Creation
Age group
3-7 year old’s
Lessons to take away
· Everything came from God
· Especially You came from God
· God loves you so very much he made You
This lesson plan would normally be a terms teaching (or how ever long it takes your group to fit in with scheduling a slot on stage in Big Church to perform the song).
The lesson plan includes
· The Story
· The Prayers
· The Craft
· The Song and how to perform it in Big Church
These are to be repeated each week, with lots of practise of the song as both the craft comes together and the children get more used to being taught about Creation.
Starting at the Beginning – Why we teach children Creation
Teaching the children about Creation is so important, it really sets up their understanding of why we Love God, why we Follow God and how everything started.
Putting emphasis on how amazing it was that God made everything, including “us” sets a firm foundation for their belief system. Remembering that as they grow and enter the World of education, they will be supplied with many other ideas of how we came about and were formed. That is why getting the Beginning right in their minds, reassures them how they came about and who made them.
The older ones in the group may respond with the fact that they came from their parents and this is easily answered with, “yes of course, but In the Beginning, God made everything, and everybody came from Him.”
So, at story or mat time the Story I use is from [1]The Beginners Bible by Candle Books and illustrated by Kelly Pulley. Show the children the illustrations and have the book facing them always, (learning to read upside down is a skill well known by most children’s workers!). All of these stories from this book are short, but each page gives us opportunity to talk to the children about each day of creation and getting them to tell you what they can see in each picture is a good way to involve them.
Remembering that the teaching is based on repetition and structure, this is a class plan that will take you all the way through the term, with the same story each week and the craft activity relating to each day of Creation. This will end with a song about Creation that can be practised in the class room and shown on the stage to “Big Church” which is discussed later in the lesson plan.
The Story
Page 7 – The Beginning
In the beginning, the world was empty. Darkness was everywhere. But God had a plan
(Here is our opportunity to help the children understand that everything was dark at the very beginning, ask them to close their eyes and ask them what colour they can see, explain to them this is how it was in the very beginning).
Page 8- Day One
God separated the light from the darkness. “Let there be light!” he said. And the light turned on. He called the light “day” and he called the darkness “night.” This was the end of the very first day.
(We can ask the children what is in the sky in the night time (the moon and stars), what is in the sky in the day time (sun and clouds), again we can ask, what time do we call it when the moon is out (night time), what time do we call it when the sun is out (day time). Also we can play the night time/day time game here – the teacher says night time and all the children shut their eyes, and when you say day time, they all open their eyes, speed up the night time and day time until the children are blinking and giggling.
Page 9- Day Two
Then God said, “I will divide the waters.” He separated the waters in the clouds above from the waters in the ocean below. He called the space between them “sky”. This was the end of the second day.
This can be a tricky concept for small children, help them understand that God gave us the water which we call the sea, and he also gave us water that comes from the sky (rain) and that helps water all of the world. Ask them to point, where is the sea (downwards), where is the rain (upwards).
Page 10-Day Three
Next, God rolled back the waters and some dry ground appeared. He made plants of many shapes and colours. He made mountains, hills, and valleys. This was the end of the third day.
When we introduce the children to the song that is used for this Creation lesson plan, they are shown that “Earth and Sky”, “Night and Day” as the second and first days of creation. Therefore, it is good to tie this in with how fantastic it was that God made all the earth and put plants and trees and flowers to grow on it. Use this time to ask – what plants and trees and flowers did God give us that we eat? (fruit, wheat, vegetables, etc) they will call out apples and pears and potatoes etc, at this point ask them if “potatoes grow in trees?” to make them giggle.
Also at this point reiterate that this was the third day, that God made the land with all the plants, get them to show you three fingers.
Page 11-Day Four
God put a shining sun in the sky for the daytime. He put a glowing moon and twinkling stars in the sky for the night time This was the end of the fourth day.
Now, we have already talked about the sun and the moon, but that was to help the children understand dark and light, day and night, so we just continue with, “can you see the sun?” “can you see the moon?” Experience has shown me that at this point some of the older ones may tell you that when the sun is out in one country the moon is out in another. This has to be congratulated but not dwelt on so that you don’t lose the focus of the smaller ones. At this point, remind them that God made all of this on the Fourth day, get them to hold up 4 fingers for you.
Page 12-Day Five
On the fifth day, God made swishy fish and squiggly creatures to live in the ocean. Then God made birds to fly across the sky.
At this point we talk about all the kinds of fish that the children can see on the page, we tell them that they are going to get to colour some in for our Big Performance on the Stage in Big Church. Show them all the birds in the illustration, remind them that as soon as God made the waters he wanted to fill them with fish of all kinds, and when He made the sky, he wanted to put all different birds in so that could fly through it. Tell them How Great God is to make all these things. Ask them to put up five fingers, because God made all these things on the Fifth Day.
Page 13-Day Six
On the sixth day, God made animals to creep, crawl, hop and gallop. Then from the dust, God made the most wonderful creature of all-a person. God named him Adam. On the seventh day, God rested.
This is the last part of the story, and it throws a lot for the children to take in at once. Its important to separate the fact that God made the animals and the creatures (I use this word as it ties in with the song), ask them what animals they can see? The children get very animated about pointing out animals, they will call out that they can see an elephant and a monkey, ask them where the turtle is and where the mouse is. Lots of little people in one room leads to lots want to come up and point at the book, keep asking them to remain seated so “everyone” can see the book. “The” most important thing to talk about on this page is that on the sixth day God made something that was so very special, ask them what this was, (You) the answer of course is us, he made me and you and you and you, point out to the helpers and the children, showing that you are including everyone that God made. Saying, “wasn’t it fantastic that God made us” “Thank you God”. Finish by saying that God was sooooooo tired after all that work of making animals and fish and the sun and the sky and the water and “us” that he then had a little rest. Put your hands together and lean your head on your hands as if to show sleeping, ask them to show you God sleeping, and they will copy your actions.
After you have read the story, I suggest going into prayer time (see How we pray with Children) and also at this point, show the class your pre prepared and coloured in cut out pictures (see Craft for Creation) so they get excited about doing one. Point out that they can do one to take home but you really “need” one for the big pictures you are going to make for the song that they are all going to do in Big Church.
[1] The Beginner’s Bible: Timeless Children’s Stories, The Beginner’s Bible, Revised edition. (HarperCollins Religious - US, 2017).