Genesis- In the beginning…
(Genesis 1:1- Genesis 2:3)
Target age group- ages 4-9
Note: As always, the parent/teacher is the best determiner of whether an activity is age or skill appropriate for their child.
The following activities have been written and designed to enrich and anchor creation bible lessons that you may be teaching from Genesis as well as other creation-related scriptures. We firmly believe that God’s creation is beautiful and wonderful as well as intriguing and mysterious. Children will often have many questions for parents and teachers; some can be quite thought provoking! Our hope is that these activities not only supplement the teaching of creation, but also provide opportunities for the family to explore in more depth the world around them whether it be by mountain, lake or sea, or somewhere in between.
Good teaching!
Diane and Cynthia
Bible Notebook: We recommend that each child have their own binder or notebook with pockets to help organize their work. Children will be excited to see their growth in biblical knowledge as their study of the bible progresses forward. The notebook also doubles as a portfolio that can be shared with friends, family, and teachers.
Memory Verses: Select verses that best reflect the focus of study as well as the ability level of the child. Another option is allowing the child to choose their own memory verse.
Sword Drill: Using lesson-related Scriptures have a sword drill. Read out the Scripture reference. Then start the time. When the child has found the verse, stop the timer. Read the verse and talk about how it relates to the lesson. Challenge the child to see how quickly they can find each of the verses in the bible. The sword drill works well as a competition game if you have more than one child.
Materials Needed: bible, bible notebook, pencil/pen, color tools, paper (plain and lined), hymnal or songbook, bible resource books- dictionary, concordance, encyclopedia; animal books. Other needed or recommended materials are listed separately with each individual activity.
~Recommended Creation Project~
Begin the creation lessons with a diorama project that the kids will enjoy.
Directions: to construct a diorama, find a medium-sized box. Mix some plaster of Paris to make hills and valleys. Put twigs from trees or pieces of cedar (for trees and bushed) into the plaster while it is still wet. After the plaster dries (one to two days, depending on how much plaster is used), paint the set with tempera paint.
Homemade clay recipe: (www.familyfun.com)
1 cup flour 1 cup water ½ cup salt
1 tsp vegetable oil ½ tsp cream of tartar food coloring (optional)
Time needed: Less than one hour.
· For extra fun, mix a few spoonfuls of glitter into your dough and make sparkly sculptures.
· For making patterns in the clay, let your child experiment with a few tools, such as cookie cutters, drinking straws, an old garlic press, forks, combs, coins, shells, or buttons.
· For easier clean up, have your child work with the clay on taped-down wax paper, a plastic tablecloth, or an old plastic cutting board.
Creation activities for Genesis 1:1- Genesis 2:3
Day 1- Light- so there was light and darkness
1. Using a small box, form the land and water areas out of plaster of Paris.
2. In a darkened room, turn on a flashlight. The dark and light symbolize the first day of God’s creation. As someone holds the flashlight against a wall, perform finger plays. This activity can also be used with a dark background and a flashlight.
3. Write: It Was Good! In bubble letters across an 11X17 paper. Write this week’s memory verse inside the letters with a black marker. Then color the letters.
4. Sing “He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands”.
Day 2- sky and water (waters separated)
1. With the longest side of a piece of paper closes to you, draw and color the sky with one shade of blue. Use the other share of blue to draw and color the water. Set aside. This drawing will also be used on Day 3 of creation.
Day 3- land and seas (waters gathered); vegetation
Day 4- sun, moon, and stars (to govern the day and the night and to mark season, days and years)
Day 5- fish and birds (to fill the waters and the sky)
Day 7- God rested and declared all he had made to be very good
1. Sing: “For the Beauty of the Earth”.
2. Make a collage of beautiful places using pictures from old magazines or calendars. Label the places. Write a creation Scripture across the top or bottom of your collage.
3. Choose a Sabbath Scripture for a memory verse. Write the verse in glue on an 11x17 sheet of paper. Sprinkle glitter over the glue. Shake it back and forth to completely cover the glue. Let dry. Decorate with stamps or stickers.
4. Write an acrostic poem for the S-A-B-B-A-T-H. for each letter write thing like, enjoy, or know about the Sabbath day. Share it with your family on the Sabbath day.
5. Read Mark 2:27. Write in your bible notebook: How does the Sabbath show God’s love for us?
6. When we worship God each Sabbath, we come to His banquet table. Sing: “His Banner Over Me is Love”.
7. Keep a list of weekly work by recording what you do each of the week, except the Sabbath. Do you enjoy resting from your work? God did!
