Volunteer Moderator notes Staci's Science Workshop Opening would make a great opening to use in any science workshop on Creation.  It would also be fun to do during children's time the first Sunday as an introduction to that month's focus - Creation, whereas the teacher would now be the pastor.

Teacher welcomes students to class and is interrupted by a group of people in HAZMAT suits (or lab coats).

• They go to front of classroom and completely interrupt class with their mutterings, looking around, etc.  Teacher's protests are completely ignored.
• Finally the leader points to a spot and says, "Here! Right here! This is the very spot on the planet where there is nothing at all!"
• The others rush to him and form a circle. They all hold up their hands, palms facing in and think hard for about 15 seconds.  When nothing happens the teacher tries to ask what is going on.
• Frustrated, the leader looks up and explains that they are in the middle of an experiment and would the teacher please stand over "there" out of the way. they form another circle and try again, concentrating harder.
• Finally when nothing happens they consult their notes and one suggests trying to speak it, like the story goes.
• So they all form a circle again but this time they say random words like pizza, sandwich, etc. as they concentrate. When this doesn't work, the leader suggests they all say the same thing, and they decide to say "Pizza."
• One more time they form a circle and hold their hands out and all say Pizza together. Nothing happens and they look around dejected and frustrated.
• The teacher goes to the leader and asks what experiment they are trying to do. "We are trying to create something from nothing. our calculations were correct - there is nothing here - well almost nothing." is the reply.
• The teacher explains that only God can create from nothing. dejected, the Science team leaves.

Teacher goes on to explain that only God can create from nothing, but we will have fun creating something from the things God has made.

Science/Activity - Creating Earth-coloured Bouncy Balls

We are making earth-colored bouncy balls http://www.momto2poshlildivas....memade-bouncing.html to go with our memory verse: In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." ).

A representative of Rotation.org reformatted this post to improve readability.

Laura:  How do you make paper from bulletins? 

Laura:  How do you make paper from bulletins?

Hi Susan,

Simply do a internet search on "how to recycle paper" to get lots of articles or you tube videos that show how you can recycle paper to make your own paper, as in Laura's case she used old church bulletins they had.

Luanne

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The Creation Story

Science Workshop: Caring for Creation

Scripture: Genesis 1:1-31, 2:1-3

Memory Verses (NIV):

Genesis 1:1 – In the beginning, God created the heavens and the Earth.

Genesis 1:31 – God saw all that he had made, and it was very good.

Summary of Workshop: The children will make a terrarium from plant slips and seedlings so they can practice looking after God’s creation.

Children will learn:

• About God: God made the world as a beautiful, intricate gift to us and to all living things.
• About Jesus: Jesus came to restore us and the whole world to the beautiful, unspoiled state God intended us all to be in.
• About Us: God made us “in his image” and wants us to rule over his creation. What kind of rulers do you think God wants us to be? Good ones who take care of his world.
• About the Bible: “Genesis” means “beginning” and it is the first book in the Bible. It includes many stories, including the creation story.

Supply List:

• Kid-friendly Bibles (to read from and for kids to use)
• Terrarium bowls – bottoms of large plastic milk jugs, or ice cream pails
• Sharpie marker to put their name on the bottom
• Stickers, Washi tape, markers, other things to decorate the outside of the bowls
• Pebbles for the bottom of the bowl
• Potting soil, scoops, newspaper or bins to contain the mess
• Selection of terrarium plants and/or rooted slips, ready to transplant
• • examples: basil slips rooted in water, oregano seedlings from garden, polka dot plant slips rooted in soil, aloe vera “babies” from larger plants…
• Spoons to dig holes to put small plants in
• Watering can with water
• Garden gloves
• Optional: small plastic toys to put in the terrariums

Preparation:

• Read the scripture passages and lesson plan.
• Learn the memory verses and write them on the blackboard
• Take slips of garden or house plants about a month before this rotation
• Save or collect 4-litre (1 gallon) plastic milk jugs or ice cream pails
• Cut milk jugs just below handles to make garden bowls
• Set up stations in the classroom: pebble station; dirt and scoop station; plant and spoon station; water station; (optional) toy station

PRESENTATION: Welcome and Introductions: Greet the children and introduce yourself. Wear your name-tag. Take attendance.

