Creation Day #1 Lesson for Children’s Church

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This children’s church lesson plan about Creation Day One was first written for children age 5 – 11.  It could also be used as the Bible lesson for children’s Sunday school. This lesson is part of a series of Bible lessons about creation.  Be sure to consider your own ministry context and modify it as needed. Please leave any feedback or suggestions for improvement in the comment box at the bottom of this page.
Bible Story: The first day of Creation from Genesis 1:1-5
Learning Objectives: After this lesson, the children will demonstrated:

  1. An understanding of the difference of making and creating…by explaining to the teacher in their own words.
  2. An understanding God’s power…by coming up with a list of things that God can do that we cannot.
  3. An understanding of what God created on the first day of creation…by choosing from a list of options.

Target Age: Kindergarten – 5th
Items Needed:

  • [print_link] this Bible lesson
  • Bible: Genesis 1:1-5.  There is a detailed account of these verses below to help emphasize the importance of these few verses.
  • “Creation Songs” –  CD player –  CD
  • Play-dough
  • Flashlights
  • Any object
  • 2 pieces of paper
  • 2 writing utensils

Worship

  • You can print off  these “Creation Songs” and use to lead the children to sing before the Bible lesson.

Teaching Plan: The First Day of Creation

Bible Lesson Introduction

  • Give each child a small amount of play-dough.  Have them make anything that they want (appropriate for church).
  • After a few minutes of play, turn the lights off (if there are a lot of windows in your room, try to cover them up as best as possible before class starts).  The room needs to be as dark as possible.
  • Ask the children:
    • What would you do if there was no light anywhere on the earth?
    • Where does light come from? (the sun, the moon)
    • Who created the light? (God)

Bible Lesson

Have the children open their Bibles to Genesis 1:1-5. To help them find it, use the following questions. Answers in italics.

  • What is the first book of the Bible? Genesis
  • Which part of the Bible is Genesis in? Old Testament

Read Genesis 1:1-5 aloud to the children.

“In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.  The earth didn’t have any shape. And it was empty. Darkness was over the surface of the ocean. At that time, the ocean covered the earth. The Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.
God said, “Let there be light.” And there was light.  God saw that the light was good. He separated the light from the darkness.  God called the light “day.” He called the darkness “night.” There was evening, and there was morning. It was day one.”
NIrV (New International Reader’s Version)

Discuss the Bible Reading

  • In the beginning

In the beginning of what? (allow for responses)  The beginning of the world.

  • God

God was in the beginning of the world.

  • created

In the dictionary, create means, “to bring somebody or something into existence”.  In the dictionary, make means, “to assemble something from parts”.  Many people say that God made the world.  No He didn’t!!  He created the world!  That means that God created something with nothing!  He didn’t have parts laying around and decided to make the world.  No!  He didn’t have anything, but He created!  Just think how awesome that really is!

  • the heavens and the earth

What was there before God created the heavens and the earth? (allow for responses)  Nothing.  Absolutely nothing.  How did God create the heavens and the earth? (allow for responses, if any)  I really don’t have the answer, other than God is God and His power is beyond our comprehension.

  • The earth didn’t have any shape

What?  The earth didn’t have any shape?  So what was it? (allow for responses…encourage thinking outside of the box…there is not a right answer…but try to get them to think deeper)

  • and it was empty

So the earth had no shape and it was empty, huh?  That’s really hard to think about, isn’t it?  An earth that is empty.  I guess it had to start somewhere.

  • Darkness was over the surface of the ocean.  At that time, the ocean covered the earth.

So the earth had no shape, it was empty, it was dark and the ocean covered the earth.  Wow!  What a sight!  Well, not really a sight, because you can’t see anything since there was only darkness.  So, at this point, there is only water in the earth?  Strange!

  • The Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.

Wow!  The Spirit of God hovered over the waters!  What does it mean to hover? (allow for responses)  It kind of means to glide over or fly over something.  What would it be like if God hovered over us? (allow for responses)  Would you do some of the things you do, or act the way you do if you saw God hovering over you? (allow for responses)  God does sort of hover over us.  He can see everything we do, even though we can’t physically see Him.

  • God said, “Let there be light.” And there was light.

God only has to speak things into existence.  If I said, “let there be light”, nothing would happen.  What power God has!

  • God saw that the light was good.

God liked what He saw.  God has an opinion of things, whether it’s good or bad.  Sometimes we think of God as something completely different from us.  Well, He did make us in His image (which we’ll learn about in a few weeks) and so we do have some of the same characteristics as God.  Put anything that you do in place of “the light” in that sentence.  For example, “God saw that the way I treated my sister yesterday was good.”  Would it be true?  Think about what God would think about things, before you do them.  Would He think your actions are good?

  • He separated the light from the darkness.

This just blows my mind!  Separating light from dark!  How?  Who knows!  That just shows the awesome power of God!

  • God called the light “day.” He called the darkness “night.”

God gave things names.  Later on, He let man name everything.  But, before He made man, He named everything.

  • There was evening, and there was morning. It was day one.

