Noah & the Flood--Creation

Scripture: Genesis 6-9 with an emphasis on Genesis 8:1-9:17

Memory Verse for this rotation: “Our help is in the name of the Lord, who made heaven and earth.”—Psalm 124:8

Concepts to be learned by children:
* God’s power over all creation is amazing.
* God makes and keeps promises.
* God communicates with people.
* God desires for us to be kind, obedient, and faithful.
* God takes care of all creation.

Materials:
• Doughnuts & water for participants (found in the kitchen)
• Memory verse prompts
• Journal page—one per student
• Glue sticks to adhere Journal Page
• Journals (Shepherds have)
• Pencils for journals (Shepherds have)
• Crayons for Journaling
• Muffin pans
• Muffin liners
• Marker to mark liners with names
• Crayon bits
• Oven preheated to 350 degrees

Objectives:
* Students will review the story of Noah & The Flood
* Students will create a rainbow crayon to remind themselves of the sign of the covenant.
* Students will participate in a reflection/closing prayer time.

Presenter Preparation:
Prior to Sunday Morning:
1. Read the scripture passage and do the Leader’s Bible Study
2. Read through the lesson plan provided and ask Stacy about any questions you have.
3. Plan your opening and closing prayers, if you decide not to use those provided.
4. Consider the age group you’ll be working with each week and any adjustments you’d like to make to the lesson.

Sunday Morning:
1. Retrieve doughnuts, a pitcher of water, cups, and napkins from the kitchen
2. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees…turn the dial to 350, but also set the one next to it to “high”.
3. Be sure the room is set up as you desire
4. Look through supply box to familiarize yourself with its contents
5. Do any other preparations you feel necessary.
6. Know that we are thankful you are teaching!

Procedure:
A. Welcome & Introductions at approximately 9:50 a.m.
1. Have the appropriate number of snacks available for each of the participants prepared before they arrive.
2. Greet the children and introduce yourself, wear a name tag if possible. Shepherds have name tags for the children in their bags. If necessary, ask the shepherd to supply children without tags with a temporary badge.
3. Open with a brief prayer. An example might be: God, we thank you for your son, Jesus, who became like us and lived on the earth. Please help us to learn more about Jesus today. Amen.
4. Give the students their snack

B. Story Review/Telling from the CEV Bible at approximately 9:55 a.m. (This can be done as they enjoy their doughnuts)
1. Read the story
a. PreK through 2nd graders: you may read from the Bible, or use the kid-friendly version below, if you like.
b. Grades 3-6th—go ahead and read the story from the Bible, pausing to allow them to chime in on key words as they follow along. (It is possible to have the children read, but this often leads to other children not listening.)

The people on earth had become so cruel and violent that God regretted making the world and decided to destroy all the creatures living on earth. Noah was the only good person who lived right and obeyed God. Noah had a wife and three sons. Their names were Shem, Ham, and Japheth. His sons also had wives.
God said to Noah, Get some good lumber and build a gigantic boat three stories high with a roof. I’m going to send a flood that will destroy everything that breathes. But I promise that you and your family will be kept safe. I want you to bring on the boat two of every kind of animal and bird and reptile, a male and female of each, and bring enough food for all the people and animals on the boat.

Noah did everything God told him to do. After the ark was built, Noah and his wife; his three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth; and his sons’ wives went into the ark. They took with them two of every animal on earth. Seven days later it started to rain. The sky opened like a window, and rain poured down without stopping for 40 days and nights. The water got deeper and deeper until the ark was floating high above the ground. Even the highest mountain peaks were deep beneath the water. All the people and animals on earth were drowned. Only the people and animals on the ark survived the flood.

After the rain finally stopped it took 150 days for the waters to go down enough for the ark to come to a rest on a mountain. Noah opened the window of the ark and sent out a raven, and it just flew back and forth over the water. Then Noah sent out a dove, but the dove found no place to stand and it returned to the ark. Noah waited seven days, and again sent out the dove. This time the dove came back to him with an olive leaf; so Noah knew that the waters had gone down. Then he waited another seven days and sent out the dove again; and it did not return.

When the waters were dried up, God told Noah, “Go leave the ark. You and the people and the animals with you can go live on the earth, have babies, and fill the earth again with people and animals.

Noah built an altar and offered sacrifices to God. (Noah brought seven pairs of some animals on board the ark, but you don’t need to go into this unless the kids ask where he got the animals for the sacrifices.) And God told Noah, “I am going to make a solemn promise to you and to everyone who lives after you: I promise never again to cover the earth with a flood.”
This promise is called a covenant. As a sign of this covenant, God said, “The rainbow that I have put in the sky will remind you that I will keep this promise forever. “ When we see a rainbow, it reminds us of God’s promise to care for creation and to love and care for us.

