Unit 1: Lesson 1 CREATION

1) Welcome Activity... set out one of these and let the kids explore:
* Animals... a bucket of plastic animals
* Puppets... animal puppets (props for sun, moon, stars, tree, plants would be helpful too)
* Felt board figures... animals, etc

2) Songs... Sing the welcome song with the children.

There are lots of cute songs to teach the children about creation, too. Here is one:
Creation Song (recite or sing to the tune of I'm a Little Teapot)

God made day and God made night,He split the darkness from the light.God made you and God made me,And God made the animals A thru Z.

God made the seas and the dry land too,He made the flowers and the sky so blue.God made you and God made me,And God made the animals A thru Z.

God made the stars shining way up high,He made the birds and put them in the sky.God made you and God made me,And God made the animals A thru Z.

God made the sun and God made the moon,He made the ants and the silly baboon.God made you and God made me,And God made the animals A thru Z.

Here is another: (sung to the tune of "Frere Jacques")

• God created: God created Night and Day: Night and Day That was on the first day: That was on the first day, It was good: It was good.
• God created: God created, Sky and Clouds: Sky and Clouds That was on the second day: That was on the second day It was good: It was good.
• God created: God created, Land and Plants: Land and Plants That was on the third day: That was on the third day, It was good: It was good.
• God created: God created, Sun, Moon, and Stars: Sun, Moon, and Stars That was on the fourth day: That was on the fourth day It was good: It was good.
• God created: God created, Birds and Fish: Birds and Fish That was on the fifth day: That was on the fifth day It was good: It was good.
• God created: God created, Creatures on Land: Creatures on Land People too! People too! That was on the sixth day: That was on the sixth day It was good: It was good
• Then God rested: Then God rested From His work: From His work. That was on the seventh day: That was on the seventh day All was good: All was good.
• Let’s sing praises: Let’s sing praises To our God: To our God He is everywhere, giving love and care God is good: God is good God is Good.

3) Prayer... pray with the children to begin the lesson. Remember to thank God for the beautiful world that He has made. Thank God for the marvelous way our bodies are created!

4) Theme: Talk to the children about the theme of the unit: God works among his covenant people to prepare the world for the Savior. Hebrews 12:1&2 “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us… look to Jesus.” Tell them that they are going to hear a Bible Story today that shows how God created a perfect world and placed his people in it. God had a plan for his people before the world was even make.

5) Bible Story: Read "The First Seven Days" , pages 3-8 (R 8-13) from the Read and Learn Bible (Scholastic).

6) Text: Today’s Text is:
“ And God saw everything that he had made and, behold, it was very good.” Genesis 1:31

7) Craft:

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  Creation Mobile (Group Craft): Use a large pie plate for the center of your mobile. Print today’s text on a star shape and hang it in the center of the mobile. Around the outside of plate, hang pictures of all the things God created. You can provide the children with pictures to color and decorate or they can draw their own. Hang in the Story Hour area.
  Materials Required: large pie plate, pictures or coloring paper, crayons/markers, string, hole punch, glue and scissors, decorating materials: yarn, fabric, paper scraps, glitter, stickers, etc.
  

My 8 year old made this on his own as a sample, so you get the idea. For younger children, I would suggest that you print a number of pictures on heavier paper (like cardstock) and have them just color the pictures. If you have a lot of children in your group, print out two of every picture and glue them back to back.

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  There are a lot of great animal, flower and fruit and vegetable coloring pages to be found for free here: www dot dltk-kids dot com/animals/index; www dot coloring dot ws/flowers; www dot coloring dot ws/fruit; www dot coloring.ws/rainbow (...copy and paste the links into your browser to search them)

• God made Me, too! Give each child a sheet of paper with the shape of a person on it. I just drew a basic gingerbread style person because it was easy and gender neutral. Talk about how God created each and every one of us- we are all like Adam and Eve and we are all special. God made us, too! Have the children decorate their paper person so that it looks like them – hair, eyes, skin, clothes, etc. Use can use only crayons/markers, like I did on the boy. Or you can cut out clothes from different patterned papers ahead of time and let the children chose how to dress their person. I did this one time and the kids really enjoyed matching up clothes... or should I say "mis-matching" :-) This is especially helpful if your groups contains are larger proportion of little ones.
  Materials Required: crayons/ markers, glue and scissors, decorating materials: yarn for hair, fabric for clothing, paper scraps, glitter, stickers, etc.
  If this is your first lesson, you may want to have each child do two pictures of themselves; one to take home and one to hang on your bulletin board!

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  God Made Me! Wooden Puppet... if you can find these simple wooden puppet sticks (available in boy and girl versions), this makes a great alternate the the above craft.  Using the instructions from the above craft, allow the children to decorate a puppet to look like themselves...

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  God Made Everything Plate:  You'll need:white paper plate, scissors, blue and green paint, paint brushes, glue, magazines to cut out pictures from (or stickers) and a picture of each child. First of all, paint the paper plates blue and green to represent the earth. Next, while the plates are drying, have children cut out pictures from magazines to show all the wonderful things that God has created, ie... animals, trees, flowers, people, clouds, sun, stars ect...Have the children glue these pictures on the earth plate.Next, in the middle of the plate, glue a picture of the child to show that God created you, too!!