8. Ask each family member: What do you enjoy most about the Sabbath? What work are you most happy resting from?
9. Find a special bible story to read, and then share it with your family on the Sabbath.
10. Write a Sabbath prayer to read on the Sabbath. Thank God for His gift of the Sabbath day.
11. Plan a special Sabbath meal with mom or dad. Make Sabbath place mats for everyone in your family. Laminate or cover them with clear contact paper. Celebrate and enjoy the Sabbath day by sharing your acrostic poem, prayer, and story. Take turns choosing special songs to sing. Take pictures of this celebration. Frame them to display in your room or home.
(Genesis 1:1- Genesis 2:3)
Target age group- ages 4-9
Note: As always, the parent/teacher is the best determiner of whether an activity is age or skill appropriate for their child.
The following activities have been written and designed to enrich and anchor creation bible lessons that you may be teaching from Genesis as well as other creation-related scriptures. We firmly believe that God’s creation is beautiful and wonderful as well as intriguing and mysterious. Children will often have many questions for parents and teachers; some can be quite thought provoking! Our hope is that these activities not only supplement the teaching of creation, but also provide opportunities for the family to explore in more depth the world around them whether it be by mountain, lake or sea, or somewhere in between.
Good teaching!
Diane and Cynthia
Bible Notebook: We recommend that each child have their own binder or notebook with pockets to help organize their work. Children will be excited to see their growth in biblical knowledge as their study of the bible progresses forward. The notebook also doubles as a portfolio that can be shared with friends, family, and teachers.
Memory Verses: Select verses that best reflect the focus of study as well as the ability level of the child. Another option is allowing the child to choose their own memory verse.
Sword Drill: Using lesson-related Scriptures have a sword drill. Read out the Scripture reference. Then start the time. When the child has found the verse, stop the timer. Read the verse and talk about how it relates to the lesson. Challenge the child to see how quickly they can find each of the verses in the bible. The sword drill works well as a competition game if you have more than one child.
Materials Needed: bible, bible notebook, pencil/pen, color tools, paper (plain and lined), hymnal or songbook, bible resource books- dictionary, concordance, encyclopedia; animal books. Other needed or recommended materials are listed separately with each individual activity.
~Recommended Creation Project~
Begin the creation lessons with a diorama project that the kids will enjoy.
Directions: to construct a diorama, find a medium-sized box. Mix some plaster of Paris to make hills and valleys. Put twigs from trees or pieces of cedar (for trees and bushed) into the plaster while it is still wet. After the plaster dries (one to two days, depending on how much plaster is used), paint the set with tempera paint.
Homemade clay recipe: (www.familyfun.com)
1 cup flour 1 cup water ½ cup salt
1 tsp vegetable oil ½ tsp cream of tartar food coloring (optional)
Time needed: Less than one hour.
- Mix all ingredients together in a saucepan and cook over medium heat until the mixture holds together (keep mixing to prevent it from sticking to the bottom of the pan).
- When the clay is cool enough to touch, your child can knead it on a floured board.
- This clay’s long drying time makes it most desirable as a play dough (it’s easy to roll into ropes and balls), and sculptures will eventually dry. If stored in an airtight container, this dough will last, refrigerated or not, up to four weeks time.
- If the dough gets dry, revitalize it with a few drops of water. If it’s too sticky, knead more flour.
- As you work, cover any extra clay with a damp cloth or plastic wrap to keep it from drying.
· For extra fun, mix a few spoonfuls of glitter into your dough and make sparkly sculptures.
· For making patterns in the clay, let your child experiment with a few tools, such as cookie cutters, drinking straws, an old garlic press, forks, combs, coins, shells, or buttons.
· For easier clean up, have your child work with the clay on taped-down wax paper, a plastic tablecloth, or an old plastic cutting board.
Creation activities for Genesis 1:1- Genesis 2:3
Day 1- Light- so there was light and darkness
1. Using a small box, form the land and water areas out of plaster of Paris.
2. In a darkened room, turn on a flashlight. The dark and light symbolize the first day of God’s creation. As someone holds the flashlight against a wall, perform finger plays. This activity can also be used with a dark background and a flashlight.
3. Write: It Was Good! In bubble letters across an 11X17 paper. Write this week’s memory verse inside the letters with a black marker. Then color the letters.
4. Sing “He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands”.
Day 2- sky and water (waters separated)
1. With the longest side of a piece of paper closes to you, draw and color the sky with one shade of blue. Use the other share of blue to draw and color the water. Set aside. This drawing will also be used on Day 3 of creation.
Day 3- land and seas (waters gathered); vegetation
- Paint the dried plaster with tempera paint. Paint waterways, mountains, and grasses.
- Add land, seas, trees, plant, and flowers to the sky and water picture from Day 2 of creation.
- Pretend you are a gardener. Make a list of what you would plant in your garden. Decide how big to make the garden and what you will plant where. Draw a diagram of your garden. Label each item you will plant.
