Our ears are gifts from God. God gave them to us for our pleasure and to help protect us. They also help us learn about him God when we listen to his word. But we must not only listen to his instructions, we must do what they say. (A complete lesson is available on The Resource Room. Follow the link above.)

Crafts and Activities for this lesson:

1. What I like to hear with my ears - Have your children draw a picture of at least three different things they like to hear. They may draw a picture of a radio, television, birds singing, the leaves blowing in the wind, etc. Tell them that they will be using the pictures for a listening activity later during class. (To view the complete lesson on The Resource Room and print out the patterns click on the link to this lesson above.)

2. Make musical instruments - Bring in jingle bells, beads and baubles, and help your children string them on a rope or place them in a Pringle's can with a lid.

3. Make listening tubes - Roll pieces of construction paper up into tubes and tape them closed. Let your children decorate them with stickers. Use them for a Bible verse review games later in class. See the activity section below.

4. Musical feet - Tie jingle bells on your children's shoes and sing a song as they walk around the room.

5. Listening Activity 1 - Remind your children that God gave us our ears so that we can listen to him and to others. Tell them that they are going to practice being good listeners in this activity. Pick five children to show the pictures they drew at the beginning of class (or break up your class into even numbers, about five per group.) Let your children tell about all the things they drew on their pictures. When all five children are done, ask the other children who did not show their pictures what things they remember that the five children drew. Give candy prizes to the children who can say something that one of the children drew. Then let the next group share what they drew.

6. Listening Activity 2 - Remind your children that the Bible tells us to not just listen but to do what it says. Today we are going to practice listening and doing what the teacher says. Give each child a piece of paper and a pencil and tell them to listen and do exactly what you say. Make up instructions for what the children should draw according to their age. You might say something like:

1. Draw a big red circle in the middle of your paper.
2. Draw a square inside the circle.
3. Draw three small circle inside that circle and color one in.

When you have finished with your instructions tell the children to compare their papers with their classmates. Discuss how they are the same how they are different.

7. Bible Verse Review Activity - Before class make enough paper cup phones so that you have one for every child. Make extras because you don't want the child to share them. They will be putting their mouths on them. Poke holes in the bottom of 9 oz. plastic cups with a large needle. Thread kite string through the holes from the outside to the instide of the cup using the needle to poke the thread through. Pull the string through the hole with tweezers. Tie at least 5 knots in the end of the string and cut off the end of the string up to the knot. Pull the string back through the cup so that the knot is tight up against the bottom of the cup. Thread the other end of the string through another cup. Make the strings about 6 feet long.

Review the Bible verse and then give every two children a set of paper cup phones. Remind them that they have to hold the cups so the string is tight (don't let it sag in the middle) and put the cups up against their cheeks with their mouths inside the cup for the phones to work properly. Have them practice telling each other and listening to the Bible verse. Also remind them not to touch the string with their hands when holding the cups. These phones work very well if your children use them properly. It is hard for younger children to keep the string tight as they hold the cups so you may want to talk to each child through a different set of cups if they are having a hard time.

8. Listening tube Bible verse review game - Have your children sit in a large circle. Whisper part of the Bible verse or a Bible truth through the tube to the children on your left. Have the children pass the verse around the circle by whispering the verse to the child on their left. When the verse gets back to the child on your right have him say the verse. You may want to let the children make up their own Bible truths and send them around the circle.

(You will find even more activities and songs for this lesson on The Resource Room. Click on the link to this lesson above.)

Home school materials are also included in this lesson, including physical fitness activities:

1. Listening and Doing Exercise - Tell your children that today they are going to practice being listeners and doers. Tell them that you are going to give them some instructions and they should try to listen, remember, and then do what you say. Start with easy two-step instructions such as:

1. Clap your hands and then tap your toe.
2. Touch your nose with your index finger and rub your elbows together.
3. Blink your eyes and rub the palms of your hands together.

Use body parts that your children may not know the names of to help them learn new words.

Once they have master listening and doing two-step instructions add a third instruction. Give all three instructions without pausing. You want them to practice listening, remembering, and doing more complicated things. Here are some examples of three-step instructions.

1. Touch your forehead, jump in place, and then turn around.
2. Touch your nose, pull your ears, and wiggle your toes.
3. Bend your knees, turn around, and then say please.
4. Bend your wrist

Follow the link above for even more educational activities including: Art, fun with numbers, fun with letters and words, physical fitness, cooking, and just for fun ideas.

Lesson 4 - My Beautiful Feet!

Children learn to appreciate and thank God for creating their beautiful feet; and learn how they can glorify God with their feet. (A complete lesson is available on The Resource Room. Follow the link above.)

Crafts and Activity Ideas:

1. Work on a color sheet - (To view the complete lesson on The Resource Room and print out the patterns click on the link to this lesson above.)

2. Make a class feet painting mural - We talked about some of the ways we can use our feet to make God happy. Did you ever think you could be creative with your feet? Today we are going to make some pictures with our feet. Oriental Trading Company has some feet stamps. Children attach the stamps to their feet with a velcro strap and walk over the paper to make pictures. Type in 56/2327 in the search box on the left of the page. You can buy one dozen for $8.95. Click on the Oriental Trading Company link above to get to their site.

3. Sing a song - If You're Happy and You Know It

If you're happy and know it
Tap your toe,
If you're happy and you know it
Tap your toe,
If you're happy and you know it
and you really want to show it,
If you're happy and you know it
Tap your toe.

Continue singing using the following verses: Jump for joy, march in place, march in place, do all four.

4. Sing a song to the tune of This Old Man.

Two Feet

Here's one foot, here are two,
There's many things that they can do,
So skip and dance and praise the Lord,
That's what these two feet are for.
©2007, Digital by Design, Inc. -* See Copyright Information

5. Sing "Little Feet, Be Careful" - Go to Vacation Bible School Planning web site for the words and music. Give each your children two paper plates and have them stand on them. As you sing the song have your children slide around in a circle with the paper plates under their feet.

