Aim

To make children aware of the necessity for rules.
To familiarize children with the 10 commandments.
To develop understanding of Christian beliefs about the commandments.

Preparation

Before the lesson sufficient materials for required number of groups to play the DECALOGUE game set out around the room. (This comprises four sheets, the board, the score card, the card fronts and the card backs.)

Lesson

Begin lesson by telling children that today they are going to play a brand new board game called DECALOGUE. Everything they need to play the game is already on the table. Invite them to begin playing.

The children should quickly realize that they are unable to begin playing because there are no rules included.

When they ask to see the rules, tell them that there are none. What do they think about that? Is it possible to play any game without rules? Is it possible to run a school without rules? Is it possible to do anything without rules?

As their edition of DECALOGUE came without rules, what must they now do to play the game? Invite the children to invent some rules.

After a few minutes, tell them that you are going to swap the groups around. Inform them that as they are all playing the same game, this should cause no problem. Any objections?

Hopefully, they should realize that swapping at this point would be disastrous, without one set of standardized rules.

Devise a set of rules, incorporating the best ideas from each group. (If there is a lack of good ideas, you may wish to find a copy of the original rules at this point rather than later)

What makes a good / bad rule? Can they define it? Who would know the real rules?

Once a set of rules is agreed upon, allow the children some time to play the game.

After a few minutes of play, inform the children that Christians believe that God invented the game of life. Mercifully, He gave His people a list of ten rules, written by His own finger onto stone, in order to play the game properly. God's rules are called The Ten Commandments and, as well as being written in the Bible, they are also to be found on the back of the number cards. What are the first three? Why do these come first? (The need for people to stick to one set of rules)

What is the fourth? Why is it important to rest for at least one day a week?

What are the remaining commandments? What makes them good rules? (They benefit everyone, believer and non-believer.)

Christians and Jews both believe that God created us. Therefore, according to their belief, He knows better than any human what makes us happy.

In the garden, were Adam and Eve happy when they stuck to the rule? What happened when they broke the rule?

Conclusion

Conclude lesson with another round of DECALOGUE.

Teachers' Notes

This lesson can either be taught as a whole class lesson with several games being played simultaneously or you can concentrate on a small number of groups, while the rest of the class works on related / unrelated activities.