Everyday tip for your Sunday school lesson or children’s ministry
# Object lesson on creation
Bible verse:
Genesis 1: 5 “God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day." - NIV
The first time
God just made the first day. For the first time... Countless days will follow. But this was the first day.
When something is for the first time, it always feels extra special. For example: your first day at school or in the new class. Your first day in your sports team, your first day in camp.
Question: Who wants to say something about their first day?
To help children, you can let them sit in a circle and give one of the children an object in their hands. The person with the object has to tell something about his or her first day.
After this, this person can walk to someone else in the circle and give him or her this object and then this child can tell something about their first day.
Everyday tip for your Sunday school lesson or children’s ministry
# Object lesson on creation
Bible verse:
Genesis 1: 5 “God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day." - NIV
The first name
Imagine if we had a world without names. What would your mother and father call you? What about the friends you play with? Do you get a number or do the others say, "Hey, you there!"
Our name is so important. It makes us who we are. Just feel how strange it is when you suddenly have a different name.
Let the children sit in a circle. Give each child the name of a child sitting to the left of him or her.
Have the child sitting to his or her right ask a question with this name in it. For example, "What's your favorite food, Robert?" And so go through the circle.
It's weird to suddenly get the name of your neighbour and discover that your other neighbour now has your name.
Names are very important. And the first name is given by... God.
And do you know who gets the first name?
Light! Light gets its first name from God. God gives light the name 'Day'
Everyday tip for your Sunday school lesson or children’s ministry
# Object lesson on creation
Bible verse:
Genesis 1: 4 “God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness." - NIV
It was good...
Let the children take turns telling you what they are good at. For each child who tells you this, let the other children keep their thumbs up, as a symbol that they also like it.
Holding up your thumb is a powerful symbol. Raising means that you like something. Down means that you think it's bad or wrong.
When God has finished making light, He looks at what He has made and raises His thumb.
Everyday tip for your Sunday school lesson or children’s ministry
# Object lesson on creation
Bible verse:
Genesis 1: 3 “And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light." - NIV
Let there be light.
Bring a beautiful or bright lamp and turn it on.
When God begins to create, he will first create light. As human beings, we cannot do without light. There are parts of the world, in the far north, where there is very little light in the winter. Some people find this very difficult. Some people move to the south in order to have enough light. Light is so important...
And God knows that. That is why God starts with light. Now there is something to see. Now he can continue to create.
Everyday tip for your Sunday school lesson or children’s ministry
# Object lesson on creation
Bible verse:
Genesis 1: 3 “And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light." - NIV
God creates with His voice.
God speaks and it is there. This is something we humans can't do or can we?
Q: What can we as humans create with our voice and by speaking?
For example, a nice or a nasty atmosphere.
How could you create a nasty atmosphere with your voice? And how to create a nice atmosphere?
Let the children try this.
With our words we can also create or destroy something with the other person. With a compliment you build someone up and with a bad remark or a swear word you break someone down.
Actually, we are much more powerful than we think...
Everyday tip for your Sunday school lesson or children’s ministry
# Object lesson on creation
Bible verse:
Genesis 1: 2 “Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters." - NIV
The Spirit of God was hovering
Have a hairdryer and a table tennis ball. Try this at home first. :-)
Place the table tennis ball on the hairdryer and turn on the hairdryer. If all goes well, the ball will continue to float above the hairdryer.
Personally, I like this image of the Spirit of God hovering over the waters in Genesis 1:2.
Everyday tip for your Sunday school lesson or children’s ministry
# Object lesson on creation
Bible verse:
Genesis 1: 2 “Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters." - NIV
Formless and empty
At the very beginning, before God begins to create, heaven and earth were formless and empty.
Take an empty canvas and wrap it in brown wrapping paper, but in such a way that you can't see that it contains a canvas. Play with the shape of the package by wrapping newspaper around it.
Now you have a package that looks a bit shapeless. Let a child open the package. Take out the empty canvas.
Q: What is the advantage of an empty canvas? A: You can still paint anything on it.
Tell the children that at the very beginning heaven and earth were like an empty canvas, if God could start painting on it.
Everyday tip for your Sunday school lesson or children’s ministry
# Object lesson on creation
Bible verse:
Genesis 1: 1 “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”
God created...
This tip will help you take a look at what "God as Creator" means with the children in your Sunday school, children's ministry, kidmin or in the classroom.
