When teaching Old Testament stories, it’s fun to get creative, and I was so excited to study the 10 plagues in Egypt when Moses was trying to free the children of Israel from the hard hearted Pharaoh. My friend gave me the idea to do “edible” plagues, and I went to a candy shop and found some great ideas!
I’ve written a bit about how I teach an early morning bible study class for high school freshman. It starts before their high school (at 5:45am), and I have really come to love that special time, where everyone is exhausted, but we are tired together, learn together, and enjoy each other along the way.
It’s fun to try and figure out creative ways to teach each lesson, instead of just reading around the room and discussing how to apply it to our lives. I’ve got lots of other things to share, but I just couldn’t wait for this one. Something about all 10 plagues lined up in their colorful splendor, that just begged me to take pictures of them. If you want to see the entire lesson, read it here, but the gist is that I spread out the plagues 2-3 per person. I handed them each a jar, and the scripture section is on it. Each group read about their plague, then presented it to the class. As each was discussed, everyone got to sample the contents.
The 10 Plagues
- Exodus 7:14–25 (River to blood)
- Exodus 8:1–15 (Frogs)
- Exodus 8:16–19 (Lice)
- Exodus 8:20–32 (Flies)
- Exodus 9:1–7 (Cattle)
- Exodus 9:8–12 (Boils)
- Exodus 9:13–35 (Hail & Fire)
- Exodus 10:1–20 (Grasshoppers/crickets)
- Exodus 10:21–29 (Darkness)
- Exodus 11:4–10; 12:29–33 (First born son)
Most of the items I filled the jars with were from my grocery store, but two of them I got at a local specialty candy shop, 3 Star Candy. You can likely also order on Amazon (affiliates below) if you have time.
- River to blood–strawberry syrup We had a few kids try to chug it, but it was so strong, they just got a soured out look on their faces
- Frogs–gummy frogs YUMMY, who doesn’t love?
- Lice–black licorice jelly beans (Can I just say that I HATE lice, and I kinda strongly dislike black jelly beans, so that was fitting. If you need tips on how to get rid of head lice, check out my post on my new site with my siblings!) Just 2 kids liked them…
- Flies–gummy butterflies Easy love, too
- Cattle–mother’s pink and white cookies (who doesn’t love these?)
- Boils–my friend Jaroldeen told me she used Capt’n crunch berries as the boils–brilliant! My kids weren’t sad to have that leftover cereal.
- Hail and Fire–large marshmallows for hail and fire was hot tamales.
- Grasshoppers–Bacon and cheese crickets! I was SO excited about this, found at my local novelty candy store, but you can order ahead on Amazon if you don’t have access to this. Only 5-7 kids were willing to give it a try (looks so gross!) but said it just tasted like chips. I decided to try one, and it wasn’t bad after all, no biggie. Just a fun one to try.
- Darkness–Dove dark chocolate I don’t care for dark chocolate, but the class was excited about this.
- First born son–got some sour patch kids. I wished they looked more like “kids” because they eyes/face weren’t clear, but it got the point across.
Here are a few pictures of kids trying the strawberry syrup
That was actually funnier faces than the crickets, but we all got ready for those crickets, everyone one out their phones to photograph the few braves souls
I’m not sure how much my kids want to be in a video for all to see, so here is my son and I trying them…
Eating Crickets {short video}
So there you have it, 10 edible plagues!