6. Make a foot tracing picture - Help your children trace their feet onto a piece of paper. Write the memory verse at the bottom of the paper. Have the children color their feet and then help them write what they like to do with their feet.

7. Color a picture with your feet - Give each child a coloring page and some crayons. Tape the papers to the floor so that they don't move around. Show them how to place a crayon between their toes and color by moving their feet around. Comment while the children are coloring, "Aren't you glad we don't have to use our feet to color with all the time?" I'm glad God gave us hands to color with. Our feet may not be able to color very well, but they can do so many other things really well. Can you think of some things that God created our feet to do?

(You will find even more activities and songs for this lesson on The Resource Room. Click on the link to this lesson above.)

Home school materials are also included in this lesson, including math activity sheet:

Fun with Digits - The word "digits" refers to the ten numbers 0 through 9. A digit can also be a human finger or toe. Children cut out and glue the "digits" to the foot pattern placing the "digits" in order from one to five.

Follow the link above for even more educational activities including: Art, fun with numbers, fun with letters and words, physical fitness, cooking, and just for fun ideas.

Lesson 5 - My Helping Hands

This is a lesson about the good Samaritan and how he used his hands to do good things. Children learn that they can use their amazing hands to glorify God by doing good things and praising him. (A complete lesson is available on The Resource Room. Follow the link above.)

Crafts and Activities Ideas:

1. Helping Hands Activity Sheet - Children cut out pictures and glue them to a girl or boy activity sheet. (To view the complete lesson on The Resource Room and print out the patterns click on the link to this lesson above.)

2. Make a Remember Memory Verse Hand Picture - Explain to the children that sometimes when someone wants to remember something important, they tie a string on their finger to help them remember. We are going to write some things on the fingers of the hands we made that we need to remember to do this week. We will also tie a string on one of the fingers to remind us to do them. (To view the complete lesson on The Resource Room and print out the patterns click on the link to this lesson above. You will find even more activities and songs for this lesson on The Resource Room. Click on the link to this lesson above.)

Home school materials are also included in this lesson, including math review games:

Helping Hand Number, Words, and Letter Review Game - Before class print out the hand patterns (Available to members) and cut them out. Write letters or numbers on the fingertips that your children are learning. Fold the fingers down towards the palm of the hand. Place a large bowl of water on the table. Place one of the hands on the water so it is floating with the folded fingers facing up. It will only take a few seconds for the fingers to start unfolding. When a finger pops up and reveals a number or letter, ask you children if they recognize that letter or number. Let your children write letters and numbers on their own hands to take home and show their parents how the helping hand works. You can also review sight words by writing one letter of the word on each finger.

Follow the link above for even more educational activities including: Art, fun with numbers, fun with letters and words, physical fitness, cooking, and just for fun ideas.

Lesson 6 - My Guarded Mouth

Children learn that our mouths are created for good things not bad. God can help us control our tongues and to say only what is good and true. (A complete lesson is available on The Resource Room. Follow the link above.)

Crafts and Activities for this lesson:

1. Make Talking Mr. Mouth Puppets - Your children will enjoy making these cute puppets. The mouths open and close when you move the paper towel tube up and down. (To view the complete lesson on The Resource Room and print out the patterns click on the link to this lesson above.)

2. Make a "Guard My Mouth" Bible verse picture - The tongue is pulled down to reveal good things we should say. If you don't have much time in class, you can just have your children color the face and then write "good" words in the mouth. If you have preschool children, just let them come up with something good they can say, and then write it in the mouth for them. You can also cut out the mouth area and glue the whole picture onto another piece of paper forming an envelope. Glue just around the sides of the paper. Help your children come up with "good" things they can say, write them on a sheet of paper and then stick them in the mouth. (To view the complete lesson on The Resource Room and print out the patterns click on the link to this lesson above. You will find even more activities and songs for this lesson on The Resource Room. Click on the link to this lesson above.)

Home school materials are also included in this lesson, including fun recipes:

1. Make Smiling Biscuits - These buttermilk biscuits are great for breakfast. Open the mouth and add a little red jelly for the tongue. Print out the recipe (Available to members) and follow the directions.

2. Make Apple Marshmallow Mouths - This recipe makes a great snack for any time of the day. Print out the recipe (Available to members) and follow the directions.

Follow the link above for even more educational activities including: Art, fun with numbers, fun with letters and words, physical fitness, cooking, and just for fun ideas.

Lesson 7 - My Happy Heart

God created us to do good things. He made us to glorify him and he wants us to have a happy heart. We can be happy when we make God our Lord, obey him, pray, and give thanks. (A complete lesson is available on The Resource Room. Follow the link above.)

Crafts and Activities for this Lesson:

1. Make a "God Made Me" poster - Children color the picture and glue the words in the correct box. They can also glue on a felt heart or happy face stick over the heart in the picture. (To view the complete lesson on The Resource Room and print out the patterns click on the link to this lesson above.)

2. Play "Pin the Happy Heart on the Child" game - Play like "Pin the Tail on the Donkey". Use the patterns provided. (To view the complete lesson on The Resource Room and print out the patterns click on the link to this lesson above.)

3. Happy Heart Pins or necklaces - Print out heart shapes onto red card stock (Heavy Paper) and cut them out. Have your children draw a happy face on one side. Have them think of one thing they can be thankful for and write it on the other side of the heart. Roll up a piece of tape and tape it to the back of the hearts and to the children's clothes. Or punch holes in the hearts and tie a string on so they can wear them as necklaces. (To view the complete lesson on The Resource Room and print out the patterns click on the link to this lesson above.)

Home school materials are also included in this lesson, including art ideas:

1. Cutting Heart Shapes - Show your children how to fold a piece of paper in half and cut half a heart shape on the fold. Unfold the paper to show them the whole shape. Have them practice making hearts.

2. Happy Heart Pins or Necklaces - Print out heart shapes onto red card stock (Heavy Paper) and cut them out. Have your children draw a happy face on one side. Have them think of one thing they can be thankful for and write it on the other side of the heart. Roll up a piece of tape and tape it to the back of the hearts and to the children's clothes.

