Day Five
(click for a printable pdf)

God Made Fish and Birds

So God created great sea creatures and every sort of fish
and every kind of bird.
God saw that it was good. This all happened on the fifth day.
Genesis 1:21

Bible:

Say: “On the 5th day of Creation God made fish to live in the waters and birds to fly in the sky. The Bible says ‘So God created great sea creatures and every sort of fish and every kind of bird. God saw that it was good. This all happened on the fifth day.‘  Again the Bible says that God was pleased with what He had made.”
Read about Day Five of Creation in a Bible story book.

Activities:

Make a picture like the one above or use the printable pdf.

Fish:

• Pretend to be a fish.  Make fish faces   Sing Little Fish Swimming.
• Make a fishing pole out of a stick with a piece of string tied to it; tie a magnet to the string.  Cut out fish patterns and attach paper clips at their mouths. Lay the fish on a blue cloth or paper to be the lake.  Catching fish can be hours of fun.  You can put Bible verses on each fish and say them when each fish is caught.

Birds:

• Pretend to be a bird flying.  Sing Little Bird Flying
• Use this pattern to make a bird.  Print on printer paper, cut slit in the body of the bird, slide the wings through, then tape the bird to a craft stick. The wings will go up and down as you move the stick up and down.

Song: Sing the following words to God Made the Whole World by His Hands

God made the fish and the birds by His hands.
He made the fish and the birds by His hands.
God made the fish and the birds by His hands.
He made the whole world by His hands.

Day Four
(click for a printable pdf)

God Made the Sun, Moon, and Stars

And God said, “Let bright lights appear in the sky to separate the day from the night. They will be signs to mark off the seasons, the days, and the years . . . For God made two great lights, the sun and the moon, to shine down upon the earth. The greater one, the sun, presides during the day; the lesser one, the moon, presides through the night. He also made the stars. God set these lights in the heavens to light the earth, to govern the day and the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. This all happened on the fourth day.
Genesis 1:14-19

Bible:

Say: “God made the sun for light in the day and the moon and stars for light at night.  God is so powerful all He had to do was speak and they were made.  This is what the Bible tells us: And God said, ‘Let bright lights appear in the sky to separate the day from the night. They will be signs to mark off the seasons, the days, and the years’ . . . For God made two great lights, the sun and the moon, to shine down upon the earth. The greater one, the sun, presides during the day; the lesser one, the moon, presides through the night. He also made the stars. God set these lights in the heavens to light the earth, to govern the day and the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. This all happened on the fourth day.”
Read about Day Four of Creation in a Bible story book

Activities:

Make a day time/night time picture like the one above or print the pdf.

Go here to find some basic info about the sun, moon, and stars

• Make sun prints by placing a colored piece of art paper in the sun and put a small shape such as a key, toy, or whatever on it.  Come back a little later and the sun will have made a print of the shape on the paper.  Sing: The Sun is in the Sky
• Go outside at night and look at the stars and moon.  Sing: Twinkle Twinkle Little Star; God Has Put You Where You Are.
• Play with play dough on a black piece of art paper:
  • Make a large round yellow ball for the sun.
  • Make a smaller yellow ball for the moon and put indentions in it for craters.
  • Make a crescent moon or other phases of it and talk about the fact that sometimes we can’t see all of the moon. (Click for another way to illustrate all the phases of the moon)
    
  • Use a star cookie cutter and make stars.
• Cut sandwiches in shapes of sun, moon, and stars or make cookies in the shapes.

Prayer: Thank you, God, for the sun to light the day and the moon and stars to light the night.

Song: Sing the following words to God Made the Whole World by His Hands

God made the big, round sun to brighten the day.
He made the moon and the stars to light up the night.
God made the sun, moon, and stars by His hands.
He made the whole world by His hands.

Day Three
(click for a printable pdf)

Day Three – God Made Sea, Land, and Plants

And God said, “Let the waters beneath the sky be gathered into one place so dry ground may appear.” . . . God named the dry ground “land” and the water “seas.” And God saw that it was good. Then God said, “Let the land burst forth with every sort of grass and seed-bearing plant. And let there be trees that grow seed-bearing fruit. . . . And God saw that it was good. This all happened on the third day. Genesis 1:9-13

Bible:

Say: “God made the seas, land, and plants on the third day.  When He looked at all He had made so far, He really liked it!!  This is what the Bible says: And God said, “Let the waters beneath the sky be gathered into one place so dry ground may appear.” . . . God named the dry ground “land” and the water “seas.” And God saw that it was good. Then God said, “Let the land burst forth with every sort of grass and seed-bearing plant. And let there be trees that grow seed-bearing fruit. . . . And God saw that it was good. This all happened on the third day.“

Read about Day Three of Creation in a Bible story book

Activities:

Make a picture like the one above or use the printable pdf.

