For a free pdf download of this resource click here
Prayer / Worship Activity
Option 1: 10 mins
Give everyone a balloon and ask them to blow it up and write something on it which they are thankful for. Bat the balloons around the room for a minute before everyone chooses one balloon (not their own) and prays, thanking God for the item on that balloon.
Option 2 10 mins
Before the service, ask everyone to bring small hand drums, plastic bowls or anything that could be used as a drum. Ensure there is one for each person. If you have a small group, you can do this activity all together. If you have a larger congregation you will need to split into smaller groups. Choose one person in each group to start an easy rhythm that everyone can copy. Get the rhythm going and then ask each person to pray out a simple praise prayer in time to the beat. Give them a minute to think of what they can pray and then go around the group. At the end of each prayer, everyone in the group can shout ‘Amen’.
Story 15 mins
Cover the floor with large pieces of lining paper. Split the congregation into groups and give each group a ‘part’ from this list: light / day, darkness / night, water, sky, land, seas, plants, sun, moon, stars, creatures in the water, birds, animals, people. As you read story, bring each group in to draw, paint or make their part of creation using poster paints, chunky pens or different coloured material so that by the end of the story you have one whole creation. If you have someone in your group who has a deep, booming voice you can use them to read out the ‘Creator God’ parts. Read out this story:
Before there was anything, there was nothing. Can you imagine it? No Earth, no animals, no stars, no people, no flowers, no conkers, no stones; just thick, black, darkness and swirling, empty water. Then Creator God’s voice boomed out into the darkness. ‘Let there be light!’ Suddenly, bright light exploded and transformed the nothingness. Creator God was pleased with the light he had made. He divided up the darkness and light, calling them ‘day’ and night’. This was his first day of creating.
The second day, Creator God’s voice boomed again, ‘Let there be something to divide up the water!’ Out of nowhere, appeared the air. Creator God put some of the water above the air, and some below it. He named the air ‘sky.’ His second day of creating was completed.
On the third day, Creator God’s voice bellowed out into the air, ‘Let the water under the sky gather together, so dry land will appear!’ Before the eyes of the smiling Creator, the water squished and squashed into enormous puddles. Dry land appeared from under the waters. Creator God named the dry land ‘earth’ and the huge puddles he named ‘sea’. He was pleased! It was going exactly to plan!
He was having so much fun, he shouted again: ‘I want to see plants! Plants that produce grains, delicious fruits and seeds to make more plants!’ So plants sprouted up from nowhere on God’s earth - tall plants, fat plants, plants with juicy fruits, plants with spiky leaves. All the plants produced seeds so they could grow again. Creator God looked on at all these and laughed to himself! How beautiful they looked! How different they all were! He was so very pleased.
The fourth day arrived, and Creator God looked up at the sky and boomed: ‘We need some lights in the sky! Lights to separate day and night!’ An enormous, fiery ball of light exploded into the sky. This light was to rule the daytime and Creator God named it ‘sun’. A smaller, paler ball of light rolled in on the action too. This light was to rule the night and God named it ‘moon’. With a flick of his hand, smaller balls of lights flew out into the darkness too. He called these ‘stars’. Creator God smiled at the sun, the moon and the stars. They were perfect.
On the fifth day, Creator God’s voice spoke out again: ‘The water needs creatures! The sky needs birds!’ So the water was filled with wriggling, squirming fish, enormous whales, tiny clown fish, ferocious sharks, stripy fish, spotty fish, fish with lights on their heads, scuttling crabs and elegant seahorses. They all filled the waters and Creator God had a whale of a time making them all look so different! The sky was filled with swooping, flapping birds. Birds with huge wings, birds that would hum, birds that could make holes in trees with their beaks, birds that ate fish, birds that ate worms, birds with bright colours and birds that could be camouflaged. Creator God spoke to the fish and the birds: ‘Have babies and grow in number. Fill the skies and the seas with more of your own! I love seeing you enjoying the waters and the skies I have made!’ He watched the fish and the birds exploring their new home and laughed to himself. What a delight to make such funny creatures! He had a lot of fun creating them.
The brand new sun rose on the sixth day and Creator God’s voice roared out again: ‘My Earth needs animals! We need tame animals, wild animals and tiny creepy crawly animals!’ With a bark and a screech, the earth exploded with animals of every kind! Stripy fierce tigers who roared, cheeky chimpanzees swinging through the branches of the trees, scurrying spiders finding a stone to hide under, enormous, lolloping elephants swinging their trunks, fluffy rabbits twitching their noses, big hairy gorillas beating their chests, smelly pigs rolling in the mud. They were so funny! Creator God was so pleased, he loved the animals he had made!
There was just one more thing missing from his creation. He wanted some friends. His voice thundered out across his creation for one last time: ‘Let us make people! We’ll make them just like us! They can look after the fish, the birds, the animals and the earth.’ So Creator God took a handful of dust from the ground and formed a man from it. He breathed life into the man’s nose. He named the man ‘Adam’. Then, while Adam was asleep, he took one of the ribs from Adam’s body and made a woman. He named the woman ‘Eve’. She was to be Adam’s helper.
The people were God’s friends. They walked with him and talked with him. Creator God was so pleased and he loved his creation so very much. He loved the people he had made. His creation was now complete. It was absolutely perfect. When the sun rose on the seventh day, Creator God had finished all his work. He was happy with the work he had done. He rested on this day, and made sure that it would be a special day for his people to rest too.
Reflective response to the story
Option 1 5 mins
Give everyone a piece of paper with a thought bubble drawn on it. Encourage people to walk around, looking at the ‘creation’ you have made. Play some calming music as they do this. After a couple of minutes, ask people to stand by a part of the creation which helps them to think about God in a new way. Ask them to draw or write about this on their ‘thought bubble’. Remember that children’s attention spans will be shorter than the adult’s. Encourage parents to help their children with this activity.
Option 2 10 mins
Put everyone into mixed-aged groups. Ask them to come up with a four-line ‘Creation Psalm’. This can be about anything that has stood out to them from the story. They can write it out on a large piece of paper. When everyone has done this, stick all the pieces of paper together and read all together the whole of your ‘Creation Psalm’.
Group discussion questions
10 mins
Split into mixed-aged groups. Give younger children some play dough to fiddle and create with during the discussion, but ensure they are still included and given the opportunity to answer these questions:
• What was your favourite part of the story?
• Why do you think Creator God was so pleased?
• I wonder what the most important part of this story is…
• Is there anything you need Creator God’s help with in your life at the moment?