3. Drawing - After talking about idioms (From the "Fun With Letters and Words" section) have your children pick one of the idioms and draw a picture using the literal meaning and the implied meaning of the idiom. For example, if the child picks "broken hearted", he may draw a picture of a heart broken into many pieces and a picture of someone very sad.

Follow the link above for even more educational activities including: Art, fun with numbers, fun with letters and words, physical fitness, cooking, and just for fun ideas.

Crafts and Ideas Relating to the Complete Creation Story

1. Make an "All Things Bright and Beautiful" book

Before class print out the pages to the book and make copies. Cut out the pages and staple them together. In class have your children color the pictures. The pages for this book are available to members of The Resource Room

All Things Bright and Beautiful
Written Cecil F. Alexander in 1848

All things bright and beautiful,
All creatures great and small,
All things wise and wonderful:
The Lord God made them all.

Each little flower that opens,
Each little bird that sings,
He made their glowing colors,
He made their tiny wings.

Go to http://www.cyberhymnal.org/htm/a/l/allthing.htm for the music.

Comment: I did the Creation Lesson with my 2 - 5 year old class. We actually used the basic idea of the creation quilt except that we used fabric markers and white fabric. Each Sunday for seven weeks, we did the next day. After the lesson, the children would draw what God made that day. For the center piece of the quilt, I had someone embroider the earth with children holding hands around it. After all of the pieces were made, I sewed them together and made a wall hanging for our class. The class was so excited about what they made that we presented it to the church so everyone would know how hard they had worked on it. Now, every Sunday the children look at the quilt and can remember how God made everything just for us. Annie Greer

6. Make a Creation Die - Use a milk carton to make a die and then glue pictures representing each day of creation on a different side of the die. Go to MSSS Crafts web site for directions and printouts.

7. Play a creation game with a die - Have the children take turns rolling a die. Whatever number a child rolls, he has to tell something that God made on that day of creation. For example, if a child rolled a five, he could say God created man.

8. Following is a lesson plan for all the days of creation sent in by Donna Andrews: Each week had a coloring page and also a Bible Verse Card with a verse for that day of creation. These were all saved until the end of the 7th day and the pages were put into a Creation Booklet for each child and the Bible Verse cards were laminated and tied together. The children took these home on the 7th day.

Day 1 - God separated the dark from the light. We learned the colors black and white. We made a game out of finding different objects in the room that were black and white. We talked about the different "things" we do in the light and the "things" we do in the dark. That was the end of the 1st day.

Day 2 - God made the sky and the water. The color we learned was blue. Our room has an aquarium theme so that was great to have the blue water on the walls. We looked up to the sky to see the heavens. We played in pans of water and added blue food coloring. The snack was blue Jell-O. We walked in a circle holding hands and sang ring around the rosy. When we all fell down we repeated what God made on the first day and what he made on the second day. That was the end of the 2nd day.

Day 3 - God made dry land and plants. The colors we learned were brown and green. We brought a 10 gallon fish tank in and made a terrarium out of it. The kids each took turns filling the tank with dirt, by scooping a plastic cup full at a time. Each child got to do this several times. We then took 6 plants and made holes in the dirt and put the plants in them and tapped them down. We then added handfuls of aquarium rock to the top of the dirt and watered the plants. The terrarium is now a decoration in our Sunday School class. I went to a second hand store and bought used coffee cups for planters for each child and they got to fill them with dirt and a pansy to take home. They loved that Sunday. Oh, I also made Dirt cake for the snack that day. The kids thought it was real dirt there for a while:) That was the end of the third day.

Day 4 - God made the stars, moon, and sun. I had printed out a very colorful and basic landscape scene that was child oriented from my computer. It had the ground, mountains, the sky and the sun in one corner and a moon in the other. We took wooden stars and painted them in Sunday School class and then each child put glitter on their stars. We then glued three stars to each child's paper. The colors we learned that day were yellow and orange. Again, we played a game going over each day of creation so far. That was the end of the 4th day.

Day 5 - God made the fish and the birds. They colors were purple and red. We talked about what lives in the water and the children loved talking about octopuses, sea horses and some of the more unusual sea creatures. We also talked about birds, flies, and butterflies that fly in the air. We pretended we were fish and swam in the ocean . We pretended we were birds and tried to fly in the air. We played the game again going over each day. That was the end of day 5.

Day 6 - God made the beasts and man. We didn't have a color for this day. We thought of different types of animals that God made. I had the kids act out a certain animal and the other children would guess which animal it was. We talked about how God made SO many different animals. Then we talked about how God made man. That he made each of us special and he loves each of us. We again played a game that reinforced the days of creation. That was the end of day 6.

Day 7 - God rested. I sent home a note the week before telling the parents to send a pillow and a blanket the next Sunday because we were going to have a day of rest. We had a TV and watch a movie on creation and then watched veggie tales. We ate pop corn and Jell-O squares. The children took home their creation books and laminated Bible Verse Cards. That was the end of the 7th day. Whew!!!!! It was a great series to do with the kids. I enjoyed knowing that the children were building on something each week and for the age group I have, it was much better breaking it down in this manner, than trying to fit all of the days into one or two Sunday.

9. Creation Book - Sent in by Natalie

I teach Awana cubbies and last year our books hadn't come in yet when we started class. The first lesson we teach is always creation. We did a creation booklet similar to the one posted on your web site, but more personalized. I found that in my class, the kids just didn't like to color SO using Print Artist software I made creation books. I used 8 1/2 x 11 card stock for all pages & using a three hole punch, made a book, using yarn to bind the pages. The cover said "Child's name, book about Creation". The inside cover had the bible verse, In the Beginning God... with the days of creation listed.

The First Day we used just a sheet of white card stock. The kids cut a sheet of black construction paper in half and glued it to the page.

On the Second Day the kids took blue saran wrap and glued it to the bottom for the waters below and glued; cotton balls on the top half of the page for waters and clouds above.

For the Third Day I printed out various trees, plants, and flowers. The kids cut them out and glued them to the page. They also glued sand to the bottom of the page for the dry land.