 Ask: Do any of you have a pet? What kinds of things do you do to take care of it? What other things do you have that you need to help take care of? (younger sibling, grandparent, plants, yard…)

 Ask: Who takes care of you? What things do they do for you?

 Say: We have been learning about the Creation story in the book of Genesis in the Bible. What does Genesis mean?  (Beginning) So where in the Bible would you find the book of Genesis? 

 Review the story: Ask them what job God gave to the people. (looking after the world he made. Note that this includes all parts of nature, but also each other!) Read the story to them and ask the kids to watch for things that God made that need looking after. Have them put up their hands when they notice something, and write it on the board. How can people look after these things? How can you?

 Tell them that today they are going to get a small piece of God’s creation to take home and look after. They are going to make a small garden, or terrarium, with living plants. They can add toy animals and decorations to personalize it.

 ACTIVITY:

1. Hand out the bowls or bottoms of milk jugs. Have them put their names on the bottom of the bowls with Sharpies.
2. Put out the bowl decorations (Sharpies, washi tape, stickers, stick-on foam shapes…). The kids can decorate their bowls until it is their turn at the stations.
3. Have them go through the stations in order:
   1. Pebbles about 2 inches (5 cm) high
   2. Dirt so the bowl is about 1/2 full
   3. Carefully dig small holes in the dirt and very carefully put in the plant slips. Be extra careful not to damage the roots! Gently push the dirt back around the plants and press it down firmly so the plant will stand up. Add more if needed. Note: Make sure you know how many plants there are and how many each child can have. Remember, they will grow bigger, so it is okay if there is some space around them.
   4. Water the bowl until the soil is damp but not swimming. If it is too wet, the plants will drown. If the water compacts the soil, add a bit more soil.
   5. (Optional) Decorate with toys. Have them choose toys in round robin fashion: One by one, choose one toy. After everyone has one, one by one everyone takes one more. Or encourage them to add toys when they go home.
4. They can continue to decorate the bowls when they are finished planting the terrarium.
5. Tell them that when they take their terrariums home, they will need to keep the plants near a window so the sun can give the light. They should check the soil with their finger before they water them again. The soil needs to be kept moist but not soaked or the plants will drown.  

Closing: Tidy up and close in prayer.

(lesson by Sharon Hamilton from Argyle Road Baptist Church, Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada. Copyright 2018)

"Matters of Faith" Science Workshop

View and print the attached PDF of the lesson. 

Summary:

• Scripture: Genesis 1:1-5
• Focus:  Light in the darkness, God's creative force and great metaphor.

Activities: The lab leader begins with an experiment using light, and then students use "sunpaper" to create images with light.

Suggested Improvements:

The "light" experiment could be expanded a bit, and let kids get more hands-on with it. Do more to contrast "light vs darkness" which is one of the Bible's primary metaphors. Light/illuminating/guiding/focusing/warming is a great metaphor to explore. Should also reference John 1:1-18 "in him was light..."

For the sunpaper experiment, try "WRITING" words and ideas from the scripture or students' reflection using LIGHT instead of simply making light images of created things like plants.  See Rotation.org writing with "sunpaper" experiments at https://www.rotation.org/topic...-with-light-sunlight

You are welcome to use it in part or entirely. In addition to printing the PDF, you can copy the text from the PDF by dragging it with your mouse and copying/pasting into your own document. You can quickly save the PDF to your computer, then upload the PDF to https://simplypdf.com/ and convert it to a Word doc for easy editing in Word.

There's a Waters of Creation lesson idea in the "Cooking" Workshop topic here in the Story of Creation forum that has the kids creating and filtering water using edible foods. We've copied it below ⇓

It's really a science experiment or demonstration but it uses edible foods so it works as a Cooking or Science Workshop lesson. Its focus is on the waters of creation and how they continue to sustain us both literally and spiritually speaking.

Here's the lesson originally posted at https://www.rotation.org/topic...3#295011598215931663

An Edible Science "Water's of Creation" Workshop

Below is a YouTube video demonstrating how to make an "edible aquifer" (basically, an ice cream soda that shows how ingredients filter down to the "aquifer" at the bottom of the glass.)

