Grades 1-3
Introductory Activity – Nature Walk
Materials: no materials needed
Take the kids outside and walk through nature. Encourage them to examine the trees, bugs, dirt, plants, clouds, and anything else they can observe. Ask them to tell you things that they notice about God’s creation. Ask them how they can take care of God’s creation, and allow several of them to answer. When you take the kids back inside, write the Weekly Verse on the board and say it together.
Live It Out
Game – Animal Name Game
Materials: no materials needed
Form the kids in a circle on the floor. Tell the first child to say, “During Creation, God made a [animal name].” Tell the second child they are to say the same phrase, the animal the first child said, and then add a second animal. This process will continue around the circle until everyone participates. Go around a second time naming different plants that God made. Tell the kids that God made people to care for His world. Say the Weekly Verse together.
Craft – Self Portraits
Materials: crayons or markers, large pieces of paper, scissors
Invite kids to cut “gingerbread” type figures from the paper. Invite them to use the materials to draw portraits of themselves on the figures. (Note: Kids could cut circles just for faces instead of whole bodies.) Say the Life Point and talk about the Bible story as kids work. Talk about ways they can help take care of God’s creation. Praise God as Creator. Suggest kids print the Life Point on the backs of their portraits.
Grades 4-6
Introductory Activity – Guess the Animals
Materials: headbands (one per child), paper squares or cards, marker, tape
Print names of different animals on paper squares, one per square. Help each child put on a headband. Tape the name of an animal to each headband. Lead kids to move around the room, asking one yes/no question per person about the animal on their headband. When a child identifies his animal, he can move to the side of the play area. After a few minutes, call kids back together. Tell them that they will hear about animals getting their names today in the Bible story.
Live It Out
Game – Verse Scramble
Materials: cards or paper squares, marker, tape
On each square, write one scrambled word of the Weekly. Verse Make a set of cards for each team. Mix each team’s cards; tape the team’s cards to a wall in a group. (Each team will need space to work.)
Group kids into teams and assign each team a group of letters. Tell teams to unscramble the words and place them in order to create the Weekly Verse. Tell teams that on your signal, they should work to put the cards in order. After each team has finished, say the verse as a group. Remind kids that God made people to care for His creation.
Craft – Mirrors
Materials: cardboard or poster board squares, reflective paper, colored masking tape, permanent markers, colored paper, scissorsInvite kids to use the materials to create their own mirrors. A kid can cut a piece of reflective paper larger than her cardboard square. She can wrap the reflective paper around the cardboard and secure with tape. Suggest she use colored tape or paper or create a border or frame around her mirror. She could also use the paper or tape to finish the back of the mirror. Talk about the Bible story as kids work. Tell kids to add the Life Point around the frame of the mirror to remind them that God created them to care for the world.
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