On the Foutrh Day they cut out a sun, moon, and stars and glued them on.

For the Fifth Day they cut out birds amd fish, and glued them to the page. They also glued some more of the blue saran wrap to the bottom so it looked like the fish were in water.

For the Sixth Day I used my digital camera to take pictures of each of the kids and printed it out on white card stock. They cut out animals and glued them around their pictures. This makes it more personal and helps them to realize that God created them too!

For the last page I printed out the earth with the verse 'And God saw that what he had created was good, so... God Rested.' The kids had a lot of fun doing this book, especially the sand and saran wrap parts. They were surprised when we got to the last day, and they had a picture of themselves too. I find that the kids prefer cutting and pasting to coloring, so I try to tailor their crafts to that. Thanks for all of the great ideas and lessons.

10. Creation Visual - Gluing a sheet of black and white construction paper together and turning it over can also illustrate the creation of light. Gluing a wavy strip of dark blue paper on to the bottom of a sheet of light blue paper and then added a few spread out cotton balls can show the creation of air. Adding a brown island coming out of the wavy blue water and then topping it partly with green can illustrate the creation of land and then plants. Making small copies (about 6 per sheet of construction paper) for your students to hold and take home helps to reinforce the concepts. I only did 2 days of creation per week with my nursery class and these visuals that they could hold helped them. Sent in by Loretta Wright

11. Yummy Creation Project - Here is a creation project that can be used for young or older kids. We gave each child a small clear plastic container with a lid (they sell those small throw away containers). We then put several small bowls on the table filled with different foods to represent each part to the story of creation. Example on the bottom of the container we put 1/2 vanilla pudding (light) and 1/2 chocolate pudding (dark). Then cubes of blue Jello jigglers (for the water) and spoons cool whip (for the sky). Crushed Oreos to look like dirt (for the land), candied stars, like you use for cake decorating, swedish fish, animal crackers etc...... You can let your imagination go and think of all kinds of things. The best part was the kids couldn't wait to go home and eat them! Sent in by Sheila

12. Creation Room - Sometimes kids get too familiar with something, and they tune it out. As with all of our lessons, we really wanted to make it stand out. Here are a few things that might be of interest to some of your subscribers. We wanted our kids to get to experience what the beginning of time was like. So we made our lessons very interactive.

First, we chose a small room in our church building and completely covered the walls, the windows, and any other source of light, including the ceiling with black Visqueen (For those who may not know what this is, it looks like a giant black trash bag, only it comes on huge rolls. Generally can be purchased at Menards or a place such as that.) We wanted the kids to experience a place that was "formless and void, and where darkness was over the face of the deep..." We told part of this portion of the story, in our story area, and then took the kids on a field trip right in our own building. We went into this formless and void room. We had made sure to cut a slit in our Visqueen, right where our light fixture was, so that when God said, "Let there be light..." we could flip on the switch and there was light. (We made sure to prepare the kids for the total darkness they would experience for a few moments upon entering.) Each week, we added the new part of creation to this room. We added glow-in-the-dark planets (with our black light of course!), plants, stuffed animals, etc. It was really great!

When God created the animals, we planned a field trip to our local zoo and had our lesson there.

13. More Room Decoration Ideas - Each week  the item that was created would be added to the room. I started out with a black room. I used lots of black material I found at the Goodwill. The next week I added white Christmas lights for the light. Kay

Songs about the Days of Creation

This song came via e-mail from Margaret Kautz
Sing to the TUNE  -- EIGHT DAY OF CHRISTMAS
On the first day of creation the good Lord gave to us light to light the earth.
On the second day of creation the good Lord gave to us clouds in the sky, and light to light the earth.
On the third day of creation the good Lord gave to us dry land and plants, clouds in the sky, and light to light the earth.
On the fourth day of creation the good Lord gave to us sun, moon and stars, dry land and plants, clouds in the sky, and light to light the earth.
On the fifth day of creation the good Lord gave to us fish and birds, sun, moon and stars, dry land and plants, clouds in the sky, and light to light the earth.
On the sixth day of creation the good Lord gave to us animals and man, fish and birds, sun, moon and stars, dry land and plants,  clouds in the sky, and light to light the earth.
On the seventh day of creation the good Lord rested from His work, animals and man, fish and birds, sun, moon and stars, dry land and plants, clouds in the sky, and light to light the earth.

Creation Day 1 - Light and Darkness Craft and Activity Ideas

1.  Make a Scratch-Art Picture - Melt black crayons in a 250 degree oven. Using a wide paint brush quickly paint the melted crayon onto the smooth side of a piece of finger paint paper so that it covers the surface.  Have the children use craft sticks to rub off the black crayon and make a picture. If this is too messy for you, you can buy Scratch-Art paper from a craft store.  When the children scratch the black surface of the paper with a wooden tool beautiful colors appear.

2. Cut and sort day and night pictures - To emphasize God made the day and night make a paper that is half black and half white or blue.  Write “day” on the white side and “night” on the dark side.   Have the children color and cut out the pictures, and glue them onto the correct side of the black and white paper.  Day and Night Pictures - (Large file or Small file)

Creation Story Ideas from the Bulletin Board - sent in by Bethany

Some of the easiest and most popular crafts my class did for the creation story involved nothing more than paper and crayons! Here's a sample lesson plan:

Gathering time: 15 minutes, coloring pages - animals, people, birds, fish, etc. You can get these from Internet printout sites or  regular coloring books.

Story time: 5-10 minutes, read creation story, emphasis on first part of story, God made the earth and the moon and the sun and the sky.

Object lesson: 2 minutes - Let There Be Light! We all sat in a circle on the floor. We talked about God making the sun so we could  have light. Then I told them I was going to turn off the lights in the classroom so it would be dark, like before God made the sun. When I turned the lights back on we all yelled "LET THERE BE LIGHT!" This went over HUGE, I was really surprised. I had to do it about ten times before we could move on.