Aquifers are how nature both stores and filters water. The "science" of aquifers, and how they become contaminated" teach children about the STEWARDSHIP of one of God's most important Creation gifts: WATER

As you walk students through the assembly and science of their "edible aquifer" you can also draw many parallels to the waters of Creation mentioned in Genesis 1, including the water God hovered over in the beginning, the separation of water from dry land, and the water that watered Eden.

The water of creation is the gift that keeps on giving --and requires our management as good stewards of God's gifts. The "aquifer" part of the lesson can describe the importance of being good stewards of God's gift of water (and other gifts) and not letting them get contaminated (by sin, greed, selfishness, negligence).  Be sure not to turn this into an entirely spiritual metaphor. REAL water is God's gift too and needs to be treated as such!

Here's a great video on YouTube showing how to construct and discuss an Edible Aquifer.

Here's another good video that shows the "layers" of a natural aquifer as well as the edible aquifer assembly. https://youtu.be/2mZHrk1JJrw

You'll need to make the metaphorical connection between how we use and steward creation's water every day, and how God's presence is like water SUSTAINING, CLEANING, REFRESHING and HELPING US GROW everyday. How is water used in baptism? What "waters" does your faith need to drink from?  How is the church like an aquifer?  What godly resources do you "store up" and draw from in your life? How have you planted yourself beside the waters?  (The Psalms have many such visual images. There is a stream that makes glad the city of God! Ps 46   The still waters that restore our souls. Ps 23)

The metaphor of "contamination" of an aquifer should open up discussion about what "contaminates" our lives and thoughts. Sin is a contaminant and can very easily be demonstrated by the use of red food coloring. In a separate experiment, you can use baking soda and bleach to "get the red out" of a glass of water -- but that's not edible

You'll want to teach water's literal and figurative meaning in connection to cleansing, cooling, refreshing, being sweet not bitter (all biblical metaphors!).

Don't forget to include the image of justice which can flow like a mighty stream and perhaps visually demonstrate it using a bucket of water and some pebbles (problems).

Note: "Sin" cannot be entirely filtered out of us. That's why we have the cross and its forgiveness.  You can demonstrate this by putting red food coloring in a glass of water, then mixing in baking soda and bleach which will remove the red (see video). There are variations of this experiment on YouTube.

Lots of different "water" connections to pull in here!

Here's a version of the Edible Aquifer Experiment from a secular lesson from the Univ of Georgia

"Always On the Move" is an interactive, hands-on program teaching elementary-age students to understand the geology of an aquifer, causes of groundwater contamination, and ways to prevent groundwater contamination. The program will consist of a exhibit provided by the University of Georgia, Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, Water Quality, on groundwater resources, along with a groundwater model display illustrating the movement of pollutants into groundwater. In addition, each student will construct an “edible” aquifer. Each “edible” aquifer will indicate: soil layers (confined layer), movement of water through a aquifer, presence of a water table, impacts of a drilled well for drinking water, and movement of contaminants through groundwater.

Leader Preparation:

• Gather the materials.
• Try the project

Supplies List:

• Marshmellow cream or ice cream
• Clear soda
• Drinking Straws
• Clear plastic cups (2oz. - 4 oz.)
• Crushed ice
• Food coloring
• Decorative sprinkles and/ or crushed cookies

Lesson Plan

A. Review the definition and uses of groundwater.

B. Show the video from YouTube or an illustration of an aquifer and describe what it is (it's an underground reservoir of water (do an internet search for images). Does our city live above an aquifer? What do people use aquifers for?  What is the CHURCH'S "aquifer"?  What is your LIFE'S aquifer?

C. As layers of an aquifer are discussed, guide students through the construction of an edible aquifer.

D. Discuss examples of contamination. Ask the students to watch the soda move through the cup, ask them to describe what is happening.

E. Using a straw (representing a drilled well), ask the students to place it through the aquifer and begin sucking on the straw.

F. Ask the students to describe what is happening to the contaminates.

G. Finally, ask the students to give three ways to prevent contamination of groundwater.

A lesson idea provided by Terri K and UGA-Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.

The Science~Demonstration Workshop lesson in the Writing Team's Story of Creation Lesson Set uses a special hand lotion that glows when illuminated with a blacklight flashlight. Using the lotion in various ways, students will explore the important meaning of the phrase "image of God" and how sharing God's goodness, creativity, and care (i.e., "image") is what we were created to do.