1. Creation Genesis 1-2:3

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Lesson Prep

Background Scripture (read 2-3 times during the week)

Genesis 1-2

Story Summary

  • Day 1- God created the heavens and the earth. He created light and darkness, day and night.
  • Day 2- God separated the waters and created the sky. 
  • Day 3- God created the land and the sea and seed-bearing plants and trees.
  • Day 4- God created the sun and moon and stars.
  • Day 5- God created creatures that lived in water and flew in the air.
  • Day 6- God created creatures on the land. He also created man and woman - both in his image. He gave authority for the man and woman to rule over the other creatures. He gave them seed bearing plants as food. (Note that he did not give the animals as food at this point. The Bible does not mention anything about eating anything other than the seed-bearing and green plants until Genesis 9:3, after the flood.) 
  • Day 7- God rested from his work and declared the day holy.

After each day's work, God declared that it was good.

What You Will Need

Supplies
Children's Bible
Mirror
flowers, small tree branch, live bugs, etc- be creative! (If real items cannot be used, provide pictures from magazines, books or the computer. Include pictures of students from your class or adults in their lives)
Snack Suggestion
Create your own trail mix snack (peanuts, m&m's, raisins, dried fruit, small crackers, pretzels, chocolate chips)

Resource Sheet

Creation Coloring Sheet

This coloring sheet depicts the 7 days of creation

Lesson

1. Warm Up

get your kids talking and engaged

(If it is a nice day, take your kids outside into God's creation for the lesson!) Show students the items from nature and allow them to explore. Collect the items when you are ready to start the story, so the children are not distracted.

Ask the children if they have ever made anything. For example: sand castles, a picture, craft, etc. Ask them what they used to make it. Then ask them if they could make it without the necessary supplies? (For example, could they make the sand castle if they didn't have any sand?) Tell them that they are getting ready to learn about how God created everything from nothing. 

2. Teach the Story

teach a holistic story

Read story from a Children's storybook Bible for younger children. 

For older children, read the story from an age-appropriate Children's storybook Bible or tell the story yourself.

For Early Elementary Students: Hold up a mirror and allow each child to look at themselves. Tell children that God made them, just like he did the beautiful flowers and the cool bugs. Acknowledge the differences in each of the children. (hair color, eye color)

3. Bible Mastery

give them basic Bible skills

Scripture for Kids to Read Aloud: Genesis 1:1, Genesis 2:1-3

4. Comprehension Questions

make sure they understand the story

First, ask the children if they have any questions about the story. What to do if you don't know the answer?

  • Answer questions and be open for discussion, but don't worry about having to answer deep theological questions. Just give them plain answers from the scripture. If you do not know how to answer questions the students may have, refer back to your Bible with them. If you still cannot answer, let them know you will find out the answer for them and follow through. Do not be afraid to admit you don’t know the answer.
  • What are some things God created?
  • What did God create the first day? (light and darkness, day and night)
  • What did God do on day 7? (rested)
  • In whose image was man created? (God’s)
  • What does it mean for man to be created in God's image?
  • What did God say about his creation? (It was good)
  • What did God give man to eat? (plants and fruit- Genesis 9:3-4 God gave us everything that lives and moves, as food)

5. Faith Questions

help them apply the story to their lives and open up a conversation about faith and the gospel; close with prayer
  • Even though God is a great, big God who created the entire universe, did you know that he knows each one of us by name and that he wants to have a relationship with us (or be our friend)?

6. Memory Verse

hide God's Word in their heart
Your word is like a lamp that shows me the way. It is like a light that guides me. Psalm 119:105

Reinforcement Activities

Stuffed Animal Friends

Heads up! If possible, send a note ahead of class and ask each student to bring a stuffed animal. Provide extra for those that did not bring their own.

Scripture God said, "Let the land produce all kinds of living creatures. Let there be livestock, and creatures that move along the ground, and wild animals. Let there be all kinds of them." And that's exactly what happened. Genesis 1:24

Supplies stuffed animals

  • Allow students to hold their stuffed animals while they listen to the Bible story.
  • God created all of these types of animals and each one has a purpose.
  • Why do you think God created animals? (pets, food, etc.)
  • Ask each student what their favorite animal is.
  • And God said, “Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: livestock, creatures that move along the ground, and wild animals, each according to its kind.” And it was so.

Student Creations

Scripture God saw everything he had made. And it was very good. Genesis 1:31

Supplies craft supplies or play dough

  • Allow students to make their own creations on card stock or with play dough
  • Encourage students to be as creative as possible.
  • While they are creating, have them imagine what it was like for God to create new animals
  • Play dough recipe:
  • 1 cup water
  • 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
  • 1/2 cup salt
  • 1 tablespoon cream of tartar
  • Food coloring
  • 1 cup flour
  • Combine water, oil, salt, cream of tartar, and food coloring in a saucepan and heat until warm.
  • Remove from heat and add flour.
  • Stir, then knead until smooth. The cream of tartar makes this dough last 6 months or longer, so resist the temptation to omit this ingredient if you don't have it on hand.
  • Store this dough in an airtight container or a Ziploc freezer bag.

