God Controls The Season Children's Lesson

I taught this Bible/science lesson about the four seasons to a group of kids from 3 years - 4th grade. The first section included the preschool age children, but the second section is geared more towards upper elementary.

God Controls The Seasons

Introduction:

I introduced the topic of seasons with a kids video. I used one from Harry Kindergarten, but you could use a different one. 

If you don't have a way to show a video, you can sing a song like one from this webpage. 

Four Seasons Flip Book:

I used this four seasons flip book as a short, easy activity to help the kids learn more about the seasons. This was focused on the younger students (I had a preschooler who could use a little more review on what the seasons were).

Act Out The Seasons:
Have the children act out the seasons in the following scenarios:

• Be a tree through the four seasons.
• Be the weather through the four seasons
• Be a bear through the four seasons.

Seasonal Clothing Race:
Form teams of four for a relay race. Lay out the seasonal clothing at the other end of the room. The first person on each team races to the other end of the room and puts on the Spring items. Then, they return to tag the next person in line who races down and puts on the Summer items. The race continues through the items for all four seasons. The first team to race through all four seasons wins.

4 Seasons Tree:

Print out 4 copies of the tree printable on cardstock for each child. Have the kids decorate a tree for each season. Then fold them all in half and glue the backs of all four together in order of the seasons.  Here is how I did them: 

• Spring - stamp on pink paint with the bottom of a small soda bottle
• Summer - stamp green ink with a leaf stamp
• Fall - glue on pieces of orange and red colored tissue paper
• Winter - glue on pieces of cotton balls for snow (maybe even make a snowman)

If you don't have the supplies for these or if you have a Cricut, you can easily switch up some of these ideas. Just watch that you don't add too much dimension to the trees because the cardstock will need to be folded.

• stamp paint or ink with q-tips, individually or bundled with a rubber band
• stamp paint with a potato stamp
• place stickers or foam stickers of leaves, flowers, or snowflakes
• make flowers by gluing on puffy tissue paper 
• color with crayons or markers
• add color with thumbprint painting
• glue on green or fall-colored leaves cut out of construction paper

God Controls The Seasons - For Older Kids

Introduction:
I introduced the science behind seasons by showing a Crash Course YouTube video. These videos are great because they are fun, but introduce the concepts in a simple way.

Model the Seasons:

Use a globe and a flashlight, lantern, or lamp without a shade to model the seasons. Show how the globe is tilted and how that affects the sunlight hitting the globe at the four "corners" around the sun. If you are unfamiliar with the concept you can check out this video on how it works.

The Earths Tilt is the Reasons for Seasons Printable:

Print the worksheet and have the students fill out the worksheet introducing the ideas of solstice and equinox. Then, use a highlighter to show where the sun�s most direct light falls on the globe

God Made The Seasons Printable: 

Print out this printable and have the students look up the verses and match them with the concept supported by each verse. 




Discuss the Purpose of the Seasons: 
Ask these questions and help lead the students to the answers.

• Why are there days and nights? (to spread out the warmth of the sun East and West)
• Why are there seasons? (to spread North and South)
• How do seasons affect where humans can live on earth? (it spreads out where people can live so that there are more inhabitable areas that would otherwise be too cold or too hot)
• How do seasons affect weather? (some places have rainy and dry seasons) 
• How does it affect agriculture? (some plants require the cold of winter to grow again, it also makes growing seasons) 
• How do the seasons affect insect population? (bugs die or go dormant in the cold - this stops insect-borne diseases)
• How did God equip plants and animals for seasons? (some plants going dormant, some animals hibernate)

Here is a printout of the whole lesson, but feel free to pick and choose from the activities for what best fits your students and your time. You can also check out my pinterest board on this subject.

If you liked this activity, check out my God Controls The Weather Bible Lesson.

God Controls The Weather Children's Lesson

This is the first of two children's Bible lessons about God's control over the earth.  This first lesson is about weather and the second one is about the seasons. I chose these two topics because there are plenty of Bible verses and stories and plenty of hands-on activities for both. I had broken each lesson into two sections: one for all the kids (as young as three) and one for the older kids (probably 8 and up).

While I created this lesson for a children's Bible class at a Bible conference, it could easily be used for homeschooling either as a whole lesson or just selecting some of the activities or printables with your curriculum. 

God Controls The Weather

Introduction:

To introduce the topic of God being in control of nature, I read Psalm 104 and had them draw what I read. I had a large tablet (like an easel pad). Here are some of their drawings. 

Water Cycle Video:
We watched a video to introduce the water cycle. I used "The Great Aqua Adventure" by Crash Course Kids. You could use a different video about the water cycle.

Water Cycle In A Bag:
I found this awesome experiment that lets kids see the water cycle with their own eyes. All you have to do is pour some water in a bag and tape it to a window that gets lots of sunlight. Then you can just sit back and watch the water cycle.

Rain In A Jar:

I just included this activity because it looked like fun and illustrated to the younger ones how clouds can get "full" and start raining. The best part is they get to use pipettes or eye droppers - and kids love pipettes. All you need is jars or cups of water, shaving cream, pipettes or eye droppers, and food coloring.

Weather In The Bible Activity:

Print out a set of the Weather Icons for each student (or you could give each student one icon) and glue them to popsicle sticks. Then, read the Bible verses from the list on this matching sheet and have the students hold up the icon for each weather when they hear it mentioned or described. Alternatively, you can print on the matching sheet and just have them match, but I usually like to give the students a chance to move around instead of just complete worksheets. The point in most of these verses is that God used weather to accomplish His purposes. 

