D is for Dinosaur [SPI ed.] 0890516421, 9780890516423

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First printing: 1991 18th printing: March 2011 Revised edition: July 2012 Copyright © 1991, 2012 by Ken and Mally Ham. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations in articles and reviews. For information write: Master Books®, P.O. Box 726, Green Forest, AR 72638 Master Books® is a division of the New Leaf Publishing Group, Inc. ISBN: 978-0-89051-642-3 Library of Congress Number: 91-72184 Unless otherwise noted, Scripture is from the New King James Version of the Bible, copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Dedicated to Mervyn Ham 1928-1995 This book is dedicated to our Dad, Mervyn Ham, who went home to be with the Lord June 9, 1995. A is for Adam and D is for Dinosaur were produced because of the legacy he left us—a love for the Word of God. Our father never had great earthly riches, but he left his six children (and children’s children) a spiritual inheritance more precious than silver or gold (Proverbs 13:22). In his last hours, he told his family that life is all about “for and with.” If you live in this world, it is for Christ and when you die it is with Christ. This book stands firm on the inerrancy and authority of Scripture while presenting the Gospel message to children and adults. It is our prayer that lives will be changed for the Lord so many will know what it means to be “for and with” as our precious Dad declared.

Please consider requesting that a copy of this volume be purchased by your local library system. PRINTED BY TOPPAN LEEFUNG PRINTERS LTD, DONGGUAN, GUANGDONG, CHINA Please visit our website for other great titles: www.masterbooks.net For information regarding author interviews, please contact the publicity department at (870) 438-5288

Reading Roundup! (You can read the complete poem on the following page to your child before beginning the individual lessons, or it can be used to help the student begin recognizing words as they follow along. Reading it intermittently between several lessons can help the child become familiar with the words before the individual letter lessons take place. You may prefer to wait and read it as a review following several lessons.)

A is for Answers from God’s Holy Book; just open the pages and take a good look. God created the earth, in space it did hang; Creation’s first day, without a BIG BANG.

N is for Noah, his wife, and his kin, who, with the animals, also went in. Dinosaurs outside the ark were all drowned; that’s why as fossils their bones are now found.

B is for Bible, where it says on day 2, God made the clean air for me and for you. He divided the waters above and below; day 3 comes next, so there we shall go.

O is for Out of the ark they all ran, once the huge vessel came safely to land. Stegasaurs, lambeosaurs, nodosaurs and more; after the Flood there were dinosaurs galore!

C is for Continent, the first dry land, which God had made by His Powerful hand. Then He commanded that all the plants grow; the third day was truly a beautiful show.

P is for Pronounce: are the names hard for you? Iguanodon, diplodocus, now how did you do? Brachiosaurus, tyrannosaurus, and others as well, what happened to them is the story we’ll tell.

D is for Dinosaur, but you’ll have to wait, ’cause on day 4 other things God did make. He formed the sun, the stars, and the moon. Are you ready? We’ll see those dinosaurs soon!

Q is for Question — why can’t we any more, look around and see even one dinosaur? They’re surely all dead, it’s as simple as that; try to guess why — put on your thinking hat.

E is for Everything that swims in the seas, made on day 5, with the birds in the trees. He also created the great Plesiosaur; reading God’s Word, we can know this for sure.

R is for Reasons — perhaps there are more after the Flood, times were tougher for sure. Volcanoes and storms, then drought and snow, maybe people killed them, they frightened them so.

F is for Fantastic — that’s all we can say, as we see what God made on this, the sixth day! Adam and Eve and the pouched kangaroo; the rest of the animals and dinosaurs, too.

S is a Section from God’s Holy Book; about a great beast; when he walked the ground shook. Behemoth, or monster, was this animal’s name: our word “dinosaur” means almost the same.

G is for the Garden God specially made, where Adam and Eve could always have stayed. Living in Eden, a world without sin; what a beautiful place for them to live in.

T is for Tales that we often hear about terrible dragons that made men fear. Maybe these tales could actually be stories of dinosaurs men used to see.

H is for Hungry, it’s how we describe a big dinosaur with his mouth open wide. Adam wasn’t scared to watch dinosaurs eat, because all the creatures ate plants, and not meat.

U is for Understand, which we want to do; the Bible explains the dinosaurs for you. It also tells how from sin to be saved; by trusting in Jesus, who rose from the grave.

I is the letter in the middle of sIn, to remind us all of the trouble we’re in. Dinosaurs, people, and the whole universe; because of man’s sin, God judged with a Curse.

V is for how Very much we can say we all should read the Bible each day. Dinosaurs we’ve proven, are no mystery; God’s Word teaches us true history.

J means Just awful — I’m sure we could say the effects of sin grew worse every day. Flesh became violent, the Bible reveals. Were people and creatures now dinosaur meals?

