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:
- An understanding of the difference of making and creating…by explaining to the teacher in their own words.
- An understanding God’s power…by coming up with a list of things that God can do that we cannot.
- An understanding of what God created on the first day of creation…by choosing from a list of options.
Target Age: Kindergarten – 5th
- PRINT 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
- Any object
- 2 pieces of paper
- 2 writing utensils
- 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)
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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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)