandments. These 4 children's Sunday School lessons cover the first 5 of the Ten Commandments, those dealing with our relationship with God.

• Why Does God Give Us Rules? – seeing God's love in the commands
• Only One God – the truth behind idols and how we put other things in front of God
• Respecting God's Name – how we can avoid misusing God's name
• Keeping the Sabbath – why God reserves this day and what we can to make it holy

Part 2: Loving Others will cover the rest of the Ten Commandments.

Each of these lessons includes a variety of activities to help students learn and apply the Biblical message.

This series on the Ten Commandments works well on its own or as part of a series on Moses and the Exodus . I also give an abbreviated version of these lessons in Children's Sermons about the Ten Commandments if you're looking for a shorter message.

Recommended Extras

You don't need anything other than the few household or craft items I've listed for each lesson. But if you want to have a little more fun with the Ten Commandments, here are some ideas to enhance your teaching.

Paid Resources

Add these videos, lessons, and take-home gifts to your planning to enrich kids' experience learning God's Top Ten rules.

Videos

This is a nice overview of the story of the giving of the Ten Commandments and why God gave them to us. If you've been using the Superbook series thus far, it's a good continuation of the story. If you haven't shown the series before, it could be the perfect opportunity to introduce it to your class. They'll enjoy the Disneyesque art style and the likable characters, especially Gizmo the robot. You'll enjoy the Biblical accuracy of the series.

I recommend showing this Superbook episode as the intro to your series on the Ten Commandments. It will introduce kids to Moses and give them some background on the story moving forward.

This is an inexpensive set of DVDs that cover the Ten Commandments in a unique way. Each episode illustrates the meaning of one of the commandments by placing a child Israelite in a new situation.

I like the series because it helps kids see and understand the Biblical setting and because it's the most in-depth treatment of the commandments I've found in a video series. Most show God giving Moses the Ten Commandments, but don't focus on them.

Show the corresponding episode as the intro to each week's lesson or show them all as a wrap-up after your series.

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Lesson Resources

Much like my own lessons below, Mary Kate Warner covers the commandments with original lessons, games, and activities to ensure kids are learning as much as you can teach.

If you have the time and want to make the most of your series on the Ten Commandments, consider using one of my lessons followed by one from Bible Fun Factory. Kids will get complementary messages presented in two ways to increase their learning. If you don't want to teach two lessons, take the best ideas from each to make your own lesson on the topic.

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For Home

This is an illustrated book written for a Catholic audience. But Protestants can simply change the words from "Mass" to "church service" and enjoy it just the same. It does a wonderful job of illustrating what the Ten Commandments mean both historically and in our daily lives. The art is realistic and the application unmistakable.

Send kids home with these bookmarks. Even if most of your students are reading on digital devices nowadays, they can hang the bookmarks on their wall or on the doorknob to their room to be reminded of what the commandments say. Each commandment is stated succinctly to help kids get the main point.

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Free Resources

Free Sunday School Curriculum has coloring and activity pages as well as a craft in which students can make a necklace or bracelet to help them remember the Ten Commandments .

You can also find coloring and activity pages on the Sermons 4 Kids site in their lesson Rules are Cool or Rules are Cruel?

Ministry-to-Children includes poster printouts for common rules we have today and good summaries of the Ten Commandments .

Why Does God Give Us Rules? Children's Sunday School Lesson

Purpose: Use this children's Sunday School lesson about the Ten Commandments to teach kids about God's love in giving us His rules.

Needed: common items, Bibles, Whiteboard and markers or something else to write on, pieces of paper with phrases from the Ten Commandments written on them

Game: Breaking the Rules – Play any simple game your kids know. The trick is that you're going to intentionally break the rules to disrupt the game. You could also have one of your volunteers do it.

For instance, if you're playing soccer with the kids, you could pick up the ball and run it to the goal instead of kicking it. You could randomly move the goals while the kids are playing.

Another example is if you're playing a board game, you could cheat in an obvious manner.