C. Application:
1. Tell me something about this story that surprises you. Children share answers
2. One of the things in this story that surprises me is that after there has been some ugly things that have happened, God sends something so beautiful to promise that He’ll never flood the earth again. Can you think of what that beautiful symbol was? The rainbow. That’s right. God uses the rainbow as a symbol. Every time we see it, He wants us to remember that He’ll never again flood the earth.
3. Today we’re going to make our own rainbow that will remind us that God will never again destroy the earth.
4. Make sure everything from snack has been cleaned up.
5. To begin, everyone needs a muffin cup with their name on it.
6. Next, you can decide what colors you would like to have in your rainbow. Peel the papers off and put in the scrap pile, then break the pieces up as you see fit and put them in your muffin tin. We’re going to put these in the oven and they will melt into one large crayon with all the different colors in one!
7. Assist the students in peeling crayons, breaking crayons, and putting together what they want their crayon to have. The muffin tins can be as full, or shallow as they like, but the main mass of the crayons should not be higher than the rim of the muffin tin.
8. When the group has their individual muffin tins ready…Great, would our Shepherd/assistant please take these to the kitchen where they will be put into the oven? If the group is under control you may have the shepherd do this, if not, I will check in with you at the beginning of the lesson…if you feel that you need an additional person in the room, I, or someone else, will come and take the crayons to be melted for you and the Shepherd can remain to help with behaviors.
SHEPHERD OR ASSISTANT: PLACE THE CRAYONS IN THE OVEN THAT IS PREHEATED TO 350…KEEP A CLOSE EYE ON HOW QUICKLY THE CRAYONS ARE MELTING…WHEN ALL THE TOP BITS HAVE SUNK DOWN AND ARE ONE LEVEL IN THE CUP; TAKE THE PAN OUT, BEING CAREFUL NOT TO JOSTLE OR TIP THE PAN SO THE CRAYONS RUN. THIS USUALLY TAKES SOMEWHERE BETWEEN 4 AND 6 MINUTES. LET THE PAN SIT AS THE CRAYONS COOL. WHEN THEY HAVE HARDENED, YOU CAN TAKE THEM BACK TO THE ROOM. THE HARDENED PROCESS GENERALLY TAKES ABOUT 5 MINUTES.
9. As the crayons are “cooking” let’s discuss the story in more detail.
a. Why do you think Noah sent out a raven and then a dove after the rain stopped? Accept answers….to look for dry land—they had been on the boat 150 days and wanted to get off!
b. The flood was God’s way of giving the world a new beginning—God had become angry with how the people were not following His laws and how they were treating each other. Do you think the other people living by Noah believed him when he told them the earth would be covered with water? Accept answers…when reading the scripture there is nothing mentioned of other’s reactions to Noah, but one can assume they thought it was strange. How do you think you’d react if someone near you was doing something like Noah?
c. How do you think you’d feel if God came to you and asked you to do what Noah had to do?
d. How do you think Noah felt when God gave the promise of the rainbow?
e. Have you ever made a promise to a parent and/or friend? Have you kept your promise as God has kept His to never flood the world? Accept answers…if they bring up Tsunamis, hurricanes, etc. share with them that God did not destroy the entire world…God is still in control and loves His people very much; disasters such as those are difficult to understand, but do not represent God breaking His promise.

D. Reflection/Closing beginning no later than 10:18 a.m.:
1. Let’s try saying the memory verse together: You may use the prompt cards provided in your box. “Our help is in the name of the Lord, who made heaven and earth.”—Psalm 124:8 You may repeat as many times as you like, stopping to have the repeat pieces of the verse as you see fit. You may also ask them how God helped Noah and discuss the application of the verse to the story.

OPTIONAL: If time, you may utilize the children’s journals to reflect on what they’ve learned. Journals are carried by the shepherds; they also have pencils. Utilize the Journal page provided for the different age groups. Use a glue stick to help them affix the paper to their journals.

4. Close with a prayer. Encourage children to offer petitions, if they’d like. It is helpful that with younger children you give them a prompt to go off of: Example: “Is there any person you’d like to ask God to bless” or “What is something you’re happy God created?” “Is there someone you’d like to keep a promise with this week?” Using the last prompt, here is an example of a closing prayer: Lord, thank you for your love and care for the world and everything in it. Help us to be kind and obedient like Noah. We especially ask you to help us keep our promises to __kids can name people they want to keep their promise to ____ Amen.

E. Tidy and Dismissal:
Be sure that they find a responsible person and that everyone has found one such person before you depart. Please take all supplies and put them in the box and return the box to the white cart found in the hallway. If you have any questions, concerns, or need additional supplies, please contact Stacy during the week or put a note in her mailbox, which is located by the office. Thanks!

THANK YOU FOR SHARING YOUR FAITH WITH OUR YOUNG PEOPLE!