Sea:  Have fun with water play today – Thank God for water as you play.

• Using a straw, blow into a bucket of water that has a little detergent in it.
• Make a paper boat and play with it in water. Video instructions

Land: Get dirty together as you share that God made dry land.

(1982 Billy, Josh, Jer playing in the dirt)

Plants: As you share that God made plants:

• plant a seed and water a plant
• play in a tree
• Color pictures of plants:
  http://www.coloring.ws/flowers.htm

  http://www.coloring.ws/trees.htm

Have a ‘dirt’ snack of crushed oreos with yogurt covered raisens as ‘seeds’ to plant in it

Prayer: Thank you, God, for dirt to play in.  Thank you for water that helps plants grow in the dirt. Thank you God for the sea for the boats to sail on.

Songs: Sing the following words to God Made the Whole World by His Hands

God made the sea, land, and plants by His hands.
He made the sea, land, and plants by His hands.
God made the sea, land, and plants by His hands.
He made the whole world by His hands.

Do the following action song together:

This is the way we plant the seed in the dirt, in the dirt.
This the way we plant the seed;Thank you God for dirt.

This is the way the rain comes down to water the seed, God waters the seed.
This is the way the rain comes down, God waters the seed.

This the way the sun shines down to help it grow, God helps it grow.
This the way the sun shines down, God helps it grow.

This is the way the plant grows, plant grows, plant grows,
This the way the plant grows – Thank you God.

Day Two
(click for a printable pdf)

Day Two – God Made Sky and Water

And God said, “Let there be space between the waters, to separate water from water.”And so it was. God made this space to separate the waters above from the waters below. And God called the space “sky.” This happened on the second day.
Genesis 1:6-13

Bible:

Say:  “On the second day of Creation, God made the sky and water.  The sky was made to separate the water in the sky from the water on the earth.  This is what the Bible says: And God said, “Let there be space between the waters, to separate water from water.”And so it was. God made this space to separate the waters above from the waters below. And God called the space ‘sky.’ This happened on the second day.”
Read about Day Two of Creation in a Bible story book.

Activities:

Make a picture like the one above or use the printable pdf.

Sky:  Make a paper airplane and/or a kite. If you need help, go here:

• Airplanes http://www.10paperairplanes.com/
• Kites http://www.stormthecastle.com/how-to-make-a/kite/make-a-traditional-kite.htm

As you fly these, repeat often Genesis 1:1 In the beginning God made the heavens and the earth and sing Blue, Blue Sky.

Water:  Talk about the waters that fall from the sky: rain, snow, hail, frost, dew

• Take a bag of cotton balls and pretend it is snowing by throwing the balls up in the air.  Throw ‘snowballs’ at each other
• Play with the sprinkler or a watering can and listen to the water fall down as you sing God Made the Rain.
• Act out ways you use water – bathing, swimming, cooking, etc.

Prayer: Thank you, God, for the blue sky and for the water that falls from the sky and covers the land.  Thank you, God, for everything you have made.

Songs: Sing the following words to God Made the Whole World by His Hands.  Click to listen.

God made the sky by His Hands
He made the waters that cover the lands
God made the sky and the waters by His hands
He made the whole world by His hands

Day One
(click for a printable pdf of this)

Then God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.
God called the light “day” and the darkness “night.”
Together these made up one day.
Genesis 1:3, 5

Bible:

Say:  “God created everything.  He started by making day and night on the very first day. The Bible says that God said, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light. God called the light ‘day’ and the darkness ‘night’. Together these made up one day.”
Read about Day One in a children’s Bible story book.

Activities:

• You can make a day and night picture like the one above or you can use the printable pdf.  I will be giving you one each day this week so you can either make a Creation book or cut out the circles and cover in plastic so you can use them to let your child put them in order.
• Talk about and act out things you do at night – bathe, sleep, read, watch tv, etc.
• Talk about and act out things you do during the day – work, school, play outside, etc

Prayer:

Thank you, God, for making the day for work and play.  Thank you, God, for making night for rest.  Thank you, God, for making the whole world!!

Song:

Sing the following words to God Made the Whole World by His Hands.  Click to listen.

God made the light and called it day.
God made the dark and called it night.
God made both day and night by His hands.
He made the whole world by His hands.

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
Genesis 1:1

He created everything there is–nothing exists that he didn’t make.
John 1:3

Foundational to our belief system is our thoughts on how ourselves and the world around us came into being.  The Bible makes it very clear how the world began.  Let’s spend this week talking about the week of Creation as it is recorded in Scripture.  Begin by reading Genesis 1 for yourself.  Then each day tell your children what God made on that day during the week of Creation.  I hope by now you have a good Bible story book with illustrative pictures of what God made.

It is interesting to note that on the first three days God created the places and on the last three days He created things to reside in the places in the same order He created the places.  This information helps in remembering what was created when.

