Top 10 Posts from our first year: #8 - Creation Unit (Day 1)

(This post goes back to before When You Rise existed.  A couple of years ago I had a little personal blog where I shared some of the activities I did with the boys and this is the first post from our creation unit.  It is a great memory and includes one of the first verses Isaac memorized.  It's also when I learned about I Can Teach My Child! which has become one of my favorite sites!)

So, I decided a few weeks back to do a Creation unit with Isaac. I have been a little overwhelmed by trying to do the Theme Days because I feel rushed to get everything in around nap times and lunch and nursing and all of that. I'm leaning toward doing weeks and/or months from now on to take a little pressure off and make it more enjoyable for everyone.

Creation has proven to be a perfect one to do this with since it's broken up into 7 nice, easy sections. Here's a peek into what we've been up to:
With Isaac's language developing quickly now and after he successfully memorized Psalm 36:5a last month using this clothespin method, I decided that I may try to do one new verse each month this way. Genesis 1:1 seemed like the most obvious choice so I made these cards using clip art and Publisher.  If you'd like to download mine for free, click here.

I've found that Isaac will happily learn just about anything put to a song, so I found this video on YouTube and thought the tune would work perfectly. (I didn't really like the video much when they started talking about the specific days, but the tune for the verse was simple and repetitive and Isaac caught on quickly.)

By the end of the first day, if I prompted him by saying "in" he would finish the verse saying, "da beginning, God a-makin' da heavens and da earf. Genesis 1 by 1 by 1." Haha! I love him so much! He has corrected it now, but I kinda like his old version too. (I'm not sure where the 1 by 1 by 1 thing came from. The only thing I can think of is the animals going on the ark 2 by 2 by 2...)

I discovered a new website that I'm really liking. It's called BibleStoryPrintables.com. It's got a lot of great coloring pages, file folder games, timelines, crafts, even handwriting sheets and calendar numbers. They had a coloring page for each day of Creation, so I printed them all and am having him color each one while we read the verses and talk about what God made. (If you're wondering how I got a two year old to color only yellow on one side and black on the other, it's because I used my hand to cover up the side I didn't want him coloring on. :)) I'm not a HUGE fan of worksheets and things, but this is great for his fine motor skills (which he's not particularly strong at) and he really enjoys it.  It also provides a great visual for review because we hang it on the corkboard in his room.

After I decided to focus on Creation for the next few weeks, a blog I follow posted that she was going to do that with her toddler son as well. I was SO excited! Her site is called icanteachmychild.com. She had this great idea for conveying the concept of dark and light. I had everything on hand that I needed so we got to painting the inside of the shoe box black. When after a couple minutes it looked like the above, I was afraid he'd lose interest before it was covered, but to my surprise, he pretty much covered every square inch of the thing, even the lid. :)

There was already one round hole in our box, so I only had to make one for the flashlight. When he looked in and I asked him what he saw, he said, "Nufeen." Then I had him keep looking and turned on the flashlight. Voila! I asked him what he saw now and he said, "Wight!" :) I thought it was a good idea to help make an abstract concept  more concrete and he had fun, so it turned out to be a great project for us.

I Can Teach My Child also had a great idea for doing a short song each day to help them remember what God created. You use the same tune each day and just change the words to fit what God made that day. Yes, Isaac's still wearing his pajamas. He does his best work right after he wakes up and since he is NOT a fan of me taking video of him, I'll take what I can get. I had to let him hold his Day 1 picture and do like 3 retakes to get a video of him where he isn't flipping out because I'm recording it. Here we are singing the Day One song:

Day One, Day One,

God made light when there was none.

Day One, Day One,

God made light when there was none. 

I was also kind of able to get him to do his verse. I pushed my luck and asked him to do it again after he did it the first time and as you'll see, he did not oblige. Oh well. :)


Check out the activities from the other Days of Creation Unit:
Day 2
Day 3
Day 4
Day 5
Day 6
Day 7
Review



(Note:  All of our printables are free and available to anyone who can benefit from them.  You may print and make photocopies of them.  They may not be sold.  If you use them and publish a blog post about them, please be sure to link back to When You Rise.  Thanks!)