This blog is dedicated to the creation of a Bible Event Journal for kids!
Begin with the first blog--Before the Beginning--to create your own Bible Event Journal with your kids or even with your church's kids class. Join us and enjoy!
The binder activity for this lesson could not have been easier, thanks to DLTK! Templates are here as well as the answer key.
Our take-home craft was a little more complicated, but it went very well & was one of the kids' favorites! I believe most people call it an ocean in a bottle.
You may want a funnel available to avoid some of the messiness! The kids filled an empty drinking bottle halfway with water and added a few drops of food coloring, mixing it until they got the color they wanted. Some of them added some glitter and we brought a package of cheap fishing lures (without the hooks, obviously...less than $4 for a package) so the fish could swim during the 'storm.' Then they added regular cooking oil until the bottle was nearly full. The adults added a bit of superglue to the threads of the bottle before tightly screwing the cap closed to decrease the chance of a 'storm surge.' Fabulous fun!
If you need the instructions in a video format, click here courtesy of videojug.
This craft required very little preparation. We punched holds in the left side of a piece of cardstock for each child, then printed out the following picture of Noah's Ark on regular printer paper and cut around the outside edge, being sure to include the white edging. We put each kids' pieces in a ziploc bag, leaving one puzzle uncut for an example. Then they laid out the pieces until they solved the puzzle, then glued them onto their cardstock for their binder. (Note: the picture will be glued so the left edge parallels the bottom of the card stock.)
Remember, the fun is in the process & not just the final product.
For our take-home craft, we made the typical boats (or paper hats) that most of us grew up making. That being said, it wasn't such an easy task. I suggest you make a couple of them ahead of time, not only to remind yourself of the steps but also to give to kids whose boats may not turn out so well. The directions are here courtesy of the University of Texas. Decorate as time allows.
This lesson focused on four Biblical characters, two of them from Genesis 3 (Seth & Lamech) and two of them from Genesis 4 (Enoch & Methuselah.) We began by reminding the kids of the story of Cain and Abel from the previous lesson, and talked about the birth of Seth. We also brought out the story of Lamech who not only claimed the protection that God had granted only to Cain (and then some), but who also was the first man recorded in the Bible as taking two wives. Then we moved into Enoch who walked so closely with God that God translated Him to heaven without his ever experiencing death. We ended with Methuselah, the oldest man to ever live. Our craft focused on Enoch & Methuselah, but we did include Seth & Lamech in our Sectional Review which will come just before the calling of Abraham.
For this craft, we printed a template onto cardstock and punched holes in the left-hand side to fit the page for the kids' binder. We chose two (very cute) bear friends to represent Enoch & God and printed it along with the numbers 969 on another piece of cardstock (template here), and sliced an X in the middle of each number and at the appropriate places on the main sheet (see example below) with a box cutter (you could also use one side of a pair of scissors.) Then we had the kids cut the bears, the 9, the 6 and the 9 out of the template and hook the numbers to their binder page using paper fasteners. The idea behind this is helping the kids to remember that a 9 can turn completely around and look like a 6 which can turn completely around and look like a 9. Once they have those 3 numbers in their head, it's easier for them to remember the 6 sandwiched between the two 9's while they're all doing 'somersaults.'
The Enoch part of the craft was a little bit more difficult. We cut a small piece of straw and had the kids tape it horizontally on the back of the bears. Then they taped a piece of sewing string to the left hand side of the paper, threaded the string through the straw, and tied the other end to a paperclip. That paperclip was hooked to the right hand side of the paper straight across from the other paperclip. Getting the tightness of the string right was a bit difficult, but the final idea was that Enoch & God walked along the grass back & forth for many years. Then one day they went together into heaven instead (illustrated by moving the paperclip from the middle of the page to the top.) If this is too difficult for your age group, the string can be simply taped to the sides of the paper and never moved. The websites for the clouds, grass and bears are listed at the end of this blog.
The take-home craft for this lesson is courtesy of Nick's Paper Airplanes and symbolizes Enoch & God flying through the sky toward heaven. This paper airplane is a little more complicated than the typical 5-fold airplane, which makes it a great craft opportunity. More importantly, however, it flies VERY well! The kids can also decorate it to make it their own, and can even make quite a few since sheets of paper are inexpensive. Click here for the directions and enjoy!
The binder activity for the story of Cain & Able is a tweaked version of this maze. Click here to download our version. The websites for each picture are at the end of this blog.
For our take-home craft, we used another craft courtesy of dltk.com A toilet paper roll shepherd and farmer. Click here for the shepherd instructions and here for the farmer instructions.
After the last lesson's busy schedule, this lesson was a breeze. Special thanks to dltk's website for this idea. Original website for craft
We bought 3 colors of acrylic (craft) paint at Walmart for 97cents each (Folk Art brand)---brown, green, & red (we already had purple at home so we brought it & whatever else we had for more variety.) Then we poured a little bit of paint onto a disposable plate for each kid & let the kids fingerpaint the Tree of Knowledge of Good & Evil on a piece of cardstock with holes punched in the left side. The only stipulation for the kids was that they write the title on it somewhere, and otherwise they had creative license.