God Controls The Weather - For Older Students

How Much Does A Cloud Hold:

I found this fun experiment from the National Weather Service that helps kids visualize how much water is in clouds. And they get to use pipettes again! Basically, you count how many drops you can drop onto a cotton ball before it reaches capacity and starts dripping. You can have them hypothesize beforehand how many drops will fit and also see who can get their cotton ball to hold the most. Of course, clouds aren't made of cotton (actually a cloud is formed by water droplets bonding to dust and pollen in the atmosphere), water droplets are much smaller than the drops released from pipettes or eye droppers, and an updraft helps a cloud hold more water, but this activity gives them an idea of just how much water a cloud can hold. 

The Water Cycle In The Bible:

If you are focusing on teaching the vocabulary for the water cycle (evaporation, condensation, precipitation, and runoff) and demonstrate that each of these is discussed in the Bible, this activity will work well for older students. Print out this worksheet. Then, have them cut off the vocabulary words and Bible verses and glue them to the proper location in the picture. 

Discussion:

It's great to see if the students can process the ideas from the lesson, so I ended this lesson with a discussion about the purpose behind the water cycle (in other words, Why did God create water to go through the water cycle?).

1. Who needs water? How do they use it? (plants need water; animals and humans drink it)
2. What does the water cycle do to the water? How does it benefit the water and us? (it purifies it - like distillation - and moves it to different locations; this gives us fresh water and brings water from oceans to inland)
3. What else does the water cycle affect? How else does it change nature? (Runoff causes erosion and sedimentation which causes in geography like deltas at mouths of rivers and canyons exposing new minerals)

Here is a printout of the whole lesson, but feel free to pick and choose from the activities for what best fits your students and your time. You can also check out my pinterest board on this subject.

If you liked this activity, check out my God Controls The Seasons Bible Lesson.

Jonathan Park Audio Adventures Review

My Review of Jonathan Park Audio Adventures

I was introduced to Jonathan Park Audio Adventures when I won a giveaway of a set of books on a friend's blog.  I already knew that my friend and her family loved listening to Jonathan Park, but I had never heard of them before.  It was the perfect opportunity to see what my friend liked about the Jonathan Park.  We found the books to be exciting and good at explaining concepts from creation science.

Then, Vision Forum (the original maker of the Jonathan Park Audio Adventures) closed down and was having a clearance sale on the CDs, so I was thrilled to be able to buy the entire set at a much reduced price.  However, it was sad that it seemed that Jonathan Park was ending just as I discovered it.  Thankfully, Jonathan Park was bought out and the series continues.  

My family listened to all of the Jonathan Park series and found them to be intriguing, striking, and thought-provoking.  My son loved the drama and excitement.  He already loved watching PBS's Wild Kratts and the Creation Proclaims videos so he already loved anything about science.  My husband and I loved the discussion of creation science ideas (some of which were new and some of which were not new).  It was refreshing to hear science without all of the evolution assumptions being scattered throughout it.  

We own all ten volumes of the older CD sets (the ones put out by Vision Forum before Jonathan Park was bought out) as well as the zoo and aquarium guides (which are perfect to listen to on the drive to the zoo or aquarium).  Each of the older CD volumes contains twelve episodes that are each approximately 26 minutes long.  Jonathan Park Goes to the Zoo and Jonathan Park Goes to the Aquarium each discuss 100 animals (4 CDs with 25 animals each).   You can still find some of the older CD sets for sale from merchants online like Answers in Genesis.  

Since Jonathan Park was bought and restructured, the episodes have also been repackaged.  The new CDs can be purchased individually as albums and contain 3 episodes.   You can also buy a series pack that contains 4 albums.  

Jonathan Park is also available from iTunes.  They sell the new albums as well as individual episodes.  If you aren't sure if you will like Jonathan Park, trying out one episode is a great way to sample them (and get hooked too).

The reasons we LOVE Jonathan Park:

• Their plots are spell-binding and keep you coming back for more.
• It teaches creation science in a way that makes it so interesting that you forget that you are learning.
• It is great to listen to in the car for everyday travels or for long road trips.  In our experience, kids don't get car sick as easily when listening to radio dramas as they do watching movies because they can look forward at the horizon while listening.
• Audio adventures or radio dramas are great at catching your attention while still leaving the visual to your imagination.  They are supposed to stimulate your brain more than videos or audiobooks.
• It shows that it is OK to question the assumptions made by evolutionary science.
• It believes in the literal interpretation of the Bible.

What Jonathan Park is NOT:

• An in-depth study about creation science. -- If you want to study creation science more in depth where sources are listed, this is not what you are looking for.  However, it will give you ideas of things to research and get you and your kids interested in researching those ideas.
• A curriculum. --  While it is an excellent tool to draw you into studying creation science and it does teach you ideas, it does not have the content to replace a full science curriculum.  It could be used to introduce certain topics, but it can not stand on its own as a curriculum
• A thorough defense of creation science. --  While there are other sources that explain and defend the tenets of creation science, this is not the resource for that.  It is great to expose you to creation science ideas and have a fun time while you learn these concepts.  If you are looking for a great defense of creation science, try something like Answers in Genesis'  The NEW Answers Book 1.  There are plenty of other resources at Answers in Genesis Bookstore.  

Conclusion:

We love Jonathan Park and hope that you try some episodes.  My guess is that you and your family will be hooked like so many other people.


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