BIG IDEA: God created everything.
This free Bible lesson, God’s Introduction: The Story of Creation, will teach preschool and elementary students about the true story of Creation and how God created the heavens and the earth in 6 days to be a perfect paradise.
FOCUS BIBLE PASSAGE: Genesis 1
All of the printable activities and digital slides needed for the lesson, as well as a full printable lesson plan for both elementary and preschool are available.
Below is the outline of the free elementary Bible lesson.
PREP & SUPPLIES
- printed “Creation Story Follow Along” papers for each student
- pencils/pens
- printed & trimmed “Days 1-6 Cards”
- printed & trimmed “Creation Cards”
- printed “Days of Creation Mini Booklets” and Leader’s Guide
- scissors
- hole punches
- ribbon or string
- coloring supplies
LESSON HOOK ACTIVITY
(SLIDE) Imagine a PERFECT WORLD. What does the world LOOK like? What does it FEEL like? What can you smell? What can you hear? Think silently for a few moments. (allow silent think time)
Turn to a friend and share with that person how you imagine a perfect world. (allow partner share time and then allow a few students to share with the whole group)
(SLIDE) Let’s read this verse from the Bible.
[In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. Genesis 1:1: NIrV]
Who created the heavens and the earth? (God)
How do we know that God created the heavens and the earth? (the Bible tells us so; we believe every word the Bible teaches)
This verse is found in the book of Genesis. Who can tell me where we find the book of Genesis? (in the Bible; in the Old Testament; at the beginning of the Bible; the first book of the Bible)
Genesis is the very first book of the Bible. In fact, this verse is the VERY FIRST verse in Genesis! Genesis chapter 1 verse 1 says: “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.”
Why do you think I asked you to imagine a perfect world? (allow responses)
Did you know that when God created the world in the beginning, that it WAS PERFECT?
It may not have been just like you imagined earlier, but the world was perfect, and does anyone know what happened to cause the world to become IMPERFECT (not perfect)? (allow responses and discussion)
God created the world and it was perfect, but sometime after He created Adam and Eve (the first people), they disobeyed God and brought sin into the world. Now we live in a world that is full of sin, sadness, and pain.
But the world won’t always be the way that it is now, did you know that?
God made a plan to save us from the sin that we live in. God sent Jesus to live on the earth and die on the cross to take the punishment for our sins.
Someday Jesus will come back to the earth and He will make everything perfect again. The people who have trusted in Jesus and asked Him to save them from their sins will get to live with Jesus forever on a new, perfect earth.
Does anyone have any questions about this? (allow questions)
Today, we are going to learn about how God created EVERYTHING in 6 days!
BIBLE LESSON
HANDOUT: Each student should get a “Creation Story Follow Along” paper and a pencil/pen.
During our Bible story today, you are going to follow along with me on your paper. I want you to be sure that you stay right where I am in the Bible story and don’t move ahead even if you think you know the correct answers because I don’t want you to miss anything.
Everything that I am going to read from the screen can be found in the Bible.
All of the slides are provided with the NIrV text.
(SLIDE) Genesis 1:1-2
[In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth didn’t have any shape. And it was empty. There was darkness over the surface of the waves. At that time, the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.]
(SLIDE) Genesis 1:3-5
[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.]
This part of creation is different from when God created the sun, moon, and stars. He created these lights on Day 4. The light that God created on Day 1 may refer to His Glory, or it may refer to the pattern of day and night.
(SLIDE) Genesis 1:6-8
[God said, “Let there be a huge space between the waters. Let it separate water from water.” And that’s exactly what happened. God made the huge space between the waters. He separated the water under the space from the water above it. God called the huge space “sky”. There was evening, and there was morning. It was day two.]
God created the sky. At this time in the history of the earth, there were waters below the sky, and waters above the sky.
(SLIDE) Genesis 1:9-13
[God said, “Let the water under the sky be gathered into one place. Let dry ground appear.” And that’s exactly what happened. God called the dry ground “land”. He called all the water that was gathered together “seas”. And God saw that it was good.
Then God said, “Let the land produce plants. Let them produce their own seeds. And let there be trees on the land that grow fruit with seeds in it. Let each kind of plant or tree have its own kind of seeds.” And that’s exactly what happened. So the land produced plants. Each kind of plant had its own kind of seeds. And the land produced trees that grew fruit with seeds in it. Each kind of tree had its own kind of seeds. God saw that it was good. There was evening, and there was morning. It was day three.]
God gathered the waters below the sky together to create the seas. This allowed the dry ground (land) to appear. Then God created plants and fruit trees on the land. The different kinds of plants and trees had their own seeds to produce new plants and trees.