Activity: 15 minutes, sun, moon and stars mobile - You'll need crayons, construction paper already cut into the necessary shapes, yarn, plastic  or wire coat hangers (or you can make hangers out of paper towel tubes and  yarn), safety scissors and some Elmers glue. Be sure to make each piece of yarn a different length so the mobile looks more interesting.

After we finished all the activities and stories, we watched a short video, I think it  was something taped off of  PBS aimed at really young children about the sun and stars and moon. I also had a large sheet of paper taped to the wall for them to color on while watching the movie - we used only yellow and blue and silver crayons to draw stars and the sun and the moon.

Note that I didn't find any of my materials from a curriculum, and I used materials that can be found laying around your own house. We do just about everything this way as we are pretty small ourselves and don't have a budget for the children's programs yet.
Thanks, Bethany, for taking the time to share with us.

Creation Day 3 - God made the Earth and Seas Activity Ideas

1. Play a Sink and Float Game - To emphasize God made water, play a "sink or float"  game. Give each child a small object and have them guess if it will sink or float. Then have the children take turns dropping their objects into a see through bowl to see if they were correct in their guess

Creation Day 3 - God Made the Earth and Seas Bible Lesson on The Resource Room - The following ideas come from The Resource Room. Creation Day 3 - Crafts: 1. Make a "3D Sea and Land Picture" with water that separates from the land -  Children put hand soap or dish soap, food coloring, and glitter into a storage bag and staple it over a picture of the earth. They press on the bag to separate the water from the land.  Directions and a pattern for this craft are available on The Resource Room. 2. Color a frame for a creation picture - Directions and patterns for this craft are available on The Resource Room. Children color the frame and add decorative items such as fake gems or glitter, then glue the pictures to the middle of the frame. Creation Day 3 - Activities: 1. Study a Globe - (Older children) Bring in a globe of the world and have the children find things on the globe like where they live, different continents and oceans. If you have two globes you can break the children up into teams and see which team can find something first. If you don't have a globe you can use a world map. If you don't have a globe you can use a world map. 2. Play a Review Game with a Die - Before class print out the die (or make one) onto card stock (A pattern for the die is available on The Resource Room), cut it out and glue it together. Have your children sit in a circle and take turns throwing the die. The child who throws the die should say what the picture that is facing up represents and on what day it was created. If the child gets it right, he gets the designated points (see below.) The child with the most points wins. If you have very young children, don't keep score. White - Light - Day 1 - 1 Point Blue - Sky - Day 2 - 2 Points Water - Seas - Day 3 - 3 Points Say the Bible Verse - 3 Points Name one animal that lives on land - 3 Points Landscape Picture - Ground - Day 3 - 3 Points 3. Play a Globe Game - Remind your children that the oceans are very important to us, and that they cover about two-thirds of the earth. Have your children line up in a row behind a globe. Blindfold a child and spin the globe. Have the child place his or her finger on the globe. When the child has picked a place on the globe remove his blindfold and show him where his finger landed. If it landed on dry land, he gets a snack. If it landed on water, he has to go to the back of the line and try again. Keep playing until all the children have a snack. (If you don't have a globe you can use a map of the world.) A complete lesson is available on The Resource Room Copyright Notice - Even though many of the crafts and ideas on this site are free, they are still copyrighted. They are for personal use only. They may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, except for local church, school, library, or home use only. It is illegal to copy this material and publish it on another web site even if you include the copyright notice. You must have permission to copy the material. To request permission to copy this material for any other use contact me by email.

Creation Day 3 - God made the Plants, Trees, and Flowers Craft and Activity Ideas

1. Make a place mat using contact paper - Have the children drop pieces of grass, flowers, etc. onto the contact paper. When they are done, put a piece of paper on top that says "God created the flowers, trees, and grass" and then place another piece of contact paper on top.

2.  Make a pipe cleaner and foam ball flower - Fill a tiny clay pot with old play dough. Insert a  green pipe cleaner with a foam ball at the end. Have the children add 1" pipe cleaner pieces to the ball to make flowers.  The children loved this craft and wanted to make more than one.  It  is fairly inexpensive. I found 12 tiny clay pots for $2.00  at Wal-Mart. To make it even cheaper, use communion cups

3.  Show pictures of flowers - Bring in a coffee table book about flowers or trees.  Show the children all the beautiful flowers.  Have them guess the names and tell them interesting facts about the flowers. If you don’t know much about flowers jot down some notes ahead of time. You can ask them how they think a certain flower got it’s name. For example, Fireweeds got their name because they are one of the first flowers to bloom after a fire or Elephant Flowers are called Elephant Flowers because they have a petal that looks like a trunk, etc. Emphasize how God created so many different and beautiful flowers for us to enjoy.

4. Play a flower or tree identification game - Cut out at least five pictures of flowers or trees (the older the children the more pictures you should use and the harder the flowers should be to identify). Glue each picture onto a separate piece of construction paper. Tell the children that you are going to play an identification game ahead of time and that they need to listen closely to the names of the flowers.  Show them one picture at a time, tell them the name of the flower and have them repeat it, and then tell them some interesting facts about the flower that will help them remember the name. For example, you could show them a picture of a Lady’s Slipper and point out how it looks like a shaped like slipper. 

