God asks us to take care of his world

All Activity Sheets

key words

care create participate

biblical reference

Genesis 1:26-30; 2:15, 19-20

memory verse

“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1, NIV*).

lesson objective

To teach children that they can participate in the care of our world.

prepare yourself to teach

After God created Adam and Eve, he put them in the Garden of Eden, which had everything they needed. Although the Lord could care for his creation alone, he wanted people to work with him. The first job assigned to mankind was to work the land. The first job that is mentioned in the Bible is agriculture.

God also gave Adam the responsibility to care for the animals. His first task was to name each one. That job gave him the opportunity to discover the intellectual capacity that the Lord had given him.

adaptation

God has given humans the responsibility of caring for the world he created. Children already know this. School, television and other media warn us about the need to protect our natural resources. However, they do not connect those resources with God as the creator and sustainer of all.

Emphasize the fact that every time they help in some way to care for or preserve nature, they are actually obeying God. Use examples from your city or country that show how people care for natural resources the Lord has left us.

Plan a project with children outside the classroom. In this way, they can put into practice what they have learned. This can be planting flowers, trees, working in the church or in the neighborhood, etc. Take the opportunity to reinforce what they have learned.

introduce the lesson

If you have used photographs to develop the previous lessons, you can also do it for this lesson. Take some with people are caring for nature (watering plants, cleaning, picking up trash, etc.). You can also use photo clippings from newspapers or magazines. Glue them around the ones you have already placed. Focus your children’ attention on the fact that natural resources have a direct relationship with God, since he is not only the creator of them, but also the maintainer.

Explain that people in the photos, whether they know it or not, are doing the will of God and obeying it in order to accomplish the task he set out for humans: care for creation. If desired, you can include photos of actions that go against the care of nature (littering in the street, oil in rivers and seas, mountains destroyed, etc.). Tell them that this is not pleasing to God.

teach the lesson

Carefully study Genesis 1:26-30, 2:15 and 2:19-20 prior to the session. Be prepared to tell the story in your own words.

Emphasize that people were not created to lie down and rest all day. It is likely that your children have this impression of Adam and Eve. Some believe that in paradise they only had to reach out and the food was ready. Even in the drawings that are made of paradise you never see Adam and Eve working. Incredibly, that has a negative psychological effect on children. Some even come to assume that work is a punishment from God for man’s disobedience.

The Bible tells us that God had Adam till the land and look after it, enhancing it (Genesis 2:15). It is important for your children to establish the relationship between the care of nature and work. The fact that Adam would name the animals shows us the great responsibility that God placed upon him. Man is the climax of the creation of the Lord and has the responsibility to care for nature.

This lesson may include songs that speak of our responsibility to work for creation. It may be the one that says: “Oh, if we all work together, united,” or some other similar song. Be sure to include movements in songs. Ask the children to form pairs and put them face to face holding hands. While singing, together they move their arms forward and backward.

connect the lesson

I can help

Read with the children the instructions on Student Activity Sheet #132. Then, allow them to play the game. They can do this in pairs so that everyone can participate. Explain the instructions carefully and play with them so that they understand.

practice the memory verse

Download Additional Memory Verse Activities PDF

Download Suggestions for Bible Memorization PDF

Use the clothes with the words of the verse on them that you used in the past couple of lessons. Hide the clothes in the classroom. You can tape them under a chair, behind a drawing, or elsewhere. When it is time for memorization, ask the children to help you locate the text that is lost around the room. When someone finds a piece, they can hang the clothes they found on the clothesline using clothespins.

As the pieces are placed in order, repeat the verse with the children. When they have finished, repeat it again. You can use this kind of visual aid to explain the importance of God’s creation. For example, you can say that before man designed the dryer machine, people used the sun to dry clothes, and in many places people still hang their clothes outside to dry. It takes the sun and the air to dry the clothes. Mention that it is very important that the air is clean, because otherwise the clothes can become dirty. For example, if the air is contaminated with smoke from a factory, or if someone has lit a fire near where clothing is, this will make the clothes dirty and smelly from the smoke.

Use this to emphasize the importance of human participation in keeping the environment clean from pollution.

Another element necessary for cleaning clothes is water, and this must also be clean. In some places water travels through a pipe to the house so people can use it, some people get their water from a well, but in many cases people must go to a river or stream to wash themselves and their clothes. Whichever way we get our water, it is God who provides it.

wrap-up

Pray

Finish by singing and praying with the children. Do not forget to ask if they have requests. If there are any, include them. Remember to thank God for creation, for taking care of it and for trusting that we will help care for it.

Encourage

Help your children remember the things they need to take home. If you placed some of their work on the wall, let them take it home. You can also give someone the verse or save it. Thank everyone for attending today’s session.

Invite

Tell the group that this is the last lesson of this unit and that you will be starting another unit in the next session. Try to get them interested so they will not want to miss. If you think you can, give them the photos you used during the sessions.

* Scripture quotations marked (NIV) are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com The “NIV” and “New International Version” are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.™