Creation Week

Kylee really enjoys learning about God. So, I decided to dedicate the week before Earth Day to the story of creation. I figured that in order to want to "save the Earth", she would first have to understand what Earth is and why she should appreciate it. The Creation Story seemed like the perfect way to hit those three birds with one stone. Disclaimer: this is NOT an early lesson in creationism vs. evolution. I  believe in teaching evolution (when the time comes). Anyways, here is what did....

Day 1: Kylee learned the bible verse "In the beginning God created Heaven and Earth. Genesis 1:1" She also learned that its the first verse in the bible. We looked at pictures of the Earth (We really need to get a globe). I briefly mentioned that on the first day God created light and dark, but we didn't spend a lot of time talking about it. She knows the difference between light and dark, and I'm not sure if I fully understand myself how there was light before the sun. So, we focused primarily on learning the verse and alluding to the other things that we would talk about throughout the week.

Day 2: God created water & the sky.

We went outside and looked at the sky. We were going to observe/talk about the way the clouds looked, but there was literally not a cloud in the sky all day. I made the girls a cloudy sky snack out of blue jello and whipped cream. It didn't turn out quite as pretty as the picture on pinterest, but they liked it.



While Makenna napped, Kylee and I talked a little bit more about what clouds are. I used another pinterest idea and let her use a medicine dropper to drip colored water over a shaving cream "cloud" and watch it "rain" back into the water below. She LOVED it, and I thought it was neat way to demonstrate the relationship between sky and water.

Of course, we can't break out the shaving cream without having a little bit of messy fun.

We also talked about water and how important it is. We made it a game to see how much water we could drink that day, and we talked about other things that we use water for (to take a bath, to wash our dishes/clothes, to swim/play in).

Day 3: God created land and plants.

We went on a mini nature walk in our front yard to see how many different kinds of plants that we could find. The girls took samples of their findings and made a nature bracelet as we went. We observed our neighbor's giant tree and flowers and talked about how beautiful the grass, trees, and flowers are.



Then we went to the produce section at Country Mart to look at/talk about all the plants that we can eat. We picked a variety of fruits and vegetables and brought them home for a picnic on the patio. As we ate, we talked about foods that God made for us (fruits & veggies) being healthier for us than the ones that people make (chips, cookies, etc).

Later we had a less healthy but fun potted plant snack (chocolate pudding with crushed chocolate graham crackers and a fake flower).

Day 4: God made the sun, moon, and stars.
We read Fancy Nancy Stellar Star Gazer.  When it got dark we went outside to look at the moon and stars. Then we came inside and looked at pictures of them up close. We poked holes in a piece of paper and it put over a flashlight to make stars on the ceiling.

Day 5: God created birds and sea creatures.
We went outside and watched for birds. We talked about all the different kinds of birds that we could see. We were going to make a bird feeder out of a milk jug, but daddy threw our empty jug away (he didn't realize we had plans for it). So, we had to save that project for another day.  We snacked on goldfish crackers, and the girls bath that night was ocean themed (blue tub tint & ocean animal water squirters).

Day 6: God made animals and people.
It would have been nice to go to the zoo this day. However, since we don't live close to one , we had to settle for watching Barney: Let's Go to the Zoo. We read All God's Critters. Then we ate animal crackers as we talked about our favorite animals and people and the things that make them (and us) special.

Day 7: God rested. We partied.