This Children’s Church lesson plan was first written for children age 5 – 11. It covers the final two day of creation when God makes man on the sixth day and then rests on the seventh. This lesson is part of a series of Bible lessons about creation.This material could could also be used as the Bible lesson for children’s Sunday school. 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 six and seventh days day of Creation from Genesis 1:24-2:2
Learning Objectives: After this lesson, the children will demonstrate:
An understanding of what God created on the sixth and seventh days of creation by playing Pictionary.
Target Age: Kindergarten – 5th
Items Needed:
- [print_link] this lesson plan
- Bible: Genesis 1:24-2:2. There is a detailed account of these verses below to help emphasize the importance of these few verses.
- 1 straw per child, 1 bag of large marshmallows, 1 bag of small marshmallows, 1 bag of pretzel sticks, 4 trays, 1 paper plate per child, extra marshmallows and pretzel sticks to snack on
- Each word of the Bible Verse written on individual index cards (2 sets), 2 rolls of tape, markers
- Whiteboard, whiteboard markers
- Don’t miss our free coloring pictures about creation.
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 Sixth and Seventh Days of Creation
Bible Lesson Introduction **Review Creation Days #1-5**
Following are some questions to review what God created on the first through fourth days of Creation. The answers are in italics.
- “What did God create on the first day of creation?” heavens, earth, light
- “What did God create on the second day of creation?” the sky to separate the water
- “What did God create on the third day of creation?“ land, plants with seeds, plants with fruit with seeds
- “What did God create on the fourth day of creation?” sun, moon and stars
- “What did God create on the fifth day of creation?” birds and the animals in the waters
Bible Lesson
Have the children open their Bibles to Genesis 1:24-2:2 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 1:24-2:2 aloud to the children.
God said, “Let the land produce all kinds of living creatures. Let there be livestock, and creatures that move along the ground, and wild animals. Let there be all kinds of them.” And that’s exactly what happened. God made all kinds of wild animals. He made all kinds of livestock. He made all kinds of creatures that move along the ground. And God saw that it was good. Then God said, “Let us make man in our likeness. Let them rule over the fish in the waters and the birds of the air. Let them rule over the livestock and over the whole earth. Let them rule over all of the creatures that move along the ground.”
So God created man in his own likeness. He created him in the likeness of God. He created them as male and female.
God blessed them. He said to them, “Have children and increase your numbers. Fill the earth and bring it under your control. Rule over the fish in the waters and the birds of the air. Rule over every living creature that moves on the ground.” Then God said, “I am giving you every plant on the face of the whole earth that bears 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 to all of the land animals and the birds of the air for food. I am also giving the plants to all of the creatures that move on 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.
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 the seventh day he rested from all of his work. God blessed the seventh day and made it holy. He rested on it. After he had created everything, he rested from all of the work he had done.
NIrV (New International Reader’s Version)
Discuss the Bible Reading
The following discussion is given as a guide, be sure to personalize your teaching for the needs of your class.
God said, “Let the land produce all kinds of living creatures.
Now God is creating life on land. “Let there be livestock, and creatures that move along the ground, and wild animals. Let there be all kinds of them.
God is always very specific about the animals that He creates. He listed livestock, creatures that move along the ground and wild animals. He didn’t just say, “Let there be animals.” No. He listed the kinds of animals that He wanted to create.
And that’s exactly what happened. God made all kinds of wild animals. He made all kinds of livestock. He made all kinds of creatures that move along the ground.
Things happen the way God wants them to. And God saw that it was good. This shows us, again, that it is okay to be proud of ourselves for a job well done.
Then God said, “Let us make man in our likeness. Man is finally created. Man is the last thing that God created. Notice how God says, “Let us…” He didn’t say, “Let me…” He was referring to the trinity: God the Father, God the Son (Jesus) and God the Spirit (the Holy Spirit). They were all there at the beginning. Just because we don’t “see” Jesus or the Holy Spirit until later in the Bible, doesn’t mean that they weren’t there for creation. They are and always have been 3 in 1.
Let them rule over the fish in the waters and the birds of the air. Let them rule over the livestock and over the whole earth. Let them rule over all of the creatures that move along the ground. God is making sure that man would be at the “top” of His creation. Man is to rule over everything else in creation.
So God created man in his own likeness. He created him in the likeness of God. He created them as male and female.
Wow! God created us in His image or likeness! We are the only thing of creation that is in His image. This means that we have a soul. No other animals can think, act or feel like us.