It only took God one day to create the heavens, the earth and light?  Isn’t that just amazing?  All of that happened in only one day.  This was the first day, ever!  God made light on the first day…what would you have made?” (allow for responses)


Bible Lesson Activities

Use the following activities to reinforce the learning goals. If time is short move on the evaluation portion of the lesson plan.
Activity: Flashlight Find
“What did God create on the first day of creation? (allow for responses)  Right, God created light.  Without light, we wouldn’t be able to see anything because it would be completely dark.
We are going to do a game now that involves finding something in the dark, by using light.  I am going to turn the lights off and hide this (name object) somewhere in the room.  You have to find it by using flashlights.  Ok, let’s get started!”

  • Put the children in groups and give each groups a flashlight
  • Have the children close their eyes or leave the room so that you can hide the object
  • After you have hidden the object, let the children try to find the hidden object.  Remember…they have to use the light to find the object!

Activity: Bible Verse Memorization
“In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.”  Genesis 1:1
(New International Reader’s Version)
Have the children do the following sign language motions along with repeating the words after you, to help them learn the Bible Verse:
In the beginning”—the index finger twists between the fingers of the other hand to indicate the turning of a key in an ignition switch
God”—hold hand up with fingers towards the sky…the hand is raised to the heavens and then downward in a sign of respect
created”—the hands (in fists on top of one another) twist as if they were putting something together
the heavens”—the hands move up, in a large circle, towards the heavens
and the earth”—the thumb and middle finger pinch the side of the wrist which represents the earth rotating on its axis
Genesis 1”—hold 1 finger up
1”—hold another finger up
Do this a few times with the children.  Make it fun for them to do the motions and say the words.  Involving them in active learning is essential for memorization.

Activity: Sign Language Circle

  • Split the children into 2 groups
  • Make one group an inner circle and the other one be an outer circle
  • Have the inner circle look outward facing the outer group (if you have an odd number of people put a group of three together)
  • They are going to practice their Bible Verse by saying and signing it
  • Start by having the inner group doing the sign language and the outer group saying it with them…then have them switch
  • After each group has done both parts, turn the music on and have them walk in their circles in opposite directions.
  • When the music stops, they stop and do the same thing again with a new partner.

Evaluation:

  1. Split the children into 2 groups.  Have one group explain the meaning of “create” and have the other group explain the meaning of “make”.  Switch groups.
  2. Keep the children in their groups.  Give each group a piece of paper and a writing utensil.  Have each group make a list of things that God can do that we cannot.  Share the lists with the whole group.
  3. Have the children stand up in the middle of the classroom.  As you read the list, have the children go to the right side of the room, if the item you say WAS created on the first day of creation.  If the item you say WAS NOT created on the first day of creation, have the children go to the left side of the classroom.
  • Plants (left)
  • Light (right)
  • Food (left)
  • Tables (left)
  • Heavens (right)
  • People (left)
  • Books (left)
  • Fruit (left)
  • Earth (right)
  • Animals (left)

Need More Help? The check out all our free children’s Bible lesson or find kids Sunday School crafts.

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14 thoughts on “Creation Day #1 Lesson for Children’s Church”

  1. Going to try the first day of creation in my class sunday night i think they will love it thank you for your time in posting these very good ideas will let you know how it goes

  2. Greetings from Dubai!
    I babysit 2 children of unbelieving parents tomorrow night and preparing a first lesson from Creation series. Thank you for sharing this with us, lessons are so interesting and engaging!
    Blessings.

  3. Fantastic lesson outline! This is a great inspiration for ‘The Creation Story’ I am working on for the Kid’Zone of our church. God bless you.

  4. I really appreciate the quality of this lesson plan-can’t wait to share it with my Kindergarten class! Thank you so very much!

  5. Just stepped into children’s church for this week because someone can’t be there who was supposed to teach. There will be 50 kids or more! This lesson is perfect for what I wanted to teach them. Thank you for making it available and free! May God bless and give back to you!

  6. I have not gotten any sleep since finding this website; I am so excited to use as a tool in my teaching within our Youth Ministry! Thank you for the lack of sleep but more importantly, thank you for the gift of this site and the lessons! God’s continous blessings to you!!!

  7. Thanks so much for the encouragement – lack of sleep is what helped us build up the website to what it is today.
    May God continue to bless you and your ministry!

  8. Thank you very much for this website, so rich of teaching resources. God richly bless you and enlarge your coast to bless many more others.

  9. Thank you so much for making your material so accessible! The children in Wounded Knee will be blessed by your work!

  10. So glad to hear that encouragement! I’m working on updating the Days of Creation series this weekend (better downloads & combined coloring book).

  11. I am from South Africa and can’t tell you how much I appreciate your lessons and for free. That is wonderful. I always look for your lessons not only because it is free but mainly because it is so easy to study and interesting to tell the kids. I am always looking for six to nine lessons.
    Thank you so much and may the Lord bless you and your Mission abundantly.
    Blessings,
    Edie

  12. Oh!! Wow! Such great work and informative.. helpful for teaching and training the young. Minds and hearts about the Creator!!!
    Thank you
    God bless

  13. I am going to use the information you provided here (where you broke the verses down) and use it in our women’s group this Wednesday at church. I believe that there is something in your lesson plan that we can all learn. For instance I personally have always heard that God made everything. However, after reading over your lesson plan I now realize that He “created” everything. I use to think that the two words sort of meant the same thing. Thank You! so much for letting God use you and for making this free! God Bless You!!

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