This is day six of the Creation Series here on CMN. I have divided day six into two parts – part one is about the animals and part two is about humans. I am going to share with you six different kid friendly activities for hands-on learning about animals that help support the Creation story found in Genesis.
Part One – Animals
Scripture
“Then God said, “Let the earth bring forth the living creature according to its kind: cattle and creeping thing and beast of the earth, each according to its kind”; and it was so. And God made the beast of the earth according to its kind, cattle according to its kind, and everything that creeps on the earth according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.” Genesis 1:24-25
Animal Classifications
I love how Genesis outlines how God brought forth every living creature according to its “kind.” The Bible mentions three kinds of animals – cattle, creeping thing, and beast of the earth. I looked up the word “cattle” in the Strong’s Concordance and it represents those animals who graze. I think of creeping things as those animals that creep along and are low to the ground such as arthropods, reptiles, and possibly amphibians. I think of beasts of the earth as being those creatures that have claws.
A fun activity would be to make a graph of these three categories – grazing animals, creeping animals, and beasts (animals with claws). Print 4-6 pictures of the animals for each category and have your child line them up beneath the descriptive category. Or you could use the printable below and categorize the animals into Arthropods, Mammals, Amphibians, and Reptiles. This free printable also include birds and fish. I didn’t include those in these pictures because that is on a different day of Creation.
Animal Classification Unit – Confessions of a Homeschooler
Animals Formed from the Ground
“Out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the air, and brought them to Adam to see what he would call them. And whatever Adam called each living creature, that was its name.” Genesis 2:19
In Genesis 2:19, the Bible says that the Lord God formed the animals from the ground. I thought a wonderful hands-on way to present this to a child was with a sand or mud tray and animal cookie cutters placed inside for the child to explore. As the child explores the animal shapes in the sand, tell them the story of God creating the unique form of each animal. Perhaps He drew an outline of the animal into the sand at first, before He molded the animal into its three dimensional shape.
The forest animal cookie cutters can be purchased at IKEA.
We also enjoyed using the animal cookie cutters with play dough. My little boy was able to shape and mold each animal. Once the animal was cut, then he carefully picked the animal up and held it in his hands. He even gave the moose a kiss. I can imagine that God must have felt this way when he created the animals for the first time. He must of had overflowing joy and love for each animal creation.
Three Part Cards – Names of Animals
“So Adam gave names to all cattle, to the birds of the air, and to every beast of the field.” Genesis 2:20
The Lord gave Adam the privilege of giving each animal a unique name. My husband and I had a challenging time picking out one name for our child, can you imagine finding a name for each animal? LOL! A great way to help a child with this part of the Creation story would be to introduce the 3 part cards with the name of each animal. I used a frog as an example in this post.
Montessori Zoology – Classes of Vertebrates Nomenclature Set
Life-cycles
Life-cycle studies are a wonderful way to teach a child about the cycle of life. While presenting the life-cycle of an animal to your child, explain how God created the animals to have an ability to re-create. Teach them that it is a miracle for life to continue on. In the photo below, I used the Safari Ltd Life Cycle of a Frog plastic figurines and encouraged my son to match them to the pictures on a frog life-cycle puzzle.
Matching Activities – Exploring the Unique Qualities of Each Animal
The last activities that I have to share with you today is a matching activity for a child to explore the unique qualities of each animal that God created. I put this matching activity together for my toddler using Schleich animals and printables.
Farm Animals: 3-Part Cards ($0.99) – Teachers Pay Teacher
Please enjoy more hands-on learning about animal activities, by visiting – 25 Kid Friendly Insect Activities and DIY Montessori Inspired Sensory Habitats.
Also, please visit part two – Hands On Study of Human Anatomy: Creation Series.
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