This Bible lesson is designed to teach preschool aged children about the second day of creation when God made the water & the sky. It could be used in any setting with children age 2-5 at church, including a preschool Sunday School class or a preschool children’s church class. This lesson is part of a series of Bible lessons about creation. As always, 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 second day of Creation from Genesis 1:6-8
Learning Objectives: After this lesson, the children will demonstrate:
The understanding of what God created on the second day of creation by showing hand motions.
Target Age: 2 year olds – 5 year olds
Items Needed:
- [print_link] this lesson plan
- Bible: Genesis 1:6-8. There is a separate book to use as a visual if you would like to use it.
- Cotton balls
- 1 blue construction paper cloud per child, cotton balls, white paint, bowls for paint, newspaper to cover the tables, marker to write the children’s names on their clouds
- Large sheet of paper (butcher paper, if you have it), crayons
Worship
- You can print off these “Creation Songs” and use to lead the children to sing before the Bible lesson.
- You can also try the “My God is so BIG” preschool song.
Teaching Plan: The Second Day of Creation
Bible Lesson Introduction
Cloud Play—have a lot of cotton balls available for the children to play with. Here’s a few centers to set up for the children to choose from:
- Cotton Ball Toss: Have a bucket on the floor and have the children try to throw cotton balls into it
- Cotton Ball Match: Have a piece of construction paper split into four sections. Write the numbers 1, 2, 3, 4 in the boxes – one number per box. Place a pile of cotton balls by the numbered paper and let the children place the number of cotton balls in the box according to the number.
- Cotton Ball Play: Have a bucket of cotton balls with some styrofoam cups available for the children to fill and empty.
Bible Lesson About Creation Day Two
Read Genesis 1:6-8 aloud to the children. There is also a book that you can print out that has the story along with simple pictures to help the children understand what is being read.
“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 that was under the space from the water that was above it. God called the huge space “sky.” There was evening, and there was morning. It was day two.” NIrV (New International Reader’s Version)
Read the verses (story) to the children. If you are using the print out story, point to the pictures as you read the story so that the children can better understand what you are saying.
Read the verses (story) again, but this time, act it out. Have the children stand in a group in the middle of the room. They are the water at the beginning of the story. When it comes to the part when God separated the water…walk between the children splitting them into two groups. You are the sky. Have fun with the children while you’re doing this. The more you are enjoying the story…the more the children will like and understand it.
Discuss the Bible Reading
When you are finished reading the story the second time, ask the children the following questions so that you can know they understood it.
“Who was in the story?” God
“What was all together at the beginning of the story?” Water
“What did God create in the story today?” The Sky
“What number day was it in the story today?” Two
Creation Coloring Sheet
God Made the Sky and Sea (Creation Day Two)
This coloring sheet depicts the events from Genesis 1:6-8 where God separates the water and names the sky. This passage is often difficult to conceptualize, but Mandy’s illustration shows layers of water being forced apart as God makes room for the sky. Click the link above to see download and printing options. This was the second day of creation. Don’t miss all our creation coloring pages.
Bible Lesson Craft / Activity
Use the following activities to reinforce the learning goals. If time is short, move on to the evaluation portion of the lesson plan.
Activity: Cloud Painting
- Cover the tables with newspaper
- Pour the white paint into the bowls – just covering the bottom of the bowl—you won’t want a lot of paint in the bowls—you can always add more
- Put these off to the side until after you talk with the children about what you are going to do
- While one teacher is talking to the children about the activity, the other teacher can be writing the children’s names on their clouds
“What did God create on the 2nd day of creation? (allow for responses) Right, the sky. What kinds of things are in the sky? (allow for responses…get someone to say the clouds) We are going to make our own clouds today.”
(hold up a cotton ball)
“What is this? (allow for responses) Right, it’s a cotton ball. It looks like a cloud to me. Each of you are going to get a blue cloud to paint. We aren’t going to paint with a paintbrush, but we are going to paint with cotton balls.”
- Put the bowls in front of the children where they can reach them
- Give each child their own cotton ball and have the extra available if needed
- Demonstrate to the children how to dip their cotton ball into the paint and then how to put it on their cloud
- When the children are finished with their painting, place them off of the side to dry.
Activity: Bible Verse Memorization
“God called the huge space “sky.” There was evening, and there was morning. It was day two.” Genesis 1:8 (New International Reader’s Version)
Have the children do the following hand motions along with repeating the words after you, to help them learn the Bible Verse:
“God”—hold hand up with fingers towards the sky…the hand is raised to the heavens and then downward in a sign of respect
“called”—one hand taps a single time on the other hand to get the attention of someone
“the huge space”—place fists together away from body and, making a circular shape, bring fists together close to body
“sky”—the hand moves in an arc to indicate the sky above
“There was evening”—hold one arm horizontally in front of body, curve the other hand over that arm
“and there was morning”—hold one arm horizontally across body, stretch the other arm straight out and then bring it towards body
“It was day two.”—hold up 2 fingers
“Genesis 1”—hold up 1 finger
“3”—hold up 3 fingers
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 at this age.
Activity: Classroom Drawing
“What did God create in our Bible Verse today? (allow for responses) Right. God created the sky. We are going to draw a sky today as a class. What things are in the sky? (allow for responses).”
- Lay out the large sheet of paper on the ground along with the crayons.
- Allow the children to draw things that they would see in the sky (I know that birds haven’t been “created” yet, but it will give the children an idea of what the sky is.)
Lesson Evaluation:
“Last week we learned about God creating the light and today we learned about God separating the water and creating the sky. Let’s practice.”
“First there was darkness and light” (cover eyes with hands and then release)
“Then there was water and sky” (make waves with hands & arms & then wave up in the air)
* Repeat the saying along with the hand motions. Then ask the children what God created on the first day of creation and have them do the motions by themselves and say what He did.
Need More Help? Then try our free Bible story book about Creation or browse all our story of creation teaching materials.