2 & 3 Creation Lesson #1 God Made Our World Verse: Craft/ Activity To show the children that God created our world. Genesis 1:1 "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." Genesis 1:1 Preschoolers are just becoming aware of their place in the world: families! neighborhoods!preschools!city!country!planet. However, they are not fully aware that we live on a planet - what is the ball we call earth? At this stage, it is enough to share that God created wonderful things like stars shining up above, the trees in the garden, the fruits that we eat, the oceans, the sun and the moon. This is a general lesson on creation - there is no need to focus on one aspect. Depending on the level of ability of the particular group, serving ones can have coloring sheets that include many of the things God has created - trees, flowers, sun, moon, etc. Other crafts may include pasting pre-cut shapes to a blank sheet. Always label the child s craft and include the verse for the week. Because this is an opening lesson, we can incorporate many of the things that will be covered individually in future lessons. Be creative!
2 & 3 Creation Lesson #2 Light and Darkness Verse: To show the children that God separated light from darkness. Genesis1:3 And God said, Let there be light; and there was light. Genesis 1:3 To introduce the lesson, turn off the light or blindfold if not possible to turn off the light. Take out a toy teddy bear or any puppet, ask the children if can see it. Ask them if they can walk and play in the dark. Do they like to be in the dark? Then turn on the light and ask them if they now can see the puppet? The tells us that God separated light from dark. We can see in the light but we cannot see in the dark. To further demonstrate this, do silhouettes (shadows) using a flashlight projecting unto the wall. This is always a crowd pleasing activity. One idea is to have a circle in which half is covered with black construction paper and the other remains white. Another one is to have whole white sheet with many things on creation on it. Use half a sheet of black construction paper and glue only enough of it in the middle of the sheet so kids can flip up and down to see what s under. When it s dark, they cannot see but when it s light, they can.
2 & 3 Creation Lesson #3 Day and Night Verse: To show the children that God separated the light from dark and called it day and night respectively. Genesis 1:5a And God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. Genesis 1:5 And God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, one day. Review light and darkness lesson from last week. Is daytime light or dark? Turn light on and off. Discuss type of activities we do when it s light and when it s dark; e.g. we go to school during the day and we sleep at night. Give children a paper with one light side and the other side dark. It can also be in a circle shape. Cut out circles from oak tag paper and paste cut out of activities people do during the day like play or ride bike. Cut out a circle of black construction paper but with a " of it cut out. Make a small hole in the center and insert a brad so that kids can spin around the black paper to discover what is underneath. Have them decorate the white part first before fixing the black construction paper on top.
2 & 3 Creation Lesson #4 Expanse/Heaven (Sky/firmament) Verse: To show children that God created the sky above Genesis 1:7a And God made the expanse... Genesis 1:8a And God called the expanse Heaven... Genesis 1:7, Genesis 1:8 Psalms 19:1 Weather permitting, we can ask the kids to look up at the sky. If not, show pictures of the sky, clouds and things we might see up in the sky like birds. We can use a sheet that separates down the middle showing things we see up in the sky during the day and during the evening; e.g. clouds, sun, birds in the day and stars and moon at night.
2 & 3 Creation Lesson #5 - Water Verse: To show that God gives water for living things to grow and multiply. Genesis 1:7m And God separated the waters Genesis 1:7 Show pictures of the oceans and the beach. Share that our planet has a lot of water! Water is vital to living things. Trees and plants need water to grow (show picture of budding tree versus a full grown tree) Living creatures need water. When we are thirsty, we drink water. Animals drink water too. Do you have a pet at home that drinks water? Or have you seen animals at the zoo drink water? All living things need water to survive. God created us in such a wonderful way. One idea is to cut out blue construction paper in the shape of waves, help children glue it onto a sheet of paper. Another idea is to color in drawings of the uses of water such as a progression from a seed to a tree thanks to water!