If you're playing hide and seek, you could keep your eyes open to watch where the children hide.

When the kids say that you're not playing fair, explain that you're showing them what happens when people break the rules. Breaking the rules disrupts the game and makes it so that it isn't as much fun for everyone else.

Game: Wrong Purpose – Divide students into groups of three. Hand each group a common object and tell them that they have to come up with a skit that shows them using that object in a different way than it was made for.

Give the groups a few minutes to think of something and then let each group perform their skit. As each group finishes, ask them why their object wouldn't work very well for the purpose they showed?

Lesson: (Note: Always allow students to think about and answer the questions before clarifying the teaching.)

Ask students, Do people have rules when they're driving a car?

What are some of the rules people have to follow when driving a car?

What happens when people don't follow those rules? (They could crash and get hurt or they could hurt someone else.)

What are some of the rules that you have in your house? (As students name the rules, write them down on the board or a piece of paper. Help them brainstorm and suggest rules that you had as a child or rules that you give your children now.)

Why do you think your parents give you all these rules? (Discuss the consequences of breaking their parents' rules and guide the students into realizing that the rules help protect either themselves or someone else from physical or emotional harm.)

God also gives us rules. Let's read what some of God's rules are. (Have students take turns reading the Ten Commandments in Exodus 20:1-17 , quoted here in the NIV.)

And God spoke all these words:

1. "I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery."
2. "You shall have no other gods before Me."
3. "You shall not make for yourself an imagein the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below."
4. "You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parentsto the third and fourth generationof those who hate Me,"
5. "but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love Me and keep My commandments."
6. "You shall not misuse the name of theLordyour God, for theLord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses His name.""
7. "Remember the Sabbathday by keeping it holy."
8. "Six days you shall labor and do all your work,"
9. "but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns."
10. "For in six days, the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but He rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy."
11. "Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you."
12. "You shall not murder."
13. "You shall not commit adultery."
14. "You shall not steal."
15. "You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor."
16. "You shall not covetyour neighbor's house. You shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his male or female servant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor."

Why do you think God gave us these rules? Is it because God is mean and He doesn't want us to have fun, so He makes a lot of rules for people to follow? (No! God likes us to have fun.)

Is it because God is bored and He doesn't have anything better to do than to make up rules? (No! God has lots to do. God never gets bored.)

So, why did God give us all these rules?

God made rules to protect us, just like your parents do. God's rules help us to live in a way that will make us happy and won't get us into trouble with negative consequences. God made us and He loves us and He gives us rules to help us stay safe.

When we break God's rules, like I broke the rules in our game earlier, we can hurt ourselves or someone else, or make life not as fun for ourselves or for other people.

And just like your objects that you used in the wrong way, when we break God's rules, we're using ourselves in a way that God never intended. God didn't make us – He didn't design us – to do wrong things. So, when we do, things don't work as well for us. We're trying to use ourselves for the wrong purpose, and it doesn't work out as well as when we do the right things and use ourselves for the right purposes that God made us to.

We'll look at this list of God's rules some more over the next few weeks. We'll talk about what exactly the rules mean and how we can follow them.

For now, let's play a game to help us learn what these rules are.

Game: Ordering the Commands – Write our print out the Ten Commandments. Cut them in half or thirds and hide the pieces of paper around the room. Kids race to find the pieces of paper and arrange the commandments. The second part of the challenge is to put the commandments in order. Kids can use Bibles for reference.

Closing Prayer: Lord, we thank You for giving us Your rules to help us be safe and happy. We ask now that You'll help us to learn Your rules and follow them every day. In Jesus' name, we pray, amen.

Only One God Children's Sunday School Lesson

Purpose: Use this children's Sunday School lesson to teach kids about the first two of the Ten Commandments.

Needed: drawing paper and crayons or colored pencils, pictures of various gods, a mask

Intro Activity: Drawing God - As students come in, give them some drawing supplies and ask them to draw various things. First, they should draw themselves, then their parents, then their best friend. Finally, ask them to draw God.