- Seeds need to be planted in good, healthy soil and they also need to be watered. Try growing seeds in a clear, plastic cup or container. Make a gardener’s notebook. Record the names of the plants in your notebook and keep track of your plants as they grow. What kind of seed did you plant? How often does it need to be watered? Will it continue to grow in the house, or does it need to be moved outdoors? Will it need to be planted in the ground? Draw pictures of your plant in your notebook as it grows.
Day 4- sun, moon, and stars (to govern the day and the night and to mark season, days and years)
- Hang stars, moon, clouds, and sun. Make starts and moon from white construction paper, the sun from yellow construction paper, and the clouds from cotton balls. Suspend these heavenly bodies with string.
- Find pictures in old magazines showing scenes of night and day. With the longest side of a piece of paper closest to you, fold it in half. Label the top of one side NIGHT and the other side DAY. Glue the pictures under the correct label. Discuss what is happening in each picture. Do you enjoy doing more things during the day or at night? On another piece of paper draw fun things to do during the day as well as night. Label each picture with the reason why each is a fun thing.
- Make a mobile of the sun, moon, and stars. Use paper to make the sun and moon phases. Use foil to make the stars.
Day 5- fish and birds (to fill the waters and the sky)
- On poster board, draw a picture of an aquarium. After using an encyclopedia or other reference book, use construction paper to make fish to glue in the aquarium. Write the Scripture verse from Genesis which explains what God created on Day 5 on the bottom or top of the poster board.
- Make a bird feeder. Use donut-shaped cereal (i.e., Cheerios) and yarn. Cut a piece of yarn about two feet long. Tie a pencil or any other object about the same size on one end of the yarn. String the cereal onto the yarn. Remove the pencil and tie both ends of the yarn together. Hang outside.
- Pretend you are a zookeeper. Make an alphabetical list of animals. Design a zoo. Where would you put each animal?
- Collect about 12 animal pictures from old magazines or calendars. Make a collage of the pictures. Then choose a Scripture to write across the bottom of the collage.
- Make animals out of clay for the diorama project. Find out more about each animal you create, and then share your diorama with others.
- Record the sounds of several animals using a tape recorder. Have someone listen to the tape to guess the animals from their sounds.
- Adam named the animals. Do you have a favorite animal? Find out more about your favorite animals in an encyclopedia or other reference book. Share your information with others by making a book with illustrations.
- Take a visit to your local veterinarian to watch them take care of the animals. Ask them to make a visit to your school or church.
- Use the Bible and concordance to find the meaning of the names Adam and Eve. How many times are their names found in the bible?
- Learn about your family tree and help your child chart it. Look! Your grandparents, and all of the husbands and wives, are male and female. This is the way it has been since creation- because created it that way. Husband wife couples are God’s way.
- Draw a picture of you family. Choose and write a memory verse across the top or bottom of the paper.
- Fingerprinting: There is no one exactly like you. You are so special to God. Use your fingerprints to make the letters of your name. Use an index card or other paper, and ink or paint for this activity. After your fingerprints dry, get creative and turn your prints into animals, fish, or plants that God created. These can also be used for greeting cards to share with friends and family.
- God did not make everyone exactly alike! Create a collage of pictures or drawings showing how people around the world are different in looks and size. Write a creation Scripture across the top or bottom of your collage.
- Write a song about what makes you special. Start with “I am special because, “and end with “and God made me!” Suggestion: Use the tune from “Are You Sleeping?”
Day 7- God rested and declared all he had made to be very good
1. Sing: “For the Beauty of the Earth”.
2. Make a collage of beautiful places using pictures from old magazines or calendars. Label the places. Write a creation Scripture across the top or bottom of your collage.
3. Choose a Sabbath Scripture for a memory verse. Write the verse in glue on an 11x17 sheet of paper. Sprinkle glitter over the glue. Shake it back and forth to completely cover the glue. Let dry. Decorate with stamps or stickers.
4. Write an acrostic poem for the S-A-B-B-A-T-H. for each letter write thing like, enjoy, or know about the Sabbath day. Share it with your family on the Sabbath day.
5. Read Mark 2:27. Write in your bible notebook: How does the Sabbath show God’s love for us?
6. When we worship God each Sabbath, we come to His banquet table. Sing: “His Banner Over Me is Love”.
7. Keep a list of weekly work by recording what you do each of the week, except the Sabbath. Do you enjoy resting from your work? God did!
8. Ask each family member: What do you enjoy most about the Sabbath? What work are you most happy resting from?
9. Find a special bible story to read, and then share it with your family on the Sabbath.
10. Write a Sabbath prayer to read on the Sabbath. Thank God for His gift of the Sabbath day.
11. Plan a special Sabbath meal with mom or dad. Make Sabbath place mats for everyone in your family. Laminate or cover them with clear contact paper. Celebrate and enjoy the Sabbath day by sharing your acrostic poem, prayer, and story. Take turns choosing special songs to sing. Take pictures of this celebration. Frame them to display in your room or home.