Stop for a moment and think about the world around you. If you are in a rural area, can you see trees, streams, rocks, or hills? If you are in a town or city, do you see animals and people? Look up at the sky. Is it clear or are there clouds? Has it rained recently? Can you see the stars at night? Do you hear birds singing or cattle calling? Do you hear the bustle of people going about their daily lives? All of this, the entire world and every living creature in it, has been created by our amazing God!
Take a moment to join the multitudes of heaven and worship God for who He is. Praise God for all that He has blessed you with. Praise Him for His presence in your life. Praise Him for providing for your needs, even if you do not always see His provision. Praise Him for the gift of teaching these children. When we stop what we are doing and think about our amazing God and what He has done, the praises will begin to flow out of us.
Family Connection: Encourage the families to take a few minutes to look around and appreciate God’s amazing creation with their children. They might thank God for the beautiful sky, for air to breathe, or for anything they find in nature. Praising God together builds strong family ties!
Teacher Tip: If possible, email or text the Family Connection Card to the families of your students.
LESSON TIME
1. Connecting: Imagine new creatures and review how God created an amazing world.
Ask each child to share a “high five moment” from the past week—something the children were happy about, excited to see, or encouraged by. As they share, give each one a high five. Your interest in their days communicates that you care about them and will help them build relationships in this class.
Teacher Tip: Several activities recently asked you to allow the children to sit on the floor or stand in a circle. If you have a place to do this, rather than having the children sit at desks, great! This curriculum is not another school class. It is more of a “life” class where children practice what it means to love Jesus in their daily lives.
If possible, ask the children to sit in a circle on the ground or floor, and go around the circle asking each child to name an animal that God made and one special feature about that animal. Share an example such as this: “God made cows. One special thing about cows is that they give us milk.” Or “God made sheep. One special thing about sheep is that they give us wool for warm clothes.” Go around the circle several times.
To help the children begin thinking about the many things God created, divide into groups of 3. Explain that each group will imagine a new creature. Have each group talk about what their new creature looks like (how big the creature is, whether it has fur, how many legs, etc.), what it sounds like (does it screech or chirp like a bird or roar like a lion, etc.) and what it acts like (does it swim in the ocean, fly like a bird, or run on land). Does it eat other animals or only plants? Is it gentle or wild?
Give the groups a few minutes to create their new creature, and then allow each group to share their new creature. Have them describe what it looks like and demonstrate its sounds and actions.
Optional Supplies: Give everyone a piece of paper and coloured pencils. Explain that each group will draw a new creature. On the top third of the paper, a child will draw a head of an imaginary animal, bird, or insect. She will then fold the paper under so the head she has drawn cannot be seen, but be sure that the end of the neck where it connects to the body can be seen. She will pass the paper to the next person in the group. That person draws the body, folds the paper, and marks where the legs attach. The third person draws legs or feet, tail, etc.
When everyone in the group has added to the creation, they will open their papers and look at them. Each group of 3 should show their “creations” to the rest of the class.
If you are using Student Pages, they can do this activity on their pages.
Reminder: All resources, including this Student Page, are available for download at the end of this lesson.
End of Option
Clap for the crazy animal creations. Ask the children to name other things God made that are useful and beautiful.
2. Teaching: Hear about how God created animals (Genesis 1:20–25; Psalm 104:24).
Teacher Tip: Many of the children in your group may accept our Christian God as just one more god among many gods. We certainly do not want that to happen. That is why we spend so much time emphasizing God’s creation. He is the only God, the one who created everything, the one who is above everything. Genesis clearly sets God apart from nature. This counters what some of your children may believe—that nature itself should be worshipped.
Listen now as we review more of the amazing things God did in creation.
After God made day and night and the world, He made the sky with the sun, moon, and stars. He made water and dry land with plants and trees. But something was missing. The earth was totally quiet. Nothing moved on the ground. Nothing moved in the air. Nothing moved in the water. What did God do? The Bible tells us.
If possible, read Genesis 1:20 directly from your Bible. Or you can read the verse as shown here.
And God said, “Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the vault of the sky.”
Genesis 1:20
The Bible tells us that God filled the water with fish and thousands of other creatures. Each one was different. There were colourful fish and plain fish. There were fish that lived in salt water and fish that lived in fresh water. There were even fish that could breathe air. How amazing each fish was! God made so many that even today people who explore oceans will sometimes see a fish no one has ever seen before.
