God's Quiet Things

God's Quiet Things

BY NANCY SWEETLAND, ILLUSTRATED BY RICK STEVENS

Brief Description:
Delightful lyrics accompany rich pastel illustrations to reveal wondrous quiet pieces of God's creation. Ages 2 to 6.

Eerdmans 1994 30 PP. Paper

$8.50 (in stock)

Lesson in a Book: God's Quiet Things by Nancy Sweetland; Illustrated by Rick Stevens

Bbiblical Reference: Psalm 8:1, 3-4
O Lord When I look at your heavens, your fingers,
the moon and stars you have made;
what are human beings that you are mindful of them,
people that you care for them? (NRSV, slightly simplified)

Age Level: Pre-school or Early Elementary

Friends Testimonies: Silent Worship, Hearing God Through Creation, Care for the Earth

Values and Concepts: Being quiet and listening; Humans are part of creation; God loves us and made us; God makes and cares for big, grand things like the sun and little tiny things like worms; God wants us to take care of creation

Discussion Questions:

What in nature helps you think about God? (Big things? Little things?) Do you think God watches out for little things like worms and spiders?

Do you hear God with your ears? Do you think God is quiet, or loud, or maybe both? How do you know you are hearing God? (feelings of peace? knowing something is right? learning from other people how they hear God?)

Do you think God has fingers to make animals and plants and rocks and people? Does God need any help making things? Does God need our help to take care of nature and other people? How can we take care of them?

Activity Suggestions:
Singing Sing “She’s got the whole world in her hands” letting children name things to go in the song e.g. She’s got the sun the slugs and the spiders, or, the three-toed-sloths and the hippopotami, etc.
Other possible songs: “I am the Acorn,” “All God’s Critters Got a Place in the Choir”
Values thankfulness, silliness
Age - preschool, elementary
Skills creativity, singing
Materials Imagination

Silent walk/worship - Take a silent walk outside, first giving instructions to listen for the quietest thing they can hear. Return to room or find a spot to sit outside and have each person tell about what they heard. For a more active group, you might sit outside and do the same. In poor weather, try indoor listening - though don't rule out a walk in the rain if children have raincoats.
Values - silent worship, being aware of creation
Age - preschool, elementary
Skills - being still, listening for God, relating their experience of God
Materials - newspaper to sit on if necessary.

Clay World - Have children work together to make a "world", each person contributing animals, trees, etc. to a cardboard base.
Values Remembering God as our creator, participating in and taking care of creation
Age - preschool, elementary
Skills - cooperation, creativity, fine motor
Materials - Cardboard for base (cut in a circle, size depending on group), clay/ play-dough, stones, twigs, bits of paper (blue for lakes, green for grass, leaves), glue, crayons or paint, scissors.

Service Project:
Planting bulbs (fall) or setting flowers (spring or summer) at the meetinghouse.
Need -one bulb/ flower for each child, watering can, at least one trowel or bulb planter for every two or three people.
Might also start seeds to take home.

Form completed by Nikki Tousley, Dayton Monthy Meeting