God blessed them. God blessed man just like He blessed the animals on day 5.
He said to them, “Have children and increase your numbers. Fill the earth and bring it under your control.” He only created 2 people: 1 man and 1 woman. It was their “duty” to fill the earth. Rule over the fish in the waters and the birds of the air. Rule over every living creature that moves on the ground.
God told the people what their “duty” was. He wanted to make sure that they knew that they would rule over the rest of creation.
Then God said, “I am giving you every plant on the face of the whole earth that bears 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.”
God had to create man last so that everything else would be in place in order for man to be able to survive. That shows us that God is a god of order. He had a plan for creation just like He has a plan for each of our lives. Man has food to eat. Notice how God gave the man the plants to eat. He says nothing about animals to eat. This doesn’t come about until man sins later in the Bible.
“I am giving every green plant to all of the land animals and the birds of the air for food. I am also giving the plants to all of the creatures that move on the ground. I am giving them to every living thing that breathes.”
He wanted the man to know that the animals could eat the plants too.
And that’s exactly what happened. God saw everything he had made. And it was very good.
Again, God is pleased with His creation. But, notice how God says that it was “very good”. This is the first time that He said anything was very good. He was proud of His work until now, but it wasn’t complete. Once He completed His creation, then it was “very good”. There was evening, and there was morning. It was day six.
Six days to create everything! Wow! So the heavens and the earth and everything in them were completed. God created everything and it was complete. By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing.
It only took God 6 days to create the world and everything in it. That’s less than a week. What do you get done in 6 days? None of us could get that much completed. Some people question whether God’s days were longer than our days. There is no evidence to support this theory. Why would God create our days to be different from His days? God literally had 6 – 24 hour days to create the world.
So on the seventh day he rested from all of his work. God rested? God did a lot of work and so He rested. God shows us that it’s okay to rest. Some people think that they have to keep going all of the time, but that’s not biblical. God rested, which means that it’s okay for us to rest. The problem is when people rest too much or work too much. You need to find a balance of work and rest.
God blessed the seventh day and made it holy.
This is why we are supposed to rest one day a week and keep it holy.
He rested on it. After he had created everything, he rested from all of the work he had done. Again, it is just stating that God rested after all of His work. I think He deserves it, don’t you?
Bible Lesson Activities
Use the following activities to reinforce the learning goals. If time is short, move on to the evaluation portion of the lesson plan.
Activity: Marshmallow People
“What did God create last? (allow for responses) God waited to the end to make us. He wanted everything else to be just right until He brought us into the world. We are going to make people, too! Ours will be out of marshmallows, though.”
- Give each child a paper plate and a straw
- Put the marshmallows and pretzels (separated) onto the trays and put them in the middle of the room or on a table accessible to the children
- Put the extra marshmallows and pretzels on a tray and put it at the front of the room for the children to snack on
- Let them create their own people with the marshmallows and pretzels
- Make sure that they know that there are extra marshmallows and pretzels to snack on so they don’t eat the craft materials
Activity: Bible Verse Memorization
“So God created man in his own likeness.” Genesis 1:27 (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:
“So 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 fists twist on top of one another, as if they were putting something together
“man”—the hand grasps the visor of a cap in the position that is commonly used to indicate the concept of male
“in his”—hold hand up with fingers towards the sky…the hand is raised to the heavens and then downward in a sign of respect
“own likeness”—the fists, with the thumb out, outline the shape of a body
“Genesis 1”—hold 1 finger up
“27”—(2 motions) hold hand up with index finger and thumb in an “L” shape and then touch the ring finger to the thumb
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: Missing Words
- Split the group into 2 groups
- Assign each group a color (1 of the 2 colors that the Bible Verse is written on)
- Have the children close their eyes while you hide all of the Bible Verse piece around the room
- Have the children find all of their pieces (they must not touch the other group’s pieces)
- When they have all of their pieces (11 in all) they have to tape it together
- After their Bible Verse is taped together, have them flip their cards over and draw a picture of what the Bible Verse means to them on the other side.
- Let each team show and explain their pictures.
Evaluation:
6 & 7th Day Pictionary: Give each child a turn to have a turn. Each child needs to think of something that was created on the 6th or 7th days of creation and then they must draw it while trying to get the other children to guess.
Need More Help? Then try our free Bible story book about Creation or browse all our story of creation teaching materials.