When some try, discuss how their pictures show something about God, but they don't show everything about God. Explain that any pictures we make of God can never show everything that God is because He's so great. And we don't know what God looks like, either.

Lesson: Ask students, Does anyone remember why God gives us rules? (God gives us rules because He loves us. The rules He gives us are meant to protect us and others.)

(Show students pictures of various other gods.) Who knows what these are?

These are gods that other people worship.

(Have students take turns reading Exodus 20:1-6 , quoted here in the NIV.)

"And God spoke all these words:

1. "I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery."
2. "You shall have no other gods before Me."
3. "You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below."
4. "You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate Me,"
5. "but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love Me and keep My commandments."

Does God want us to worship other gods? (No. )

What is the first rule that God gives us? (God's first rule is that we worship only Him.)

We only have one God, and that's God. But why do we have only one God? Why can't we worship other gods if we want to?

How do you think your parents would feel if you started calling a tree your mom or your dad? Do you think they would be sad about that?

And can a tree be your mom or dad?

No, of course not. It would be silly to call a tree your mom or dad because you know a tree can't really be your mom or dad. It's just a tree.

It's kind of the same with us and God. When we call other things our god, that makes God sad. And there is only one God. The other gods aren't real.

In fact, the other gods are demons tricking people into believing in them.

(Put on your mask.) What do I look like?

I look like _, but am I really _?

No, I'm still me underneath. The demons can look like other things and make up stories to make people believe in other gods, but they're still just demons underneath. The demons don't want us to believe in God, the only God, so they'll try to trick people any way they can.

If we worship the one God, we are worshiping and serving the real God. God is the one who made the world and the plants and the animals and us. He is the one who loves us and takes care of us. That's why God wants us to worship only Him: because He's the only God that's real.

God also doesn't want us to make idols. An idol is something that we worship other than God. It could be a statue of another god or it could even be a statue of the real God. We can't worship anything that isn't the real God. God isn't a statue or a painting or anything else, so we can't worship those things.

But there's one more thing about false gods and idols that we need to remember. God said not to put any other gods before Him. But there are times when do put things before God, isn't there?

What do you think we might put before God?

If God tells you not to do something and you do it anyway, you're putting what you want to do before God. You're saying that what you want to do is more important than God. And that's wrong.

If it's time to spend time with God by reading your Bible or praying or going to church, and you decide to do something else instead, you're putting that thing before God. You're saying that something else in your life is more important than God. And that's wrong.

God is the most important part of our lives. We honor Him by not putting any false gods or anything else we want to do before Him.

Game: Alex and Alicia - Help students apply the lesson by giving advice to two fictitious students.

Story #1. Alex's New Friend. One day, Alex went to spend the night at a friend's house. Before bed, Alex's friend and his parents were getting ready to say their prayers. They said that they prayed to the god Ganesh and wanted to know if Alex wanted to pray to Ganesh with them.

What should Alex do?

(Alex should not pray to Ganesh. Praying to false gods is like worshipping them, and God commands us to worship only Him.)

Story #2. Alicia's Class Trip. During school, Alicia has been learning about the different religions people believe in. At the end of the week, her class is taking a field trip to a Buddhist temple. Alicia knows that Buddha isn't really a god, but she still wonders if she should go to a place where people worship him.

What should Alicia do?

(Alicia should not go to the Buddhist temple. God commanded us to worship only Him, and going to a place where they worship another god could make it seem like she's okay with worshipping other gods.)

Story #3. Alex Needs to Do His Homework. One day, Alex's teacher gave him a lot of homework. He usually reads a chapter in the Bible and prays after dinner, but today, he doesn't think he has time. He thinks that if he takes time to pray and read his Bible, he won't have enough time to get all of his homework done.

What should Alex do?

(Alex should read his Bible and pray like he usually does. God is more important than getting all his homework done.)