This child chose to add a few birds and even a squirrel's nest. We also bought a no-name brand of baby wipes for the kids' hands and for the table, so cleaning the mess was no problem.
That craft was for the binder, and so could NOT go home with them. As a take-home craft we used this idea for a paper snake, also from dltk's website. Original website for craft
We did not limit the kids to these colors, and we even had a few kids add wings to their snakes! One package of construction paper, some scissors, and a roll of tape had us good to go.
We created a video of the song In the Very Beginning by the Heritage Singers to introduce the lesson of the Creation week. The youtube link is here
This Bingo game is our in-binder activity, and we have played it many times since this lesson. We printed out one template on CARDSTOCK for each of the kids and punched holes in the left hand side so it would fit nicely in their binder.
We printed the pieces on PRINTER PAPER (not cardstock) and let the kids cut out their pieces ONE COLUMN at a time. Then they could arrange and glue their pieces into the correct column in any order they wished. (Every picture of light goes under column one because light was created on the first day, and so on.) This way every kid's bingo template would naturally be different from the others. Notice that there are only 7 spaces in each column but there are 8 pieces kids can use. This allows for Black Out to be played. Also notice that a church and praying hands are options which can be used for your day of worship.
You can download the pieces in color at Creation Bingo Pieces or in black and white at Creation Bingo Pieces Black & White I have listed the websites for each of these pictures at the end of this blog. Do not forget to print out your own copy of the pieces as the draw pile. We simply cut colored card stock (or construction paper) into 1" squares as covers for the game boards and taped a Ziploc bag to the inside cover of the binder for storing the covers.
Even adults have trouble remembering the Creation Week in order, so we came up with a simple drawing craft to help kids visualize the concept.
Day 1: the number one is used in place of the i in light
Day 2: God splits the water into 2 parts. (Remember that water already existed)
Day 3: God made the land & plants so we put a 3 under the hill to indicate earth & then put 1 tree & 2 flowers to further indicate day 3 (3 plants, day 3)
Day 4: God made the Sun, Moon, & StarS...so we made a 4 to create four sections & drew the sun, the moon, and 2 stars so there were 4 heavenly bodies--one in each section.
Day 5: God made ocean creatures & birds. They all start with F...Five, Fish, Flyers.
Day 6: God made everything that has a nose, so we used the number six as a nose of whatever animal the kids wanted to draw (here is pictured a person & a pig.) God also created insects on day 6, so you can't see it well here but there is an insect crawling in the person's hair *smile*
Day 7: God made Sabbath rest so we drew a church with people inside and used a 7 as the steeple.
To finish the lesson, we printed out Creation Numbers and laid them out on the table so all the kids could reach them. Then we drew a single card from our Bingo draw pile & the kids slapped their hands on the correct Creation day. Whoever's hand was at the bottom of the pile got the draw card and whoever had the most draw cards at the end was declared the winner. Obviously this game requires serious chaperoning so the kids don't get too excited and involved. Click here for the website where these pictures can be downloaded (this is the website for the number 1, then scroll down the page for the other numbers.)
This blog is dedicated to the creation of a Bible Event Journal for kids!
Our church's kids class has embarked on a journey through the Scriptures, creating one craft or activity for each Bible story that can be collected into a binder. Once completed, this binder will serve as a type of road map through the stories of the Bible. When possible, we have also included a take-home craft for each Bible story for the kids to enjoy immediately.
To begin, you only need a cheap vinyl binder for each child. We chose the binders at the Dollar Tree since they were obviously only $1 each. The kids were then encouraged to decorate their binder any way they chose with permanent markers and/or stickers so we could pick their binder out of the crowd easily. We then discussed the idea behind this binder, and reinforced the idea that the binders would be staying at church each week--they could not take them home until we had completed the book of Genesis. But each week there would be a craft they could take home, but the binder was not to be taken home until it was completed. Once this was understood and they were assured that the binder would eventually be theirs to do with as they pleased, they readily agreed and happily made their binder look unique.
Next we introduced our theme song for the book of Genesis, courtesy of youtube. We chose Genesis by The Fabulous Bentley Brothers, a singing duo featured on the What's in the Bible series by Big Idea. The video can be found http://youtu.be/EtWaEJ0dBXI
The kids enjoyed this video so much that we downloaded all of their songs available via youtube to use for our opening song service for the class. (Note: We downloaded this video using RealPlayer and burned it to a DVD using Nero Smart Start.)
We also chose the song Bible Book Bop by Go Fish to use during song service so the kids could gain a familiarity with the layout of the Bible overall. This video was apparently made for use during a Vacation Bible School series, but my kids absolutely love it! It can be found at http://youtu.be/63UlqUyg8FI Even I have finally learned the books of the Bible in order! (I no longer get lost in the minor prophets.)
One more song we've added to our song service repertoire is I Just Wanna Be a Sheep by Butterfly Song Music. But be warned--our kids ask for this song EVERY week! It is found at http://youtu.be/aYKxzTHPJpE
These songs concluded our introduction to the Genesis Journal. We used other Bible songs also downloaded from youtube until class time ended, and encouraged the children to return next week for our first story from the Bible and to sing the 'sheep song' again!