The very first thing we ever hear about God in the Bible is that He makes things. God is a Maker. That means that He finds new things important and that He is creative.
As a creator, it is also important to look ahead and be able to see in your imagination what you are going to make.
Show the children something you made yourself. This can be a drawing, a sweater, an embroidery or even cookies or a cake. Also bring the ingredients you need to make this.
Show the kids the difference between the ingredients and the finished product. Tell them how you already had in mind what it would look like.
Q: Could God also have had in mind what everything would look like?
Everyday tip for your Sunday school lesson or children’s ministry
# Object lesson on creation
Bible verse:
Genesis 1: 1 “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”
God?!
What words do children in your Sunday school, children's service, children's work or in the classroom associate with the concept of God?
The fourth word in the Bible is the word 'God'. When you read the Bible for the first time, you have no idea what this word means. We don't know anything about God here yet.
But fortunately we are thousands of years further and we are no longer at the beginning. All children in our Sunday school class also know something about God.
Take a stack of A4 papers and pens.
Write the word 'GOD' on an A4 paper. Put it on the floor in the middle of the room. Ask children to think of as many things about God as possible. Write each word or understanding on a new A4 paper and put it around the word 'GOD'.
Everyday tip for your Sunday school lesson or children’s ministry
# Object lesson on creation
Bible verse:
Genesis 1: 1 “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”
In the beginning...
How do you explain to the children in your Sunday school, children's service, children's work or in the classroom what 'in the beginning' means?
You could start by asking about their earliest memories. What is the first thing they can remember? That is the beginning for them.
Then take a ball of wool and roll it off slowly. Place the children's memories on the first five centimetres of the ball of wool.
Ask the children what they know about history. As you roll off the ball of wool, you slowly talk through the history of mankind. At the end you come to the beginning. The beginning of the ball of wool, but also at the beginning of creation.
Tell the children that the Bible starts at the very beginning.
You can create a magical moment by bringing a stick figure to life.
This is ideal for when you do a talk about:
Easter As a visual demonstration of the resurrection of Jesus!
Creation Then the Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being. (Genesis 2: 7)
The raising of Lazarus Rrecounted in the Gospel of John (John 11:1-44), a miracle of Jesus in which Jesus brings Lazarus of Bethany back to life four days after his burial.
The raising of the son of the widow of Nain Recorded in the Gospel of Luke. Jesus arrived at the village of Nain during the burial ceremony of the son of a widow, and raised the young man from the dead. (Luke 7:11–17)
Being alive in Christ But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ (Ephesians 2:5)
Watch the two video's below to discover how you use this great object lesson!
Fun crafts idea
Of course you can also use it as a fun crafts idea, as shown in the video below!
How does it work?
As you can see in the videa all you need is a whiteboard marker and a flat, shiny surface. Use a whiteboard marker to draw a stick figure on a flat, shiny surface and drop a little water on it. Then you'll see the drawing slowly lift off the surface and become one with the watery bubble.
This is because the ink in a whiteboard marker, unlike a permanent marker, includes an oily silicone substance. Because oil sits on top of water so does this ink, which will also move as the puddle moves. By gently blowing on the puddle the stick figure will swish and dance around according to which way you blow on it.
The final product may look like an intricate optical illusion, but the stick figure comes to life thanks to only a whiteboard marker, some water and a shiny surface.
Themes:
The resurrection of Christ, raising of Lazarus, the resurrecrtion of Lazarus, the raising of the widow's son, creation of mankind, being made alive in Christ
Create an unforgettable experiment for your Sunday school class
Did you know that you can create the most beautiful colour effects, even a rainbow, in a bowl of milk? The only things you need for this is a bowl of milk, different colours of food colouring (liquid) and a drop of washing up liquid.
This is not just a really fun craft, it is also a cool science experiment that will appeal to both the girls and the boys in your Sunday school class or your children’s ministry.
You can combine this experiment with several Bible stories or Christian themes:
The story of creation - creating something that is beautiful (Genesis 1) The story of Noah and the rainbow – creating a rainbow in the milk (Genesis 9:8-17) The story of the Bethlehem star – creating a star in the milk (Matthew 2: 1-12)| The theme of light conquering darkness – this works really well if you use lots of dark colours in the milk. The theme of the cross – maybe it is an accident, but most of the effects in the video below change into a cross.
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