Note to the parent or teacher: This is the first in a series of lesson plans to encourage the children’s appreciation for the beautiful world God has created and placed us in. To begin, here is a 45- to 60-minute lesson plan to supplement the first three classes of “The Creation of the World” series: “In the Beginning…,” “Dividing the Waters,” and “Dry Land Appears.” This could be one class or it could be divided into three classes if time is devoted to the art activities included. See the “*” denoting the two places where this lesson plan can be divided.
This highlights the lesson objectives:
Read “The Creation of the World: In the Beginning….”
Discuss with the children how God had to exist before creation in order to create the heavens and the earth as explained in the text.
Read Psalm 90:2, and 1 Timothy 1:17. (Alternatively, if you have time, you can listen to this song of 1 Timothy 1:17. The song is about 5 minutes long, and it may be better suited to listening to while doing one of the activities below.)
Explain to the children that in these passages the Bible answers the question that some people ask, “So when was God created?” The answer is that God has always been.
Read John 1:1–3.
Ask the children if according to these verses there would be anything if it wasn’t for God. Have them read John 1:3 again for its answer to this question.
Read John 1:4–14.
Ask the children who “the Word” was that was “made flesh” or “became flesh.” You can follow this up by encouraging them to explain why they think this is referring to Jesus. Read also Hebrews 1:2.
Discuss with the children the differences between nighttime and daytime, encouraging them to talk about their favorite attributes of these different times of a 24-hour period.
Read three or more of the following verses about God creating everything: Psalm 115:15, Psalm 124:8, Jeremiah 10:12, Jeremiah 32:17, Jeremiah 51:15, Isaiah 44:24, Romans 11:36, and Hebrews 3:4.
Color the “Coloring Page: The Creation of the World: In the Beginning… ,” or cut out and assemble “3D Picture: The Creation of the World: In the Beginning….”
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Read “The Creation of the World: Dividing the Waters.”
Explain to the children that the “waters above” can be considered another way of explaining the vastness above the sky as we observe it with the unassisted eye.
An example to help explain this wording would be how we say things such as “the sun rises in the morning and sets in the evening.” This doesn’t mean that the sun actually moves up and down. As we know, it has to do with the rotation of the earth that allows us to see the sun in this manner as if it’s rising and setting. This manner of description can be applied to the vastness that is far above the earth as being described as “waters above.”
Explain that the word “firmament” refers to an expanse. Therefore, in this case, it’s the expanse or large space that we see above us that was dividing the waters below from what is above and beyond what we can see with our eyes.
Talk about how water is so essential for all life that it is often referred to as the source of life. All living beings in our world need water for survival.
Read “What Is Water?” or for more scientific input, read “Why Does Life Need Water?” (Note: It’s important to read these articles first before presenting them to the children so that you are aware of sections you might wish to skip or be prepared to explain further. The video at the end of the second article is pretty much a repeat of the article itself, so you may want to choose to either read the article or watch the video. If you decide to show the video to the children, you will want to view it first to decide if you plan to show the entire video, only parts, or further discuss parts of it.)
Read 2 Peter 3:5 (for context, you can start reading at verse 3) where Peter talks about how water is an essential part of creation.
Color the “Coloring Page: The Creation of the World: Dividing the Waters,” or cut out and assemble “3D Picture: The Creation of the World: Dividing the Waters.”
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Read “The Creation of the World: Dry Land Appears.”
Ask the children what parts of the earth are dry and what areas are wet. After they list the obvious, such as oceans, lakes, land, or deserts, you can then encourage them to explore less obvious places, such as puddles or streams of water appearing after a rain, underground reservoirs or aquifers, mud (which is a combination of water and earth), etc.
Read Jeremiah 5:22 and Psalm 33:7.
Explore with the children what it would be like if the whole earth was still covered with water and there weren’t areas of land that were not under water.
Discuss with the children the assets of both the areas of the earth that are covered with water and of the areas that aren’t covered with water, such as land for the growing of plants, lakes and oceans for fish.
Read “God’s Amazing World.”
Read “When I Sat with Creation.” If you like, have the children stop for a minute or two, eyes closed, and meditate on the beauty of how we have both bodies of land and water in our world. You could even save this exercise to do later when outdoors. (See also “Coloring Page: When I Sat with Creation.”)
Color the “Coloring Page: The Creation of the World: Dry Land Appears,” or cut out and assemble “3D Picture: The Creation of the World: Dry Land Appears.”
Compiled by My Wonder Studio staff.Copyright © 2021 by The Family International