Creation Day 3 - God Made the Plants Bible Lesson on The Resource Room - The following ideas come from The Resource Room. Creation Day 3, Plants - Crafts: 1. Identify seeds - Bring in a bunch of different kinds of seeds from fruits and vegetables you eat, dried beans, or collect some from your garden.  Place them all on the table and see how many of the seeds the children can identify.  You can also bring in leaves from different plants and see how many they can identify. Comment about how amazing the seeds and plants, and that only God could create something so amazing. 2. Look at pictures of plants - Bring in pictures of trees and plants from the library.  Ask the children if they know the names of the plants.  Find out interesting things about the plants (like how long they live, how high they grow, how they got their name, etc.) and share them with your children. Comment about how amazing the plants are, and that only God could create something so amazing. 3. Make a Creation Picture of Flowers and Seeds - (A pattern for this craft is available to members of The Resource Room.) Collect different types of seeds. I used a package of mixed, dried beans. You can also use popcorn, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, grass seed, seeds from flowers you have in your garden or from fruits and vegetables you eat that week. In class have your children color the picture and then glue seeds onto the picture to finish. (Do not use seeds with children under 3 years old.) 4. Decorate a Frame for a Creation Picture - (A pattern for this craft is available to members of The Resource Room.) Children glue a Bible verse and seeds to the frame and add a creation picture. (Available to members). (Do not use seeds with children under 3 years old.) 5. Make a Sunflower and Seeds Picture - (A pattern for this craft is available to members of The Resource Room.) In class have your children color the picture and glue sunflower seeds to the middle of the flower. (Do not use seeds with children under 3 years old.) 6. Make a "Designed by God" Picture - A few days before class collect a bunch of flowers and leaves. Press them between the pages of a book and waxed paper. Print out copies of the "Designed by God" page onto blue paper. (A pattern for this craft is available to members of The Resource Room.) In class have your children glue the flowers to the page. If you have very young children, you can use flower stickers instead.   Creation Day 3 , Plants - Activities: 1. Play a guessing game - Bring in some different fruits that have big seeds like apples, oranges, cucumbers, etc.  Ask the children to guess how many seeds are inside the fruit.  Cut the fruit open and take out the seeds and count them.  Cut up the fruit so the children can eat it. 2. Play a Review Game with a Die - Before class print out the die onto card stock (A pattern for this activity is available to members of The Resource Room.), cut it out and glue it together. Give each child a sunflower picture (A pattern for this activity is available to members of The Resource Room.) and some crayons. Have them sit in a circle and take turns throwing the die. The child who throws the die should say what the picture that is facing up represents and on what day it was created. If the child gets it right, he gets to color in that many petals on his sunflower picture. The child who colors in all the petals first wins. White - Light - Day 1 - 1 Petal Blue - Sky - Day 2 - 2 Petals Water - Seas - Day 3 - 3 Petals Trees - Day 3 - 3 Petals Flowers - Day 3 - 3 Petals Landscape Picture - Ground - Day 3 - 3 Petals 3. Seeds - A week or two before class place some lima beans in a plastic bag with a paper towel and some water and place them in a dark place.  Do this everyday of the week. On Sunday bring in the seeds and have the children place them in order according to which was planted first. Have the children draw the different stages of the plant growing starting with a dry bean through the time the leaves are forming.  Talk about the different parts of the seed. Or soak  lima bean seeds in small amount of water and a paper towel a couple of days before class. Bring the seeds to class and have the children open the seed and draw what they see inside. 4. Make a leaf rubbing collage and then paint it with watercolors. Bring in different kinds of leaves, ones that hold up well. Have the children place the leaves under a piece of paper and use a crayon to rub over the leaves. When they are finished have them paint over the rubbings with watercolor paints.  When the picture is completely dry write, "God created the plants." on the paper. 5. Make a bulletin board display - Bring in books about plants.  Have each child pick a plant they would like to learn more about.  Have the child read about the plant and write some things they learned about it and also draw a picture of the plant.  Have the children share what they have learned in class and then staple their pictures on a bulletin board with the word, "God created the Plants" at the top of the board.  If you don't have much time, you can just have the children draw a plant from memory or you can have them look at plant pictures and draw what they see.  6. Make a book - Have each child draw a picture of their favorite plant and then read about their plant and write what they have learned about the plant on the bottom of the page. If you have older children, they may enjoy making a book for younger children to read.  Have them start each page with the same words like, "God made . . ." Pick some children to read the book to the younger children in your church or give it to a teacher who teaches the younger children to read to her class. If you are using this lesson to teach beginning readers, have each child make a page to the book using the same words, "God made . . ." and then help them to spell the kind of plant they drew.  Staple all the pages together and have the children help you read the book altogether.   7. Read God's Oak Tree by Allia Zobel Nolan This beautifully illustrated book is a great way to teach your children about God's Plan for the whole world. It tells the story about how God planned for a tiny acorn to become a mighty oak tree and produce more or its kind. As you turn the pages the acorn gradually disappears and a tree appears.   8. Color a Picture of an Acorn with a Poem - Before class print out copies of the following poem. Be What You Were Meant to Be Written by Carolyn Warvel I’m just a little acorn way up in a tree I may not seem important, but God has a plan for me. Someday I may become the tree inside of me. You don’t have to worry about what you cannot see. Just put your trust in Jesus because he is the key. He’ll help you to become the person you were meant to be. ©2007, Digital by Design, Inc. -* See Copyright Information Leave room on the paper for your children to draw a picture of an acorn. (A pattern for this craft is available to members on The Resource Room.) In class have your children draw a picture of an acorn to go along with the poem. You can also make a frame for the picture by cutting off the sides and gluing the picture to a piece of construction paper. Have your child glue fun foam leaf shapes all around the edge. (Problems Printing?) 9. Plant an Acorn or Other Seeds - Have your children plant acorns or other seeds in a paper cup with potting soil. Decorate the cup with stickers. 10. Look for Seeds - Take your children on a nature walk and look for plants that are producing seeds.   A complete lesson is available on The Resource Room

Creation Day 4 - God Made the Moon, Stars, and Sun Craft and Activity Ideas

1.  Make a simple mobile - Cut out sun, moon and star shapes. Have the children decorate them.  Tie them on to a paper plate or a large plastic lid with a hole cut out of the middle. Or you can get a little more complicated and use salt dough and cookie cutters for your shapes. Have the children decorate them with markers or paint.  For directions click here.

2. Play a day and night things identification game - Discuss how God made day and night and put the sun, moon, and stars in the sky and why we have night and day. Name some good things about both.  Like God gave us the day  and put the sun in the sky to warm up the earth.  We can go outside and play when it is light.  The sun helps the grass, trees, and flowers grow.  God gave us night so that we can rest.   He put the stars and moon in the sky so we could see at night. All that God made is beautiful.  And God saw that they were good. Fill a box full of things that you would use at night and some things that you would use during the day. For example, you could use slippers, pillow, teddy bear, alarm clock, bath robe, flash light, reading glasses, sun block, sun visor, shoes, Bible, etc. Show the children one item at a time and discuss what time of day you would use them. 