God filled the world with birds—many different kinds! Some sang beautiful songs. Others made very loud noises that were not as pretty. Some had bright-coloured feathers. Others had feathers that blended in with nature. Some could fly very fast. Others could not fly at all (such as penguins). God created the fish and birds to have baby fish and baby birds just like themselves. He told them to fill up the water and sky, and they did.
That was the fifth day of creation, but God was not finished yet. He wanted to create more.
Optional: If you are using The Action Bible, have the children review the story on pages 17–20.
Read the following verse aloud:
And God said, “Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: the livestock, the creatures that move along the ground, and the wild animals, each according to its kind.” And it was so.
Genesis 1:24
They came in every shape and size. They came with every colour and noise. Some lived above the ground and some lived below the ground. Some could climb trees. Others could swim. Some lived in hot places and some in cold places. Only God knows how many animals He created. Scientists are still discovering new animals. In 2010, scientists discovered a 2-meterlong lizard that no one had ever seen before. It eats fruit and lives in the treetops in the Philippines. They also discovered a cat-sized, red-bearded monkey in Colombia, South America. When it is happy, it purrs like a kitten.
God created the animals to have babies just like themselves. Soon cows began to have calves. Giraffes began to have baby giraffes. Just as the fish and birds obeyed God, so did the animals.
Nothing happened by accident. God carefully made each animal to live in a certain place. God carefully planned the foods they would eat. He thought about the places they would live. And God knew that all He had made was good. God created so many different kinds of animals. Only an amazing God could create these amazing animals!
Memory Verse
Let the children know that you have a Bible verse that you think they would enjoy. It is Psalm 104:24.
How many are your works, Lord! In wisdom you made them all; the earth is full of your creatures.
Psalm 104:24
Reminder: All resources, including this Memory Verse poster, are available for download at the end of this lesson.
Have the children say this verse together 3 times. Suggest they read it every day this week from their Bibles if they have one and think about how wonderful God the Creator is. Discuss these questions. Allow 2–3 children to answer each one:
- What is your favourite fish or bird that God made on the fifth day?
- What is your favourite creature that God made on the sixth day?
- Why did God create all the creatures to have babies like themselves?
So there would always be that kind of animal on earth. God also planned creation and the earth to be orderly. God planned for nature to be orderly. So, lions give birth to baby lions and whales give birth to baby whales. Without this order, our world would be in chaos.
- Why do you think God created all the animals to look and act different from each other?
Ask several children to answer.
- What do animals show us about God?
Answers might include ideas like: He is creative, orderly, wise, and He likes variety!
3. Responding: Take a “Praise the Creator” walk to thank God for all He has created.
Adapt this fun activity to your own situation. Have the children walk around the building or a large outside area in groups of 3 or more. When they see something that God created, they should point to it and then put their heads together and all whisper, “Praise to our wonderful Creator.” Then they should say the phrase again in a normal voice and then one more time shouting it. Give them a few minutes for the walk.
Bring the class back together and ask them:
- What things did you praise our wonderful Creator for?
- How do you think it makes God feel when we praise Him for His creation?
- How do you think it makes Him feel when we forget to praise Him?
It is easy to praise God when we are all together like this and I tell you to do it. But what about other times when no one is telling you to praise God for what He has made? Will you do it on your own? Here is an idea. Every day this week, look for one special thing that God created, and tell Him how much you appreciate it. Think how happy this will make Him. He loves you, and when you thank Him without being told, that must make Him really, really happy.
Close by asking the children to say short prayers to God. Have everyone sit down in a circle. Begin by praying, “God, we praise You for being…” The children will take turns standing up and calling out 1 word, such as creative, powerful, or good, and quickly sitting back down. They may stand up and praise as many times as they wish.
End your class by praying this blessing based on Psalm 104:24, 31.
Blessing: May you each know that God made everything in wisdom, including you! May you know that He rejoices in you just as He does in all of creation!
If you have time, continue to share this song with your children to celebrate how great God is!
“How Great Is Our God” – https://youtu.be/vg5qDljEw7Q
Life on Life ©2020 David C Cook. Reproducible for home or classroom use only. All other uses require written permission from David C Cook. [email protected]. All rights reserved.