Share the above verses often as you use songs, hands-on activities, games, crafts, books, pictures, etc. to establish this truth in your children.  I’ll give you some suggestions each day, but I’m sure you can be more creative.

You might want to use the following song this week:

Here a Little, There a Little is a compilation of Bible activities I created years ago to use with my preschool children.  It was designed to spend a week memorizing one verse and reinforcing it through 5 Bible lessons and 5 activities.  I hope you find this week’s lesson helpful to intentionally notice the ways God is good to us.

God is Good

Psalm 145:9  The Lord is good to all.

Bible Stories: (I suggest you read the stories from the Bible and then tell them in your own words with expression.  Also find them in your children’s Bible and read them to your children.)

1. Genesis 2 God made the first man and named him Adam.  He was good to Adam.  He gave him all kinds of animals to keep him company.  But Adam was still lonely so God made Adam a wife to be his best friend, to talk to, and to share the garden with.  God made Eve to be Adam’s wife.  God was good to Adam (Proverbs 18:22)
2. Exodus 14 God’s people were being chased by some bad people who didn’t love God and wanted to hurt His people.  When they came to a great big sea, they had no way to cross the water, so God parted the water in the center and the people of God walked on dry land right over to the other side of the sea without even getting wet! Then the bad men started to cross over after them, but God caused the waters to go back together and all the bad men were drowned.  God protected his people; He was good to them.
3. I Samuel 1 Hannah was so sad because she wanted a baby very badly.  She asked God for a baby and God answered her prayer.  He gave her a baby boy named Samuel.  God was good to Hannah and wanted her to be happy.  God was good to us so He gave us a special gift from Him – He gave us you!  The Bible (Psalm 127:3) tells us that children are a gift from God.
4. Matthew 8:20, Matthew 6:25-34 God is good to the birds; He gives them nests to live in. God is good to the foxes; He gives them holes to live in .  God feeds the birds and clothes the flowers and the grass.  Jesus said that if God takes care of these, how much more will He take care of you and feed and clothe you too. He is good to all!
5. God is good to you; The Bible tells us that He thinks about you (Psalm 139:17).  He is with you always (Joshua 1:9).  He even knows when you are crying and catches your tears (Psalm 56:8).   He gives you good things to eat (Psalm 103:5). God is good to you!!

Prayer: Thank You, God,  for being so good to us. (Lead your child to thank God for  specific things as they come to mind)

Activities for baby:

1. Sing the songs in the videos below and change the words to fit what you might be doing that reminds you that God is good.
2. While rocking, name the ways God is good to us.
3. Let baby look in a mirror and talk about how good God is to have given him to you
4. Feed the birds and talk about how God takes care of them and us.
5. Share the verse while he eats.

Activities for older preschoolers:

1. Creatively write or illustrate the verse.  Hang it on the fridge or in a prominent place all week.
2. Lead him to name ways God is good to us and sing the songs below, fitting the things he named into the songs.
3. Look at pictures of when he was born and talk about how good God is to have given him to you.
4. Feed the birds and talk about how God takes care of them and us.
5. Make cookies and say “God satisfies our mouths with good things to eat (Psalm 103:5).

Songs:

Books:

Check out these:

Children’s Bibles

My Awesome God Bible Story Book

Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.
John 15:13

Jesus talked a lot about giving on Day Four of Passion Week.  Of course He had every right to do that since He was about to give the ultimate gift of His life on the cross for the sins of the world.

Encourage your children to give today as you talk about how much Jesus gave.  Bake Easter cookies (see recipe below) in the shape of a cross to share with neighbors.   As you make them,  talk about Jesus’ gift to us.  Say:

Everybody has done wrong things such as disobeying, lying, being unkind, etc.   God calls this sin and there must be punishment for it. But Jesus loved us so much that He took the punishment for all the wrong things that were done or would ever be done.  He died on the cross so we would not have to.  We can now have a happy life forever with God.

In your giving today, don’t forget to give thanks to Jesus for His gift of life to us.  Here’s a simple song to sing to Him  -  Jesus, Jesus, Thank You Jesus.  Make up your own songs together.

My mother’s old-fashioned tea cookies recipe:

3/4 cup crisco or butter
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 & 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
2 & 1/2 cup Self-rising flour
Mix all together, roll out, and cut into shapes
(If you don’t have a cross cookie cutter, roll out 2 small ropes & lay one across the other to make a cross.)
Bake at 350 for about 12 minutes.

Ice with butter cream frosting:
1 box confectioner sugar
dash of salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 cup milk
1/3 cup butter

Greet each other in Christian love.
1 Peter 5:14 (NLT)

Have you walked past someone on the street or in a store and just went on by as if no one was there?  This scripture points out we should greet everyone with love.  My Dad thought this was just plain good manners; he would never walk past a person without saying ‘Hello’ or ‘How are you?’   You never know when a simple smile and friendly greeting from you will be the encouragement a troubled person needs at that moment.