 3. Decorate cookies - Decorate cookies shaped like stars, moons, and suns with icing and sprinkles.  You can buy the icing already made or use the recipe below:

4. Draw an outline of a sun and a half moon on a sheet of paper - Have the children stick star stickers on the paper around the sun and moon outline.  Cut or tear about 3" squares of yellow tissue paper. Have the children wad up the tissue squares and touch them to some watered down white glue and stick the tissue paper wad to the sun and moon. Thanks, Donna, for sending in this craft idea.

Graham Cracker Stars

What you will need: Graham crackers, frosting dyed yellow, gumdrops

What to do:

1. Break a graham cracker rectangle in half to make two squares.

2. Frost one square with frosting dyed yellow (I bought lemon frosting in a can);

3. Frost the second square and put it at right angles to the first one so it forms an 8 pointed star.

4. Put on sprinkles if you wish. Top with a spicy gumdrop to signify the spices brought by the
wise men.

Borax Stars

What you will need: Borax found in the laundry detergent section of your store, pipe cleaners, wooden craft stick or other stick, a quart canning jar with a wide mouth, and string.

What to do:

1. Bend the pipe cleaner into an interesting shape like a star or heart.

2. Tie a string to the top of your shape and then tie the end of the string to a stick. Make sure the string is just long enough so that when you place the stick across the top of the jar the pipe cleaner shape will hang down into the jar but not touch the bottom.

3. Fill the jar with boiling water. Mix the Borax into the water a tablespoon at a time. You will need about three tablespoons per cup of water. Keep mixing Borax until you notice that the Borax isn’t dissolving and is settling on the bottom of the jar.

4. Place the stick across the top of the jar so that the pipe cleaner shape hangs down into the Borax solution. Set the jar aside overnight and do not disturb it until morning. In the morning you should have a beautiful crystallized pipe cleaner shape.

5. You can add beads to the top of your crystallized shape and hang a piece of paper with the words “Let there be Light” from the bottom of the shape.

©2007, Digital by Design, Inc. -* See Copyright Information

Creation Day 4 - "Light of the World " Bible Lesson on The Resource Room - The following ideas come from The Resource Room . Creation Day 4 - Crafts: 1. Make an "I am the light of the World" Sundial from a paper plate and clay. (A pattern for this craft is available to members of The Resource Room.) Go to Crafts page 19 for directions. 2. Make an "I am the light of the World" Sun Catcher - (A pattern for this craft is available to members of The Resource Room.) Go to Crafts Page 19 for directions. 3. Make a star necklace - Have your children make star necklaces using General Mills Fruity Stars Cereal and thin braiding cord, or cord used to make necklaces. 4. Make a Sun, Moon, and Star Picture - Before class print out the craft page and make copies. In class have your children color the picture and then glue on cereal stars, or use star stickers. (A pattern for this craft is available to members of The Resource Room.) Oriental Trading Company has iridescent fabric stars 300 for $1.19 (Type in 48/2129 in the search box at the top of the page.) and prism star stickers - 9/216 - $2.49 for 100 stickers   Creation Day 4 - Activities 1. Play a Sun and Planets Bible Verse Review Game -  Before the game explain to the children that all the planets revolve around the sun.  The sun is the center of our universe and Jesus should be in the center of our lives.  Tell them that they are going to play a game and that if they are picked by the "sun", they will need to come up with one way they can make Jesus the center of their lives. Have an adult be the "sun". The children will be the "planets" that revolve around the sun.  Have them make a circle around the "sun". Play some music as the children walk around the "sun". Stop the music after a short period of time. The "sun" lifts up his right arm and points straight out like a hand on a clock. The child that is closest to his arm must say the Bible verse. He then gets a snack and goes back to his seat. Keep playing until all the children have been picked. Or you can have the child say one thing about why he is glad God made the sun, moon, or stars. For example, he may say, "I'm glad God made the star because they are so beautiful. 2. Keep the Stars in the Sky Balloon Game - Before class blow up some blue balloon and draw stars on them with a permanent ink marker. Give your children balloons and tell them to hit the balloons up in the air and try to keep the stars in the sky. You can also break the children up into teams and have them hit the balloon back and forth. See which team can do it the longest without dropping the balloon. If you have young children that are afraid of balloons, you can use inflatable balls. Oriental Trading Company has inflatable balls with stars on them for $9.95 for 12 balls. (Type in 49/168 in the search box at the top of the page.) Or you can buy balls and draw stars on them. Have your children toss the balls back and forth.) 2. Star Wars Bible Verse Review Game - Before class print out the playing cards. In class give each child at least one card. Have your children line up in two rows with a table at the front of the room. Have the first two children place their cards down on the table. The child who has the highest card wins both cards. He must read or repeat the part of the Bible verse that is on the highest card, and then goes to the back of the line. If a child looses all his cards he must sit down. The child places the cards he wins underneath the cards that are already in his hands. He may not look at the cards once they are in his pile. Have the next two children in line place the card on top of their pile on the table. The child who has the highest card wins both cards. If the cards are of the same value, no one wins and they keep their cards. Keep playing until one child has all the cards or for a specified amount of time. Then see who has the highest score. (A pattern for this activity is available to members of The Resource Room.) A complete lesson is available on The Resource Room ©2007, Digital by Design, Inc. -* See Copyright Information .

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Creation Day 5 - God Made the Fish Craft and Activity Ideas

 1. Use two pieces of blue construction paper. Cut waves in the top  sheet with decorative scissors, glue it on top of the second sheet.  Have the children color and cut out fish, boat, and sea animals.  They can then insert the objects into the water. For complete instructions see the Under the Sea Page.  Print at the top of the page, "God made the water." 

Make a see through fish bowl with fish using construction paper and a plastic sandwich bag. See instructions on the Under the Sea Page.