(SLIDE) Genesis 1:14-19
[God said, “Let there be lights in the huge space of the sky. Let them separate the day from the night. Let the lights set the times for the holy celebrations and the days and the years. Let them be lights in the huge space of the sky to give light on the earth.” And that’s exactly what happened. God made two great lights. He made the larger light to rule over the day and the smaller light to rule over the night. He also made the stars. God put the lights in the huge space of the sky to give light on the earth. He put them there to rule over the day and the night. He put them there to separate light from darkness. God saw that it was good. There was evening, and there was morning. It was day four.]
God created the sun, moon, and stars in the sky.
The sun, moon, and stars were created to separate the day from the night, and to show signs, seasons, days, and years.
(SLIDE) Genesis 1:20-23
[God said, “Let the seas be filled with living things. Let birds fly above the earth across the huge space of the sky.” So God created the great sea creatures. He created every kind of living thing that fills the seas and moves about in them. He created every kind of bird that flies. And God saw that it was good. God blessed them. He said, “Have little ones so that there will be many of you. Fill the water in the seas. Let there be more and more birds on the earth.” There was evening, and there was morning. It was day five.”]
God created the sea creatures and birds. He told the sea creatures and the birds to multiply and produce more of their own kind to fill the seas and skies with more sea creatures and birds.
(SLIDE) Genesis 1:24-25
[God said, “Let the land produce every kind of living creature. Let there be livestock, and creatures that move along the ground, and wild animals.” And that’s exactly what happened. God made every kind of wild animal. He made every kind of livestock. He made every kind of creature that moves along the ground. And God saw that it was good.]
(SLIDE) Genesis 1:26-28
[Then God said, “Let us make human beings so that they are like us. Let them rule over the fish in the seas and the birds in the sky. Let them rule over the livestock and all the wild animals. And let them rule over all the creatures that move along the ground.” So God created human beings in his own likeness. He created them to be like himself. He created them as male and female. God blessed them. He said to them, “Have children so that there will be many of you. Fill the earth and bring it under your control. Rule over the fish in the seas and the birds in the sky. Rule over every living creature that moves along the ground.”]
If students question the text because it says “Let us“, you can briefly discuss that this is the first obvious mention of the Trinity in the Bible (the Trinity is present in Gen. 1:1). Our God is 3 Persons in 1. There is only ONE God. Each Person of the Trinity is fully God. The three Persons work together as one.
(SLIDE) Genesis 1:29-31
[Then God said, “I am giving you every plant on the face of the whole earth that produces its own seeds. I am giving you every tree that has fruit with seeds in it. All of them will be given to you for food. I am giving every green plant as food for all the land animals and for all the birds in the sky. I am also giving the plants to all the creatures that move along the ground. I am giving them to every living thing that breathes.” And that’s exactly what happened.
God saw everything he had made. And it was very good. There was evening, and there was morning. It was day six.]
God created all of the land animals, including livestock, creatures that move along the ground, and wild animals.
Then God created human beings as male and female in His image to rule over all of the other creatures.
Being created in God’s image means that we are given God’s nature and character (His love, creativity, compassion, goodness, morality, etc.).
He gave a special blessing to humans and told them to multiply (have more children) and rule over all of the other creatures. He gave all of the plants to humans and animals for food.
(SLIDE) What do you notice throughout this passage about when God says something? (allow responses)
When God says something, it happens just like He says it will! Throughout this passage in Genesis 1, everything that God says, the Bible tells us “that is exactly what happened”.
In other translations of the Bible, the wording is a bit different but it means the same thing. In other translations of the Bible you will read, “and it was so” every time God says something.
From this we know that everything God says will happen, WILL HAPPEN just like He said it would!
We can also notice something else throughout this passage about how God describes His creation.
On Days 1, 3, 4, 5, and 6 before He created human beings how did God describe His creation? (good)
After God created human beings on Day 6, he described His creation differently. How did He describe His creation after he created human beings? (very good)
Why do you think He described His creation as VERY GOOD after human beings were created? (allow responses and discussion)
God has always had, and will always have, a special connection with humanity. He created us so that we could have a relationship and friendship with Him.
Before human beings were created, He described His creation (the heavens and the earth and all of the non-human living things) as good.
But after he created human beings, He described His creation as very good.
(SLIDE) Genesis 2:1-3
[So the heavens and the earth and everything in them were completed. By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing. So on that day he rested from all his work. God blessed the seventh day and made it holy. He blessed it because on that day he rested from all the work he had done.]
On Day 7, God rested from all of His work of creation. The seventh day was made holy (special and set apart from the rest of the days). God didn’t need to rest. He chose to rest because His work of creation was complete.
(SLIDE) We learn from this passage in the Bible that God created EVERYTHING in 6 days.
