A simple piece of felt, plastic animals and trees, and wooden peg people become an open invitation to small world play and creation activities as we learned the Genesis story. Someone gave us some great tree blocks to use for sensory play and building. These were a great addition to our small world play creation activities.
The creation story is foundational to a Biblical worldview and identity formation. Children need to understand that God made the world and God made them. This helps them know who is in charge, who is the source of life, that God cares for us and intends for us to be in relationship with Him and with His creation.
The details of how it all went down aren’t nearly as important as WHO did it and why. Creation activities for children should focus on more than just facts about what happened on day 1, day 2, etc. though these details help children categorize and remember the story.
We put a lot of thought into the materials we provide to children. Not that they are complicated or overly exciting all on their own, but we try to provide open ended materials that are durable and lead the children to create and imagine.
This is a great example of how sometimes things that take very little prep work can engage the children. Several of them worked together playing “Garden of Eden”
I also put out a couple of squares of fake grass. I think they are AstroTurf samples. I love using these for sensory and small world play because of the texture. 
I put out several baskets of plastic animals, fish and insects. Check out the great sorting being done here with insects…
And fish (creatures of the sea…)
The blue felt “water” is placed against a mirror to add a bit of depth. The children added the rocks. It’s a great touch I think.
For this learning invitation, all I did was lay down the green felt for land and the blue felt for water. Next to the felt, I laid out the baskets of animals with wooden peg “Adam” and “Eve” figures and a few trees. I didn’t want to create the scene for the kids, but instead leave that up to them.
What creation activities have you done with your children? How do you think the creation story builds a foundation for further faith development?
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