Story #4. Alicia and The Tipparones 2. Alicia is in a very good habit of praying and reading her Bible every night. The problem is that she just got a new video game called The Tipparones 2. Alicia loves the Tipparones and this game has everything she likes. She's been playing it all day. She thinks that she could stop playing to take time to read her Bible and pray, but she doesn't want to stop playing her game. She thinks that she could always pray and read her Bible tomorrow instead.

What should Alicia do?

(Alicia should take a break from her game to spend time with God. God is more important than her new video game.)

Game: Punishment Grid - Make a grid on the floor with half the number of columns as students you have in your class. There should be ten rows. Form the students into two teams and have the students stand beside their teammates on each side of the grid. Each student starts behind one column on the grid.

As you ask questions, students will move forward on the grid until the two teams meet in the middle. You'll ask a question, and if students think the answer is true, they'll raise their hand. If they think the answer is false, they'll keep their hands down. If they get the answer right, they move up one square. If they get the answer wrong, they move back to their previous square.

When the students meet, the team with the most right answers chases the other. The round is over when the winning team tags all the other students.

Play again, continuing down the list of questions and then asking some of the trickier questions over. If both teams do equally well, rule that the winners from the last round are now the ones to be chased.

Ask the following questions and give a brief explanation of the right answer afterward.

Questions:

1. We can worship other gods as long as they do good things.
2. Other gods are really demons in disguise.
3. People who worship other gods are being tricked.
4. People who worship other gods are evil.
5. We can make only make idols of the real God.
6. An idol is anything you worship.
7. Idols aren't bad if they show Jesus.
8. We can make statues of things as long as we don't worship them.
9. God likes it when we bow down to statues of Him.
10. An idol is an image of something that you worship.

Closing Prayer: Father God, we thank You that You are a good God. You are the only God. Help us never to be tricked by demons pretending to be gods. And help us never to give other things more attention than we give You. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.

Respecting God's Name Children's Sunday School Lesson

Purpose: Use this children's Sunday School lesson on the Ten Commandments to teach kids not to take God's name in vain.

Needed: drawing paper and crayons or colored pencils, optional blindfold

Intro Craft: Drawing Out the Hypocrite - Give students some drawing supplies and ask them to draw a picture or write a short story about someone who says they're a Christian, but they're doing something wrong.

When they're finished, asked students to share what they drew or wrote.

Ask, do Christians always do the right things? (Not always. Christians can still make mistakes and sin sometimes.)

If someone says they believe in Jesus but they never say they're sorry for the wrong things they do and they never try to stop sinning, do you think that person can really believe in Jesus? (They probably understand about Jesus, but they don't really believe in Him yet.)

Lesson: Ask students, Does anyone remember why God gives us rules? (God gives us rules because He loves us. The rules He gives us are meant to protect us and others.)

Have you ever heard someone say (in an excited voice), "Oh, my God!"

Have you ever heard someone say (in an irritated voice), "Jesus Christ!"

What do you think when you hear someone say those things? Are those good things to say? Why or why not?

(Have a student read Exodus 20:7 , quoted here in the NIV.)

"You shall not misuse the name of theLordyour God, for theLord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses His name."

God says not to misuse His name or take His name in vain. How is saying, "Oh, my God!" or "Jesus Christ!" when you're excited or mad about something misusing God's name and taking His name in vain?

It's misusing God's name and taking His name in vain when we say His name, but we're not really talking to Him or about Him.

We need to respect God, and one way we can show respect to God is to only use His name when we're talking to Him or about Him.We can't just say God's name like it's any other word. God's name is special because God is special, and we have to show respect to Him.

Another way people take God's name in vain is when they say they're a Christian – they call themselves by Jesus' title of Christ – but they don't change their life. Like the people you drew or wrote about, people can't just say they believe. They have to live it. It's misusing God's name to say that God is part of your life when He really isn't.

Game: Alex and Alicia - Help students apply the lesson by giving advice to two fictitious students. Tell students that you're going to them a short story. Then, they'll have to decide if the character in the story used God's name the right wayor the wrong way.