Scared to paint on Sunday? I found these paint dabbers in a school supply catelogue. They are non-drippy, super quick to dry, easy to use, and wash out like a dream!

• The Days of Creation... print out a simple chart outlining the days of creation and guide the children in coloring an appropriate picture in each box.  The older children (mature 4's and the 5's) really enjoyed this and spent a lot of time on careful pictures, but if your group leans towards 3's and 4's, you will need to provide small pictures and/or stickers for them to glue in each space instead. 

8) Closing Prayer... Gather the children up around the table or in your circle. If you have time, this is a good opportunity to read the story one more time. Then, close by say the Lord's Prayer together.

9) Going Home: Sing the closing song together. Then, check to see if all the children have collected their crafts and coloring sheets before they go home. Say goodbye and tell them that you enjoyed learning about God together and were happy to have them today! You were, weren’t you?

Optional Activity Page: (free from dltk-bible dot com)

Special Lesson - EASTER

1) Welcome Activity:

• a basket full of empty plastic eggs makes an interesting conversation starter, especially if you choose the Hollow Egg craft

2) Sing: Gather the children into a circle to begin the lesson. Sing the opening song to welcome all the children and get to know their names. You may choose 2 or 3 others from the song collection as well. This will help the children to settle down and focus them on what you are going to do that day.

3) Prayer: Pray together with the children to begin the hour. Take the time to ask the children is there is anything or anyone that they want to pray for/about.

4) Theme: Today’s Story is about the special celebration of Easter. Easter is not about chocolate and treats and Easter bunnies. Easter is about Jesus our Savior rising from the dead to save us from all of our sins. This is a very special celebration because it means that we belong to God. He redeemed us.

5) Bible Story: Read "A Joyful Sunday" pages 435-442 (R.442-449) from the Read and Learn Bible (Scholastic).

6) Today's Text: " He is not here; He has risen, just as he said." Matthew 28:6a

7) Craft:

• The Empty Tomb: Before the lesson, cut out a stone tomb shape for each child out of black/grey construction paper, and a smaller rock shape for each child. Have each child color an angel with yellow/silver or gold. Cut out the angel and glue him in the center of the tomb. Place the rock over the angel and attach at the top with a brad, so that the stone can be “rolled away”. When the craft is assembled, tell the story to the children with the craft in hand. When the women approach the tomb, they find the stone rolled away and an angel tells them, “He is not here; he has risen, just as he said.” Matthew 28:6a.
  

Sample of Craft w/ rock in front, and rock "rolled away":

• Hollow Egg Easter basket...  This craft requires a bit of an older crowd (perfect for 4-5 year olds) as it requires higher level thinking to make connections.  Before you tell the story, show the children some hollow plastic eggs.  Let them touch them and shake them - what do they think is inside?  Then, let them open the eggs.  There is nothing inside - they are empty!  Put the eggs away and then read the story... emphasizing the tomb being empty.  Hand the eggs back to the children and ask - what does the egg have to do with the story?  Open the egg to illustrate that it too is empty just like the tomb on Easter morning!  Let them decorate a simple basket made with a brown paper lunch bag trimmed in half with a construction paper handle stapled (not taped) at the top.  Fill the baskets with fake grass if you like, and let each child pick out several empty eggs to put in the basket.  Our kids couldn't wait to show the eggs to their moms and dads - "guess what's in this egg, Mom?" one child asked excitedly as soon as his mom walked in the door.  "Nothing!  Just like Jesus tomb on Easter Morning," he announced without waiting for a reply.  :-)

• Hollow Egg coloring picture...  can be used as a companion craft to the Easter Basket above.  Glue on the text and allow the children to color/decorate the egg.

8) Closing prayer: say the Lord's prayer together with the children.

9) Going Home: After you pray, sing the closing together. Then, check to see if all the children have collected their crafts and coloring sheets before they go home. Say goodbye and tell them that you enjoyed learning about God together and were happy to have them today! You were, weren’t you?

10) Optional Coloring Page:

Our Story Bible

All page references are based on the "Read and Learn Bible" by scholastic. We like this story bible because:

• the stories are told clearly and accurately without too much commentary or interpretation. This is true for the majority of stories, but not all. Some discretion is advised. Some leaders like to tell the story at the beginning of the lesson and read from the Story Bible at the end of the lesson.
• the pictures are bright and colorful, without being too "cartoony". The people are dressed in ancient eastern clothing (not modern/western).
• the stories are short and simply told - just about as long as a 3 year old in a group can sit and listen!
• each Bible story includes reference texts (for example: Ten Men are Healed, Luke 17:11-19) so that the leader can easily read the relevant passage to prepare for telling the story.
• the story bible in inexpensive (less than $20) and widely available

NOTE: I just bought a new copy and discovered that they have revised it in 2008. Happily, I like the revised version even better. It corrects a few of the omisions from the older version. Unhappily, now all of my page numbers are out of wack. I hope that this doesn't cause too much confusion! Just match the story topic and you're a-ok!

By the way -feel free to use your own favorite Story Bible. The lessons are in no way restricted to this version and using another story Bible is as simple as just matching up the lesson topics and off you go!