So, what WERE we doing in this picture? Ah.. yes.. the "days of creation" book to go with the song! When I was a kid my Mom taught me the days of creation to the tune of the 12 days of Christmas. So, while we worked on the book we sang the song. I also wanted to put real Bible verses in it as well so I could just read it to them and talk about it. It goes like this -- "On the first day of creation our God did create, the Light and it was good...." "On the second day of creation our God did create, the Atmosphere and the light and it was good." (note, we used to sing "water and sky" but after looking at this more closely God didn't actually create water and sky he separated the waters to create an expanse that he called "heaven".. right.. so I opted for going with "atmosphere" and having the real text in the book as well and we can talk about it. Otherwise.. it's confusing that he'd be hovering over the waters before the world was made and then create the waters on the second day.. no.. he created the heavens. Anyway, back to the song.) "On the third day of creation our God did create Land, Plants, and Trees - the Atmosphere - and the Light and it was good." "On the fourth day of creation our God did create - Sun, Moon, and Stars - Land, Plants, and Trees - the Atmosphere - and the Light and it was good." "On the fifth day of creation our God did create - FISHES and BIRDS - Sun, Moon, and Stars - Land, Plants, and Trees - the Atmosphere - and the Light and it was good." "On the sixth day of creation our God did create - Animals and People - FISHES and BIRDS - Sun, Moon, and Stars - Land, Plants, and Trees - the Atmosphere - and the Light and it was good." "On the seventh day of creation our God did create - The Sabbath and He Rested - Animals and People - FISHES and BIRDS - Sun, Moon, and Stars - Land, Plants, and Trees - the Atmosphere - and the Light and it was good." I thought of changing it to "on the seventh day of creation our God did create NOTHING and he rested.." but.. I left it the way it was. Oh, and if you are like me and are wondering if "rested" is a word.. it's actually the word used in the Bible translation that I have.. so I left that too. Not sure about "Fishes" but that seems to flow in the song best. :} Here's a video of how I sing it. It would be nice to add some tabs on the edges of the board book for each day so it would be easier to flip back and forth, but.. it works. I can't find my packing tape to finish sealing it all for durability. If you are planning on making your own you could use just thick white paper or file folders, and let the kids draw a picture for each thing God created. We drew some and used stickers some and tore paper some and painted on some. The last page I drew myself because I couldn't think of an easy way for them to do the illustration that could get the point across.. you could do a picture of a church or something for it, but I wanted to do the globe and resting hands because I thought that got the point across the best. Lily is singing this with me. Renna was asleep at the time... Next thing I'm going to do with them is print out these http://www.parentcompany.com/little_talkers/creation/cb-creation.htm coloring pages and work more on the letter sounds. Every letter sound that they use in this is quite good .. like short vowel sounds and a hard "G" instead of soft g sound. The only two that they made a little confusing are the "Y" and "U" pages.. but they are easily switched. I'm going to type these new verses and paste them onto the pages. In case anyone wants to do the same this is what I came up with to go along with what they had. "Y is for the Yellow Sun, with the moon and the stars: The Universe of planets, like Earth and like Mars" And "U is for Us, made in the image of God. Specially created with a soul to love God." They had the "Y" for "You" .. and the "U" for "Universe" .. the "U" needs to be a short U sound for beginners and the Y needed the "Yuh" sound so it wouldn't be confusing. Hence "Yellow" and "Us".... anyway, that might be a bit nitpicky if your kids already know a lot of the exceptions to the rules, but since Lily is just starting I didn't want to confuse her. Not too hard to switch them though! ------------------------------- So this morning I decided that I needed something on the back of the creation book because I wanted to be able to talk about who Jesus was and is with my girls more often. And.. really, what is the point of knowing what's in the Bible and history and about creation if we don't also know how it relates to Jesus? I don't want to raise my kids with just a bunch of head knowledge about facts and Bible trivia. I didn't do a picture I just wrote out a lot of John 1 on the back - soooo.. if you like this idea too, feel free to borrow this final page as well. :} John 1:1-4 and 14a and 29 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men... And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us... Jesus... "The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!" John 1:10 and 12-13 He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him... But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh or the will of man, but of God.