Remember at the time of creation, everything was PERFECT. Sin had not yet entered into the world. Eventually, Adam and Eve were tempted by Satan and they chose to disobey God which brought sin and death into the world.
Before sin entered the world, Adam and Eve lived with God and they had a close relationship and friendship with Him. But, since God is perfect and sin is imperfect (not perfect), God can’t even be in the presence of sin! So, the sin that is in our hearts separates us from God.
But the great news is that God knew this was going to happen and He already had a plan to save us from the sin that we are born with. He sent Jesus to earth to live a perfect life and die on the cross to receive the punishment for our sin. When we accept the free gift that Jesus offers us, we can be saved from our sins and have a relationship and friendship with God just like He wanted us to in the very beginning!
Dear God,
Thank You for the true story of the creation of everything. We know from reading the Bible that You created everything and we pray that You will help us to understand the lessons that You want us to learn from the Bible, especially that Jesus came to live, die and raise back to life to save us from our sins. Help us to be bold enough to ask questions if we don’t understand.
We love you and we pray all of these things in Jesus’ sweet name, Amen.
LARGE GROUP ACTIVITY
Keep in mind if you have non-readers, they need to be grouped with students who are strong readers.
On the opposite side of the room place a full set of printed & trimmed CREATION CARDS (12) for EACH GROUP.
Remind students that in a relay race, one person from each team is racing at a time. At the end, the entire team can work together to build the creation timeline.
After the race begins, one team member at a time will race to the other side and collect one slip of paper and bring it back to the group. They must tag the next person in line before that person can take off.
The first team to have all of the cards collected and laid out in the correct order is the winner.
Please note: Some of the passages have been shortened on the relay cards.
SMALL GROUP ACTIVITY
Today you are going to be making your own mini booklet to tell the story of Creation. You will each get 6 pages. Each page is a different part of the story from the Bible. You will cut each page in half using the center line as a guide, and cut on the dotted lines to make the book pages even. Then, you will punch two holes on the left side and tie your pages together to create a mini booklet. Finally, you will read through the story and illustrate the pages.
HANDOUT: Each student should get 6 pages (the Days of Creation booklet), and a ribbon or string. All students should have access to scissors, hole punches, coloring supplies, and pencils/pens.
BREAK INTO SMALL GROUPS TO COMPLETE THE ACTIVITY.
Discussion Prompts for Leaders:
- Prompt students to recall what God created on each day of creation.
- How did God describe His creation before He created human beings? (good)
- How did God describe His creation after he created human beings? (very good)
- Why do you think God described His creation as “very good” after human beings were created? (He always wanted to have a relationship with humanity and He has a special connection with us)
- Why isn’t the world perfect anymore? (Adam and Eve disobeyed and brought sin into the world; we are living under the curse that God gave to the earth because of sin)
- What plan did God make to save us from our sin? (He sent Jesus to earth to live a sinless life, and to die on the cross to take the punishment for our sins; Jesus raised to life and offers us the free gift of salvation – He took our place when He died on the cross and if we accept His gift, we can have a relationship with God through Jesus)
- Why do we know that we can trust and believe the Bible? (it is God’s Word; everything that God says is true)
- Sometimes in the world, and at school we will be told that God did not create the world. What can you say to someone who tries to tell you that God did not create everything? (the Bible says in Genesis 1 that God created everything in 6 days)
- Genesis 2 is a “zoomed in” version of Genesis 1:26-31 and describes in more detail the creation of human beings. You may choose to read Genesis 2 and discuss with your group.
- Does anyone have any questions about today’s lesson?
- Use any extra time to discuss the lesson and/or the memory verse.
CLOSING REFLECTION
We learned that God created everything in 6 days. He said that His creation was “good” before He created human beings, but He described His creation as “very good” after He created human beings. God has always wanted to have a close relationship and friendship with humanity, but became separated from humanity after Adam and Eve chose to disobey Him bringing sin into the world. God is perfect and cannot be in the presence of sin. The great news is that God knew Adam and Eve would disobey and sin would come into the world, so He made a plan from the very beginning to send Jesus to earth to live a sinless life, die on the cross to take the punishment for our sins, and raise back to life so that he can offer us the free gift of salvation. When we choose to accept Jesus, we can have a relationship and friendship with God through Jesus.
Reflection Questions:
- Why does God want to have a relationship with you? (He has a special connection with humanity; sin separated us from Him when Adam and Eve disobeyed Him)
- What plan did God make to have a relationship with humanity? (He sent Jesus to live a sinless life, die on the cross to take the punishment for our sins, and raise back to life so He can offer us a free gift of salvation)
- Does anyone have any questions about today’s lesson?
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