Story #1: Alex's Church Story. Alex is at school, talking to his friend, Billy. Alex is telling Billy about his weekend. "We went to church and we saw this video about how Jesus died on the cross and then came back to life three days later."

Did Alex use Jesus' name the right way or the wrong way?

(The right way because he was really talking about Jesus.)

Story #2. Lisa overhears Billy and Alex talking. "Oh, God!" she says. "Church is so boring! I'm glad my family doesn't go to church!"

Did Lisa use God's name the right way or the wrong way?

(The wrong way because she wasn't using God's name respectfully. She wasn't even talking to God or about God when she said, "Oh, God!")

Story #3: After school, Alicia is rushing to put all of her stuff in her book bag and get out tothe bus. She knows she's running late and she's afraid the bus might leave without her. She whispers, "Jesus, help me get to the bus!"

Did Alicia use Jesus' name the right way or the wrong way?

(The right way because she was saying a prayer for Jesus to help her.)

Story #4: Billy is also running late for the bus. As he's stuffing his book bag, he accidentally drops one of his folders and all of his papers spill out onto the ground. "God darn it!" Billy says.

Did Billy use God's name the right way or the wrong way?

(The wrong way because he wasn't talking to God or about God. He was using God's name disrespectfully.)

Game: Hearing the Hypocrite – Students sit or stand in a circle with one student in the middle. Choose another student to be the Hypocrite. The person in the middle closes their eyes or wears a blindfold and tells the group to make a noise like an animal of their choice. The Hypocrite, however, makes a different noise. The person in the middle has to guess who the Hypocrite is.

The Hypocrite then takes the middle spot and the person who was guessing silently chooses the next Hypocrite.

Play until everyone has had a chance to be in the middle or as long as time permits.

Afterward, explain that the Hypocrite was trying to blend in with the rest of the group, but we could still there was something different about them. When real hypocrites say they're Christians, they're misusing God's name. And people can tell when they're not really Christians by how they act or talk.

Closing Prayer: Holy God, help us to remember how special You are. Help us to always treat Your name with respect and to never misuse it by what we say or how we act. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.

Keeping the Sabbath Children's Sunday School Lesson

Purpose: Use this children's Sunday School lesson on the Ten Commandments to teach children the importance of spending time with God.

Needed: exercise instruction cards

Intro Game: Extreme Exercise Race - Have students pair up and complete this race together. All the students will line up by pairs on one side of your play area. Spaced out in a direct line in front of each pair, you'll place a series of cards. The cards could say things like, "Do 10 Pushups!" "Do 5 Sit-Ups!" "Do 10 Jumping Jacks!" "Hop On One Foot 10 Times!" "Hop On the Other Foot 15 Times!" "Walk Like a Crab for 5 Seconds!" Arrange the cards randomly on the line so that different pairs of students are doing different activities at each location in their line. The first pair to complete all of their activities wins.

Afterward, ask, Are you tired? Too bad! Back to the starting line. (Have students repeat the race in spite of groans.)

Now, are you tired? Who wants to do it again? Who wants to rest?

It's good to work hard, but we also need time to rest.

Lesson: Ask students, Does anyone remember why God gives us rules? (God gives us rules because He loves us. The rules He gives us are meant to protect us and others.)

Has anyone here ever heard of the word "workaholic"?

What is a "workaholic"? (Someone who works too much and doesn't take time to relax.)

What happens if someone works too much? (Lead students into realizing that if someone works too much, they don't have enough time for other things, such as spending time with their family or going to church. Also, they can get tired and grumpy when they don't take time to relax.)

You're probably not workaholics because you don't have jobs yet, but I wonder if any of you ever feel too busy. What are some of the things you all have to do. (Go to school, do homework, extracurricular activities, chores, spend time with different sides of the family, etc.)

(Have a student read Exodus 20:8-11 , quoted here in the NIV.)

"Remember the Sabbathday by keeping it holy.9Six days you shall labor and do all your work,10but the seventh day is a sabbathto theLordyour God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns.11For in six days theLordmade the heavens and the earth,the sea, and all that is in them, but He restedon the seventh day.Therefore theLordblessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

God says to keep the Sabbath day holy and not to work on the Sabbath. What day of the week is the Sabbath?