Day and Night Pictures

Scripture And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.” And there was evening, and there was morning —the first day. Genesis 1:3-5

Supplies black paper, white paper, glue sticks

  • Cut white paper in half (short way).
  • Tape white paper onto the left half of the black paper.
  • Allow students to make day and night pictures using chalk dipped in water.
  • Remind students that the reason we have night and day is because God created the world that way.
Day and Night Pictures Example

Sunshine Tea

Scripture God made two great lights—the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars. Genesis 1:16

Supplies large glass jar, tea bags and water

  • Place water in jar.
  • Add tea bags.
  • Set tea in sun at the beginning of class.
  • Allow students to drink tea at the end of class.
  • Bring pre-made sun tea, in case the tea doesn't have time to completely brew.
  • Remind students that God created the sun to give us light, warmth, and life.

Crayon Rubbings

Scripture Then God said, "Let the land produce plants. Let them bear their own seeds. And let there be trees on the land that bear fruit with seeds in it. Let each kind of plant or tree have its own kind of seeds." And that's exactly what happened. Genesis 1:11

Supplies regular paper, large leaves, crayons with paper removed

  • Do crayon rubbings of the leaves by placing leaves under paper and using the side of the crayon.
  • Remind students that God created trees and leaves.

Shape Pictures

Scripture God saw everything he had made. And it was very good. Genesis 1:31

Supplies paper or construction paper - cut into various shapes and sizes

  • Give children a variety of cutout shapes or pattern blocks.
  • Have them arrange them to create a picture.
  • If paper shapes are used, students can glue their shapes to the paper to take home
  • Talk to the students about how hard it must have been for God to create the world from nothing. God must be very creative and very powerful!

Nature Walk and Pictures

Heads up! Pay attention to the weather before planning this activity.

Scripture Then God said, "Let the land produce plants. Let them bear their own seeds. And let there be trees on the land that bear fruit with seeds in it. Let each kind of plant or tree have its own kind of seeds." And that's exactly what happened. Genesis 1:11

  • Take a nature walk and collect small pebbles, grass, flowers in a small bucket.
  • Make nature pictures using the collected items.

Art Pictures

Scripture God saw everything he had made. And it was very good. Genesis 1:31

  • Older students can compare pictures of different paintings from the same artists.
  • Look at the similarities between the paintings
  • Did you expect them to have similar qualities? Would you expect for God's creations to have similar qualities?
Paintings by Thomas Kinkade
Paintings by Monet
Paintings by Bob Ross

People Pictures

Scripture Then God said, "Let us make man in our likeness. Let them rule over the fish in the waters and the birds of the air. Let them rule over the livestock and over the whole earth. Let them rule over all of the creatures that move along the ground." Genesis 1:26

Supplies Paper, coloring utensils (crayons, colored pencils, etc)

  • Have students draw a picture of three different people on separate sheets of paper.
  • Put all the pictures together in a pile. Shuffle the pictures.
  • Ask students to try and identify which pictures were done by the same artist.
  • Look for similarities in the way they were drawn.
  • Talk about similarities in God’s creation.

Bible verse Book mark

Heads up! Watch the weather, pre cut bookmark paper and contact paper larger than bookmark

Scripture memory verse or focus verse from the lesson

Supplies Construction paper, contact paper, leaves, flowers, ribbon (optional), glue, scissors

  • Take kids on a nature walk and collect leaves and flowers (or bring in some from home). Give the kids pre cut pieces of construction paper and have the kids write the focus verse on the paper. Decorate the paper with the leaves and cover with clear contact paper. Trim contact paper and hole punch a hole to tie a ribbon if desired.
On the web

Creation Object Lessons

Scripture Genesis 1-2:3

Supplies various (see below)

  • Find an object around the house to symbolize each day of creation. The following are just examples, be creative!
  • Day 1: a lamp (God made the light)
  • Day 2: water and two jars (God separated the two waters)
  • Day 3: vegetables, seeds, or dirt
  • Day 4: two balls of different sizes (for sun and moon)
  • Day 5: stuffed animals (or real ones!)
  • Day 6: dolls, barbies, GI Joe, some sort of human figurine
  • Day 7: a pillow

Plant a Flower

Scripture Then God said, "Let the land produce plants. Let them bear their own seeds. And let there be trees on the land that bear fruit with seeds in it. Let each kind of plant or tree have its own kind of seeds." And that's exactly what happened. Genesis 1:11

Supplies cups or small pots, seeds, dirt, water

  • Put dirt into cup or small pots.
  • Place a seed down in the dirt.
  • Water plant.

Creation story - Day 1 to 7

  • One method to add to the creativity of the coloring sheet is to fan fold the paper on the lines so it looks like a Chinese fan. Creation day 1 is on the first fold, the other days follow in sets of two. The older grades have the skills to complete. Not only a useful fan to keep, it could be a functional paper airplane (for the boys) with slight rearrangement of dividing lines.
  • Another suggestion is with 3x5 cards have each child label one side 1 to 7, on the back side write what occurred and then test each other with flash card like contests.
  • Helps memory to repeat.

Pictionary Playdough

Supplies playdough

  • Divide class into teams.
  • Teams are given the name of something God created (ex: tree).
  • One person from the team must make the object while the rest of the team guesses.
  • If the teammates guess correctly, within a given time period, they receive a point.