This lesson plan is designed to teach preschool aged children about the sixth and seventh days of creation. This includes God making mankind in his image and then resting on the seventh day. This lesson is part of a series of Bible lessons about creation. 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. 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 sixth and seventh days 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 first-seventh days of creation by showing hand motions.
Target Age: 2 year olds – 5 year olds
Items Needed:
- [print_link] this lesson plan
- Bible, Genesis 1:24-2:2
- Stuffed animals
- Creation Days 6 & 7 Storybook for Preschoolers.
- 1 straw per child, 2 large marshmallows per child, 1 small marshmallow per child (colored are ok), 2 pretzel sticks per child, extra marshmallows and pretzel sticks to snack on
- Mirror(s)
- You might enjoy our printable coloring pages 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
Have multiple stuffed animals available for the children to play with. Guide them in imaginary play if they are having trouble. If the children brought their own stuffed animal, GREAT!
Bible Lesson
Read Genesis 1:24-2:2 aloud to the children. This is a long passage so it might be best to read from a Bible storybook about creation with simple pictures to help the children understand what is being read.
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)
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 have the children act like the different animals that are mentioned. Use the following as examples:
- livestock – moo like a cow
- creatures that move along the ground – hiss like a snake
- wild animals – roar like a lion
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 did God create in the story today?” the animals of the ground and people
“What did God think about His creation?” It was very good
“How many days did it take for God to create the world?” 6—He rested on the seventh day
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: 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 straw and 1 large marshmallow.
- Demonstrate how to push their marshmallow onto the straw about half way down the straw.
- Then show them how to push the other large marshmallow onto the straw on top of the other one. Now you have the body.
- Next goes the small marshmallow. Now you have the head.
- Demonstrate, next, how to push the pretzel sticks on either side of the top large marshmallow. These are the arms.
- Have the children bring this home to show their parents, but have extra snacks for them to eat.
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.
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.
Bible Verse Activity: Seeing God’s Image in the Mirror
“What did God create during our Bible Verse today? (allow for responses) Right. God made man. That means that God created people. God made you and God made me. We all look and act different. Some of us are boys and some of us are girls. We all have faces, but some of us have brown hair and some of us have red hair. Some of us have brown eyes and some of us have blue eyes.
God made you in His image. (pull out the mirror and put it in front of a child’s face) What do you see? (allow the child to say themselves). You know what I see? I see God. You all look like God to me. You were made in God’s image and so you look like God.”
Let all of the children have a turn to use the mirror.
Lesson Evaluation:
Go over the hand motions with the children to help them remember what was created on each day. After you go over them, ask them what was created on each day and have them do the hand motions.
- “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)
- “Then there were dirt and trees” (wiggle fingers in front of you for dirt & grow up like a tree)
- “Then there were was the sun and the moon” (put arms above head and then like you are sleeping)
- “Then God made fish & the birds” (put hands together and wiggle like a fish then flap arms like a bird)
“Then God made the animals of the ground” (have the children hop like a kangaroo or roar like a lion” - “Then last of all, best of all, God made me!” (have the children point to themselves)
- “Finally, God took a rest.” (have the children act like they are sleeping)
Repeat the saying along with the hand motions. Have fun!
Need More Help? Then try our free Bible story book about Creation or browse all our story of creation teaching materials.