The Sabbath used to be on Saturday, but now, since Jesus rose from the dead on aSunday, we made Sunday to be our Sabbath day.

God says that we are to keep the Sabbath day, Sunday, holy to the Lord. What do we do to make Sunday holy? What special thing do we do on Sundays?

We come to church. Coming to church is how we make the Sabbath day holy to God. God wants us to come to church and worship and learn about Him on Sundays.

God also says not to work on the Sabbath. He wants us to rest. Why do you think God wants us to rest?

God knows that people can get too busy and He wants us to remember that we have to take time to rest so that we don't get too tired and so that we can make sure we have enough time to spend time going to church and spending time with our families and things like that.

So, the Sabbath is a day to worship God and to rest.

Game: Alex and Alicia - Help students apply the lesson by giving advice to two fictitious students. Tell students that you're going to them a short story. Then, they'll have to decide what the character in the story should do.

Story #1: Alex's Little League Temptation. A coach for the little league football team came to Alex's school today and talked to the students about playing football for him. Alex thinks playing little league football would be really fun, and a lot of the other boys in his class are going to sign up to be on the team. The only thing is that their games are going to be on Sunday morning and Alex would have to miss church to play in the game.

What should Alex do? Should he sign up to be on the team?

(No. God says wehave to keep the Sabbath day holy as a day to worship and learn about Him. Alex can't miss church to play on the football team because that would be breaking the Sabbath.)

Story #2: A Vacation from God?! Alicia's parents want to go on vacation this weekend, but if they go, they'll miss church on Sunday because they'll still be on vacation. Alicia's dad says that it's okay if they miss church this once because they can read a Bible story and pray together Sunday morning while they're on vacation, but Alicia's parents want to know what she thinks.

What should Alicia do? Should she go on vacation or stay home so she can go to church?

(Alicia can go on vacation. The Sabbath day is a day holy to God for us to worship and learn about Him. And most of the time God wants us to be in church, but it's okay to sometimes to miss church if we're going to worship God in another way. We don't have to be in church to worship God. We can worship and learn about God anywhere.)

Story #3: The Sleepover. A few months later, Stephanie called Alicia on the phone and invited Alicia to spend the night with her. But Alicia was worried. It was a Saturday and she knew she had church the next day. She told Stephanie that she probably couldn't because she would have to miss church if she spent the night with her. But then Stephanie said that it would be okay because her family goes to church, too, and Alicia could just go to church with her family in the morning.

What should Alicia do? Should she stay home and go to her own church or should she spend the night at Stephanie's and go to Stephanie's church?

(Alicia can go to Stephanie's church. The Sabbath day is a day holy to God for us to worship and learn about Him. And most of the time God wants us to have our own church that we usually go to, but it's okay to sometimesmiss our church if we're going to go visit another church. What matters most is that we're worshiping and learning about God.)

Game: Acting It Out – Divide students into groups of three or four. Have each group decide on and act out one part of your church service. After each group, briefly discuss why your church includes that in its weekly worship. Point out that doing those actions are part of the way you make the Sabbath a holy day.

Closing Prayer: Father, thank You for giving us a day to rest and learn about You. Help us to always follow Your command and keep the Sabbath day holy.

As always, I thank you for making these lessons part of your lesson prep. You're free to use them in part or whole, whatever you find useful for your Sunday School class.

I do offer these lessons along with game aids and graphics in printable format for Patreon partners. Your $1 per month partnership gives you access to all the printable material we post on Blessed Steps and Bible Helps .

You can also find these lessons as part of my book, The Lord's Top Ten: Children's Sunday School Lessons on the Ten Commandments by by Rev. Steve Wilson .

Most of my lessons are geared toward series teaching, but if you're looking for a standalone lesson, try my. lesson on Job

Blessings on your teaching, and may God's Spirit be with your spirit in all you do! - Steve