2. Glue goldfish crackers onto blue paper waves.

©2007, Digital by Design, Inc. -* See Copyright Information

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Creation Day 5 and 6 - God Made the Animals Craft and Activity Ideas

1.  Paint animal plaster of Paris casts with water colors - You can find molds in the cake decorating section, or use the molds used for playing in the sand. You can make these for less than 30 cents each if they are small.

2. Pipe Cleaner Animals - Have the children make animals out of different sizes of foam balls and pipe cleaners.

3.  Animal Rubber Stamps - Use animal rubber stamps and have the children make a picture on paper.  Caution:  Younger children will want to stamp everything including their clothes, faces, and their friends.   Use something to cover their clothes and keep a good watch on them.  Make sure you use only kid safe ink!

4.   Play an animal riddle game - Describe an animal and have the children guess what it is.

5. Identify Pictures - Tear animal pictures out of nature magazines and glue them onto pieces of construction paper. Show the pictures to the children one by one and ask them if they can identify each picture.  After they identified the picture ask them if God created whatever is in the picture.   Emphasize all the wonderful and different animals God created.

©2007, Digital by Design, Inc. -* See Copyright Information

Creation Day 5 and 6 - God Made the Animals Bible Lesson on The Resource Room - The following ideas come from The Resource Room . Creation Day 5 and 6 - Crafts: 1. Make an "Everything God has Made is Good" Spider and Spider Web - This little spider is holding the Bible verse that says, "And Godsaw all that he had made, and behold, it was very good". Remind children that even spiders and other slimy, scary animals are good. Go to Crafts Page 22 for directions. 2. Make animal masks - Make fun foam masks from Oriental Trading Company. Go to the Oriental Trading web site and type in "animal masks" in the search box at the top of the page. They cost about 33 cents each. Or you can buy animal shaped paper plates from Wal-Mart or other department store. Before class cut out the eyes and glue a craft stick to the bottom of the plate so the children can hold the "mask" in front of their faces. 3. Make paper bag animal puppets - Provide pictures of animals, different colors of paper bags, construction paper, feathers, pipecleaners, markers, crayons, tape, glue, scissors and googly eyes. Have your children pick an animal and decorate a paper bag to look like that animal. Make several examples for your children to get an idea of what they will be making. If you have very young children who can't cut, precut everything and just help them glue the puppet together. Oriental Trading Company has some cute paper bag puppet kits. Go to www.orientaltrading.com and type in "paper bag puppets" in the search box. They also have colored paper bags. You can buy 144 bags of different colors for $12.95. To find them, type in "paper bags" in the search box. 4. Day Five and Day Six Activity Sheet - Children glue the pictures onto the correct side of the sheet. (A pattern for this activity is available on The Resource Room.) Creation Day 5 and 6 - Activities 1. Identify animals - Bring in pictures of animals; some that are easy to identify and some that are hard to identify. Cut them from old nature magazines. (If you don't have any, you can probably find some at a used store. You can also get books from the library and just show them pictures from the books.) Have a contest to see who can identify the most animals. Hold up the pictures and have the children see if they can name them. If you have older children, you can also ask them in which country or countries they can find the animal. 2. Play "find your mate" - Print out the cards and hand one out to each child. Make sure that you give out two of each animal. If you have an odd number of children use a helper to be one of the animals. Pass out a card to each child. Tell your children not to show anyone their card. Tell the children that on the word "go" they should pretend to be the animal on the card they received by moving like or making the sound of that animal. They must travel around the room looking for the other person in the class that is pretending to be the same animal as they are. When they find the matching animal they are to sit down next to him or her and wait until all the children have found their match. 3. Make a mural or bulletin board display of animals that God created - Have each child draw a picture of their favorite animal and staple them to the bulletin board. Add a title and the Bible verse. 4. Show and Tell - A week before class send a note home to each parent telling them that your class will be talking about the creation of animals and that each child should bring in a stuffed animal, a toy animal, or a picture of an animal (or a pet in cage) to show the class. Tell them that the children will be asked to tell why they like the animal or to tell something about the particular animal they brought. Have someone take a video of the children as they share. Show the video to the children and to the parents as they come to pick up their children. ©2007, Digital by Design-* See Copyright Information A complete lesson is available on The Resource Room

Creation Day 6 - God Made Man

1. Make gingerbread man cookies and have the children decorate them to look like themselves.  Have the children decorate cookies using tubes of frosting in different colors, and candy such as M&M’s, licorice, chocolate chips, skittles, etc. Encourage them to make them look like themselves.  Admire their creations and discuss how unique and wonderfully made each child is.

2.   Make life-size self-portraits - Tape big pieces of butcher paper (paper used to cover bulletin boards) about 2 feet wide, one next to the other, on the wall. Before class write the scripture verse “I am fearfully and wonderfully made,” Psalm 139:14,  on each sheet of paper. Have each child stand in front of the paper and outline his or her body onto the paper and then let them color it.  When they are finished roll them up and tape them closed so they can take them home.

3.  TP Roll Noodle Neighbors -  Use this simple puppet craft to talk to children about how wonderful God made people. Talk about how God created us all different according to his plan and how he loves everyone no matter what color they are, or how big or small they are, etc.

4. Make a face on a rich tea biscuit using icing and sweets for the eyes. Use shoelace licorice shoelace for mouth.

God Made Me
( Tune of The Farmer in the Dell)

Slap your thighs and clap your hands as you sing it.
God made me, God made me, God made everything and God made me. (Go around the room and use each child's name.) God made Dustin, God made Dustin, God made everything and God made Dustin.
Then have them tell you something they do well and sing the song again.
God made me a helper, God made me a helper, God made everything and God made me a helper.

Children love songs that have their name in them or something about them. They love the attention, it connects the concept or lesson to them, and they pay attention better because they are a part of what is going on. This idea was sent in by Narita Roady

©2007, Digital by Design, Inc. -* See Copyright Information

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Go to Festivals and Outreach Ideas for more craft and game activities.

Links

MSSS Crafts - This site has a lot of great ideas and lots of links to other site with lessons and craft ideas for the Creation Theme.

The Perpetual Preschool - You will find creation songs, snacks, art, science, games, and other fun ideas on this site.