Use this lesson plan to teach kids about the 5th day of Creation when God made the birds and sea animals. This children’s church lesson plan was first written for children age 5 – 11. This lesson is part of a series of Bible lessons about creation. It could also be used as the Bible lesson for children’s Sunday school. Be sure to consider your own ministry context and modify it as needed. Please leave any feedback or suggestions for improvement in the comment box at the bottom of this page.
Bible Story: The fifth day of Creation from Genesis 1:20-23
Learning Objectives: After this lesson, the children will demonstrate an understanding of what God created on the first – fifth days of creation by working in groups and explaining it to the teacher.
Target Age: Kindergarten – 5th
Items Needed:
- [print_link] this lesson plan
- Bible: Genesis 1:20-23. There is a detailed account of these verses below to help emphasize the importance of these few verses.
- White board, white board markers, ½ piece of paper per child, markers
- Each word of the Bible Verse written on a separate piece of paper, tape
- Optional craft: Creation Day 5 & 6 Coloring pages
Worship
- You can print off these “Creation Songs” and use to lead the children to sing before the Bible lesson.
- You can also try the “My God is so BIG” preschool song.
Teaching Plan: The Fifth Day of Creation
Bible Lesson Introduction
**Review Creation Days #1-4**
Following are some questions to review what God created on the first, second, third, and fourth days of Creation. The answers are in italics.
“What did God create on the first day of creation?” heavens, earth, light
“What did God create on the second day of creation?” the sky to separate the water
“What did God create on the third day of creation?“ land, plants with seeds, plants with fruit with seeds
“What did God create on the fourth day of creation?” sun, moon and stars
Bible Lesson
Have the children open their Bibles to Genesis 1:2-23 To help them find it, use the following questions. Answers in italics.
- What is the first book of the Bible? Genesis
- Which part of the Bible is Genesis in? Old Testament
Read Genesis 1:20-23 aloud to the children.
“God said, “Let the waters be filled with living things. Let birds fly above the earth across the huge space of the sky.” So God created the great creatures of the ocean. He created every living and moving thing that fills the waters. He created all kinds of them. He created every kind of bird that flies. And God saw that it was good. God blessed them. He said, “Have little ones and increase your numbers. Fill the water in the oceans. Let there be more and more birds on the earth.” There was evening, and there was morning. It was day five.”
NIrV (New International Reader’s Version)
Discuss the Bible Reading
- God said, “Let the waters be filled with living things.
- God waits until the fifth day to create something that is living and breathing. Why do you think that is? (allow for responses) He needed the earth to be just right so that the animals could survive. Here He makes all of the animals that live in the water.
- Let birds fly above the earth across the huge space of the sky.
- God not only creates fish and things that live in the water, but now there are birds for the sky.
- So God created the great creatures of the ocean. He created every living and moving thing that fills the waters. He created all kinds of them.
- God didn’t just create a few kinds of creatures for the water. No, He made “all kinds of them”. Just think of the imagination of God. I could probably come up with a few kinds, but think about the hundreds, maybe even thousands, of types of things that live in the waters. What an amazing God we have!
- He created every kind of bird that flies.
- He didn’t just create the fish, but the birds too. Again, think about the different species of birds that there are. God spoke them into existence. He made their bodies to work and fly, with just words!
- And God saw that it was good.
- He looked at His creation and saw, again, that it was good. It’s okay to look at a job well done, and feel good about it. That’s not prideful or bad. What’s bad is when you brag about your work or when you look down on others because of their work.
- God blessed them.
- This was God’s first blessing. He gave His first blessing to animals.
- He said, “Have little ones and increase your numbers. Fill the water in the oceans. Let there be more and more birds on the earth.”
- So what this is saying, is that the oceans and sky weren’t full of animals. He must have made the different types, and then they multiplied to make more.
- There was evening, and there was morning. It was day five.
- God did a lot on the fifth day. He made all of the animals in the waters in the sky.
Bible Lesson Activities
Use the following activities to reinforce the learning goals. If time is short, move on to the evaluation portion of the lesson plan.
Activity: Types of Animals
“We are going to make a list of all of the birds and animals in the waters that we can think of. (Do so on the white board)
That’s quite a lot of animals. There are hundreds more that we didn’t think of. This just shows us the vast, huge, mind of God. He actually thought of all of these animals and made them all different in some way.
I want you to create your own animal for the water or for the sky. You are each going to get your own paper and markers and I want you to create a new animal. The rules are that it has to be appropriate for church and that it lives in the water or flies in the sky.”
- Give each child a piece of paper and accessibility to markers and let them create.
- If you have time, let them share their creations.
Activity: Bible Verse Memorization
“He created every living and moving thing that fills the waters. He created every kind of bird that flies.” Genesis 1:21 (New International Reader’s Version)
Have the children do the following hand motions along with repeating the words after you, to help them learn the Bible Verse:
“He”—hold hand up with fingers towards the sky…the hand is raised to the heavens and then downward in a sign of respect
“created”—the fists twist on top of one another, as if they were putting something together
“every living and moving thing”—move the hand mimics the movement of a fish tail
“that fills the waters”—hold three fingers up and tap the chin
“He”— hold hand up with fingers towards the sky…the hand is raised to the heavens and then downward in a sign of respect
“created”— the fists twist on top of one another, as if they were putting something together
“every kind of bird”—the thumb and forefinger mimic the action of a bird’s beak
“that flies”—move arms like the flapping wings of a bird
“Genesis 1”—hold 1 finger up
“21”—hold index finger out and push thumb into it
Do this a few times with the children. Make it fun for them to do the motions and say the words. Involving them in active learning is essential for memorization.
Activity: Missing Words
- Before you start the game, tape the Bible Verse up onto a wall, in order.
- Have the children read the Bible Verse from the wall.
- Each time the children read the Bible Verse, remove one of the words from the wall, and have them read the Bible Verse again filling in the missing word.
- Repeat this until the children have recited the Bible Verse without any of the words are up on the wall.
Evaluation:
Put the children into 5 groups and assign each group a day of creation. Each group must be able to tell the teacher what God created on that day of creation. If you have time, assign the groups a different day of creation (doing this 5 times so that each group will have explained each day of creation.)
Need More Help? Then try our free Bible story book about Creation or browse all our story of creation teaching materials.