I feel we should train our children to greet others with love.  Now to a stranger that can be just a ‘hello’ accompanied with a smile.   But to friends – children and adults – it could also be a handshake or a hug. However, we have to set the example.

Make an effort to speak to those you come in contact with.  In so doing you teach your children that each person is important to God and shouldn’t be ignored by us.

“realize that all human beings are really members of  the same family and that being members of the same family they owe each other some measure of warmth and solace.” (Scrooge’s nephew in the 1938 version of A Christmas Carol)

Here’s a song adapted from “Hello” on the album Especially for Children…of all ages by Bill Gaither you might sing with your children to get them in the habit of saying ‘Hello’.

Train Up The Child is dedicated to helping you fulfill God’s commands to parents. Deuteronomy 6:7 instructs us to teach our children as we go; Isaiah 28:10 instructs to teach ‘here a little, there a little’.

Begin this lesson by creatively making a poster of Ephesians 4:32 and place it on the fridge all week.  Read the suggested passages for Bible stories and tell them in your own words.  I have given you suggested things to share about each.  Do at least one of the suggested activities each day.  I am sure you can come up with better ideas on your own – this is just to get you started.

You can find more helpful information and songs related to kindness in a previous blog http://www.trainupthechild.org/?s=my+preschooler+hit+me.

Kindness

Bible Verse: Ephesians 4:32 Be kind to one another

Bible Stories:

Luke 10:30-35 A man was walking down a road and some bad men jumped on him and beat him up and hurt him so badly he couldn’t move.  Then they left him all alone.  A man came by later but he would not help the hurt man.  Another man came by, but he wouldn’t help either.  Finally a man came by and felt sorry for the hurt man so he stopped and helped him.  He bandaged his hurt places and took him to a nice, warm place to stay.  Which man was being kind?

Ruth 2 Ruth and her mother-in-law had just moved from another country to Bethlehem.  They didn’t have a garden to raise any food, so they were hungry.  Ruth went to a man’s field of wheat and asked if she could have the left-overs from his field. The man’s name was Boaz. Boaz told her she didn’t have to get the left-overs, but she could have whatever she needed.  Was Boaz kind?

Daniel 1 The bad King Nebuchadnezzar had put Daniel in prison.  He was being mean to Daniel and his friends.  But one of the king’s men felt sorry for Daniel.  Instead of being mean to Daniel like the king wanted him to, he was kind to Daniel and helped him to show the king that God is good.

1 Samuel 18 through 2 Samuel 5 King Saul had been chasing David everywhere.  He wanted to kill David because David was so good.  David hid in a cave.  King Saul came into the cave and didn’t see David.  This was David’s chance to get Saul back for being so mean to him.  He could have hurt him but would that have been kind?  No, David let Saul go unharmed.  When Saul found out, he told David, “You have been kind, but I have been evil.”

John 4:6-29 Jesus was sitting at a well where people came to get their water.  A lady came to get water while he sat there.  She was a Samaritan lady and Jesus was a Jewish man.  The Js did not like the Samaritans and not talk to them or have anything to do with them at all.  In fact they were sometimes very mean to them.  But Jesus wasn’t mean to the lady.  He began to talk to her and tell her about God and how she could be saved.  Jesus was kind to the lady.

Prayer: Help us to show kindness by hugging, helping, sharing, and saying kind words to one another

Activities for younger preschoolers:

Act out the story of the Good Samaritan with bandages and bandaides

Feed birds or ducks or pet animals and share the verse

Share the verse while changing diaper and point out the kindness you are showing by
caring for him.

Teach him to hug and kiss – share the verse.

Play with ball and talk about playing kindly and sharing

Activities for older preschoolers:

Act out the story of the Good Samaritan with bandages and bandaides

Make a bird feeder out of a pine cone covered in peanut butter and rolled in bird seed.
hang outside in a tree.  Watch for birds and share the verse.

Have him draw a picture and send it to someone just to show kindness.

Bake cookies and take to someone – share the verse as you work

Make or buy playdough and tell them you did it just to show kindness to him.

Describe situations or show pictures of different situations and ask if it is showing
kindness or unkindness –ex. Pushing, sharing, listening to parents, helping someone

who falls down, telling someone, ‘I love you’, kicking someone

Songs:

Be Kind to One Another

Kindness, Kindness is God’s Idea you see (tune of Goodness on Music Machine: The Fruit of the Spirit)

Books:

The New Bible in Pictures for Little Eyes Gift Edition

The Story of the Good Samaritan – Arch Books

The Angry King: 1 Samuel 18-2 Samuel 5 for Children

Jesus and the Woman at the Well – Arch Books

Jesus Teaches Me Kindness (An Arch Books Series)