How God Created the World: Preschool Lesson Plan Ideas
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Giving Children Insights

Children are naturally curious and full of questions about everything from why the sky is blue, to how the elephant got his trunk. Satisfy their curiosity by teaching a lesson plan that can answer many of their questions about the beginning of the world in which they live. This ‘how God created the world’ lesson plan provides children with knowledge of the specific creations that occurred on each day. When you teach the creation story through activities, stories and art, children gain insight into the purpose God had for the world and his people.

Seven Days Of Creation Book

Let each child in your preschool class create a book of art to go with your lesson. Spread the project out over seven school days so it is not overwhelming for little artists. The project requires one piece of 9-by-12-inch white construction paper per child for each of the seven days. Each day, after the class has made the art project of the day, collect the papers and save them to put together the books at the end of the week.

Day One: On the first day of creation, God separated light from darkness. Draw a line from top to bottom in the center of the paper. Give each child one black crayon and one yellow crayon. Ask them to color one side yellow, as the light—then color the other side black, as the darkness.

Day Two: On the second day, God made the water and made a “space” to separate the water, called sky. Pass a piece of construction paper to each child in the class. Pour blue water color paint into a cup for each child. Let the children paint the papers with the blue watercolor paint. When the paint is dry, Give each child a rectangular piece of light blue tissue paper and a glue stick. Instruct the children to glue the tissue paper to the middle of the paper—to become the sky that separates the water.

Day Three: God made dry land and plants on the third day of the creation. Before class, cut several pieces of green and brown construction paper into strips for the children to later glue onto their papers as plants. Snip various other colors into smaller shapes that the class may use to create flowers or fruit in the trees. Pass the children their pieces of white construction paper. Squirt dollops of liquid school glue onto paper plates and let the children use a paintbrush to paint their paper with the glue. Provide the children with dry play-sand to sprinkle over the glue on their paper to make a representation of the “land” God created. When they are dry, give the children the colored construction paper pieces to glue onto the sandy page to represent the plants God created on the third day.

Day Four: On the fourth day of creation, God made the sun, stars and moon. Let the class color a night sky with blue and black markers on their construction paper. If you choose, substitute black or blue construction paper for the usual white on this day. Give each class member a yellow construction paper sun shape and a white construction paper “moon” to glue onto the paper with a glue stick. Pass out sheets of colored foil star stickers, available at office supply and teaching supply stores, for the children to stick onto their papers.

Day Five: God created the birds and fish on the fifth day. Draw a wavy blue line, across each child’s piece of construction paper today. Let the children color the lower half of the paper with blue crayons. Give the children foam fish shapes, available at dollar and craft stores, to stick to the “water” section of their paper. Give them colorful craft feathers, also found at dollar and craft stores, to glue to the top half with glue sticks or liquid glue.

Day Six: On the sixth day, God created animals and people. Give your preschoolers magazines from which to cut pictures of people. Do the cutting yourself, before class, if your children are not yet using scissors. Let them glue the pictures to their piece of construction paper. Pass a handful of animal crackers to each child and let them glue the crackers to their papers. Let your class know that you will give them animal crackers to munch after the papers are finished

Day Seven: God rested on the seventh day of creation. He blessed the day and made it holy. Let your class glue cotton balls to represent pillows to their paper. Give them pre-cut construction paper or foam letter “Z’s” to glue to the paper as a representation of sleeping/snoring.

To finish the book, punch three holes in each child’s papers and stack them in order. Tie yarn through the holes to secure the books. Send the books home with the children so they can “read” them to their families. Your class will be able to describe the creations of God on each of the seven days.

Music Time Ideas For Creation Theme

As with many preschool activities, music is a great way to reinforce the message of your ‘how God made the world’ lesson plan. Include familiar children’s songs in your circle time activities that go along with the overall creation theme, or that can be considered specific to one of the days of creation. Choose children’s classics–Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star, Mr. Golden Sun and Six Little Ducks.

The song, “He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands”, can be adapted to include events that occurred during a specific day of creation. Sing, “He’s got the light and the darkness in His hands” and “He made the water and the sky, in His Hands” for days one and two. Continue modifying the verses for the subsequent days—He’s got the land and the plants; the sun, moon and stars; the fish and the birds; the animals and people. For the last verse, sing “On the seventh day, God rested His hands.”

Dance, sing and play instruments along with a children’s worship CD. Your local library is a source for the music, or find a CD at a Christian store. Do this every day, or save it for a special music time activity reserved for day seven, when God rested and made the day holy so people could worship Him.

Activity Ideas For Creation Theme

Nature Walk: Take your class outside for a walk to observe the beauty of God’s creation. Bring a bucket to hold natural treasures like leaves, sticks and stones. Encourage your class to use their ears as well as their eyes to experience the natural world. Bring a notebook to write down a list of sounds you heard on your walk. Return to the classroom to sort the contents of your nature-walk bucket and to discuss the sounds and sights on your walk. Take turns recreating the sounds that the children remember form the walk.

Special Snacks: Serve snacks that remind your preschool children of the creations of God. Give them fish shaped snack crackers, and gummy animals. Serve fruit snacks and veggies, gingerbread men or star shaped cookies. Blue gelatin is a kid-friendly snack that you can serve to remind children that God created water. Serve a snack that reinforces what the children have been taught, then join your class in “table-talk” about how the snacks relate to the God-created-the-world preschool lesson plan.

Creation Game: Seat your class on the circle-time rug for a lively game of Creation Charades. Tell the children that they will work with a partner as a team to act out one of the days of creation for the rest of the class, but that they may not speak or make a sound when they act it out. Choose two preschoolers to make up the first team. Whisper a creation event to them. Say “God created animals,” or “God rested.” Keep your event descriptions short and only include one creation event when you whisper them to the team. Help the children act out the charade if they need you to get things started. Let the rest of the class call out guesses about which part of the creation the team is portraying. When a child guesses correctly, choose a teammate for him and let the new team act out the next creation event.