Creation for the Very Young

It is my hope to include my little ones in our study on Biblical History. Here is what we did for the First Week of History. (All passages from Genesis Chapter 1 and 2, NKJV)

Day 1
In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved on the face of the waters. And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness. And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.
God Created Light and Divided the Light from the Darkness

We did a project to demonstrate that God divided the light from the darkness. We combined yellow and blue sponges to make a sponge ball. I thought this shape would best represent that the earth was "without form and void." Then we cut the cable tie and made two new ones with just yellow and blue ~ to separate the light from the dark. (See pic below).

Creation Cookies



The Creation cookies represent light being divided from the darkness.

I used a butter pecan cookie recipe (they turned out like a mexican wedding cake cookie). Then dipped them into white frosting (powdered sugar and water) and then into melted chocolate. I got this wonderful idea from Juggling Frogs after seeing it linked from the Creation activities at the Examiner. (Thanks for the link Starr!)

Day 2
And God said, Let there be a firmament in the middle of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters. And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so. And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day.
Exploring with water

I love how content she looks while playing. Next time, I will try to catch her on video.

I originally planned a whole tot school lesson around water play, but never got around to doing it. Now, I know why! Water play made a great lesson for day 2 of creation.



Day 3
And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together to one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so. And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that it was good . . .
Torn Paper Earth Craft

Earth Mosaic represents the waters being separated and the appearance of dry land.

This is an idea from Itty Bitty's Creation unit. I tore small pieces of green, brown and blue construction paper and printed the blackline earth from the unit. I showed Mali where the land and the water should be and let them glue the paper scraps on to make and earth mosaic.
. . . And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, on the earth: and it was so. And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good. And the evening and the morning were the third day.
Biblical Herb Garden
We are creating an "ancient landscape with plants from the bible" with the following plants:
  • Hyssop
  • Aloe
  • Joseph's Coat
  • Mustard
  • Lavender
This was a gift and I have been saving it for such a time as this. I was so excited to grow this little indoor herb garden as a family, but it is now my sweet little girl's garden. She was such a good helper and dumped the garden out just after we planted it in nice little sections. And now they are all mixed up. I think she did a good job mixing them ~ they seem evenly dispersed. It looks like a chia garden right now.

Day 4
And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years: And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light on the earth: and it was so. And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also. And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light on the earth, And to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that it was good. And the evening and the morning were the fourth day.

Sun, Moon and Stars Watercolor

Mali's sun, moon and stars watercolor

This is an idea from a watercolor study I am doing with the older kids from the book Days of Creation: Teaching the Glory of God's Work Through Art.

Watercoloring Through Creation


One of the techniques we learned in this lesson was how to paint with water and then with a dry brush to remove color. Using this method, Mali made a moon and stars after he created his night sky.


Elli just explored by mixing colors and water and painting her own creation.

Days 5 and 6


And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that has life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven. And God created great whales, and every living creature that moves, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good. And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth. And the evening and the morning were the fifth day.
And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so. And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creeps on the earth after his kind: and God saw that it was good.

And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.

God made kittens on day 6. He made people too.

Just had to throw in Elli's little love joy ~ Baby Gabby.

Sensory Tub

In the bottom right picture, she is asking me which one I want to "be."

This is another idea from Itty Bitty's Creation unit and the first time we have done a sensory tub. We gathered items from all around the house that relate to creation.

We found:
  • yellow and blue sponge balls for light and darkness on day 1
  • cotton balls to represent the heavens and the sky
  • a spray bottle to represent the mist that came up from the ground and the water separated from the dry land (instead of rain because it did not exist at this point)
  • stuffed fruits and veggies for the plants that were created on day 3
  • the yellow ball also represents the sun on day 4 (I should have thrown in some glow in the dark stars and moon!)
  • a toy fish and stuffed bird for the flying and swimming creatures of day 5
  • a toy dinosaur, and little cattle and horses for the land animals of day 6
  • Playmobile guy and Go Anywhere Girl for Adam and Eve
  • We pretended the fruit were pillows for resting on the 7th day
I had no idea that they would love this so much! We spent a couple days gathering items and we would talk about them as I placed them in the tub. As we gathered our last items, Elli asked, "May I play with it now?" ~ she was so patient, but so excited to play.

Days of Creation Felt Board


I have never done a felt story board before and had no idea of my little ones would like it. I think this was Mali's favorite thing we did. I cut the pieces out by hand and he put them up as we told the story. He then had free play with the board. I think he would benefit from more acting-out activities like this ~ he loves dramatic play.

Somewhat Silly Songs

On Day One, by Melody Warring (to the tune of This Old Man)

This song is 8 stanzas beginning like this:
On day one,
God made light,
He made day and He made night.
With a kick-knack paddy-whack only God alone
Could make me such a perfect home.
We all sang through all 8 stanzas together with the little ones.

You can see Diana's creation unit and the complete lyrics for this song here.

Day 7
Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.
Guess what we did on day 7?

Nothing. Because on that day God rested from all His work!

11 comments

  1. This looks like fun! Have you ever seen these creation globes? http://www.examiner.com/x-23914-Religious-Education-Examiner~y2009m10d6-Preschool-parsha-toys-Creation-Globes

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  2. First off, i love your new header! Its great! Secondly, i love this post! Especially the creation ideas. And i could just eat that little kitten. Ugh- that face!

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  3. Wow, you have some awesome ideas on how to learn about Creation!

    It looks like the kids had a great time too!

    I have an award for you on my blog.

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  4. Great ideas! I think the torn paper earth craft looks neat. You always do such wonderful things with your children. :-)

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  5. Okay, so once again you have dazzled me! So, do you think you could just come over and help me get organized, share your lesson plans and teach us about creation?? lol! Love this! You amaze me mama! Shine on!

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  6. Wow! I always love your posts! Especially this one, as we were doing Genesis from Mystery of History. I felt bad at the time, because I was focusing on my 9th grader and my 4 year old did not have many activities. Now, we can go back and do all these!! Yeah:) Thanks, Heather from TOS

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  7. Wow! This is amazing, hands on, creative and fun! What a wonderful way to instill God's word in your little ones hearts. You have given me so many ideas for our own studies.

    http://rogersfamilycircus.blogspot.com

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  8. Wow, what wonderful ideas, I can't wait to use them sometime!! Thanks for sharing.

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  9. I Love IT! Eli and Kitty are so cute....

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  10. Can you please tell me where to find that song? It is much simpler than the one we tried to learn. Thanks!

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  11. The song came from Diana Waring's book, so I could only share a portion of it, but I found a link to her creation unit online, which includes the song! Thanks for asking!

    http://www.dianawaring.com/ancientciv/ACBAUnit1.pdf

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