W is for Watchfulness, which we should all learn, since some day Jesus, our Lord, will return. He’s going to judge this world once again; but this time by fire, instead of by rain.

K is for Knowledge, which made Noah sad; the world would be judged, because people were bad! God warned He would send a terrible flood that would cover the world with water and mud.

X is in eXcited, which Christians should be, one day we know that heaven we’ll see. There’ll be no more dying, or crying or pain; for God our Creator, forever will reign.

L is for Listen: Noah knew that he should, as soon as God said, “Make an ark out of wood. Take each land animal, two-by-two; your family’s among the hard-working crew.”

Y is for Years, how long could it be, since God made the world for you and for me? “Probably only six thousand or so,” say many good scientists; they ought to know!

M is for Monster like the great dinosaur; but how could he enter the ark through the door? Well, many dinosaurs were really quite small; the young ones, especially, were not very tall.

Z is for the Zeal which people should see, as we tell the truth about history. The dinosaurs certainly have not evolved; through God’s Holy Word, the puzzle is solved!

Let’s Read: A is for Answers from God’s Holy Book; Just open the pages and take a good look. God created the earth, in space it did hang; Creation’s first day, without a BIG BANG.

The Starting Point: While some people believe that the earth and everything on it was just an accident, God’s Word makes it very clear that He created the world and everything in it during the six days of creation. It is such a joy and comfort to know that everything was His idea! Read Genesis 1:1–5: In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good; and God divided the light from the darkness. God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. So the evening and the morning were the first day.

Bible Bits: (Share one at a time, and have the child repeat what you say.) º On the very first day of creation, God made space, earth, and water. º What He made was not full of life yet and so it was void, or empty, and of course it was dark; but then, He created the light as well and separated it so we have night and day! º Just like a house needs a good foundation to build the walls upon, so God knew that the earth had to be just right to bring about the life to come. º Earth is an amazing planet in space, and everything about it had to be perfectly placed so He could finish His plan for us.

º The Bible makes it clear that there was a morning and an evening to make up the day, so it wasn’t millions or billions of years! º God said that all of this was good!

Let’s Talk! (Be sure that the child responds to each point and signals his or her understanding with an answer.) º What is the Bible? º The Bible is God’s Word, His Book for the world. º What does the first part of God’s Book talk about? º It tells us about the days of creation when God made the world. º What does it say God made on the first day?

Always Remember: (The child needs to repeat this back to you.) You can trust the Bible to show us things only God can know. He shared with us what happened when the world began, on that first day, and He has watched over you since your first day.

Stuff to Do: Either on a large sheet of paper divided by six sections or on a single piece of paper that can be taped to others of the same size, have a child draw a picture of this first day of creation. (This will eventually form a short time-line of the six days God took to create all things.) Read the account from Genesis and have the child draw what comes from the text. Write “Day 1” at the top.

Quick Review: 1. Was the world just a big accident?

A-NOTES

2. What did God create on the very first day?

pg. 53

1

A is for Answers from God’s Holy Book; Just open the pages and take a good look.

God created the earth, in space it did hang; Creation’s first day, without a BIG BANG. 2

Let’s Read: B is for Bible, where it says on day 2, God made the clean air for me and for you. He divided the waters above and below; Day 3 comes next, so there we shall go.

The Starting Point: On the second day, God was creating, He made the expanse, firmament or sky (heaven) which includes what we call the atmosphere. It’s what we need to breathe, and what plants and animals need, too. God also made the oceans as well as the clouds that hold the rain. Amazing! Read Genesis 1:6–8: Then God said, “Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.” Thus God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament; and it was so. And God called the firmament Heaven. So the evening and the morning were the second day.

Bible Bits: (Share one at a time, and have the child repeat what you say.) º On the second day of creation, God divided the waters that would fill the oceans, lakes, and rivers from the moisture that is in the clouds and sky. º The atmosphere that God placed on the earth helps the life thrive that He would create in the days to come.

Let’s Talk! (Be sure that the child responds to each point and signals his or her understanding with an answer.) º What did God make on the second day? º Do you know what an accident is? º An accident is something that just happens or happens by mistake. º The Bible shows that the world was planned by God. º It didn’t just happen by mistake. º What do you think of when you realize that you were planned by God, too?

Always Remember: (The child needs to repeat this back to you.) Take a deep breath and think about the second day of creation when God made the air. Everything that lives, whether plants, fish, birds, animals, or people all need air.

Stuff to Do: On this second day of creation, read the account from Genesis and let the child continue the drawing of this day that involved the waters of the earth. Write “Day 2” at the top of the page and if done on individual papers, tape it to the picture that was made of day 1.

º God knew how important water was to keeping us healthy and strong.

Quick Review:

º Along with the water, the air now helped the world stay warm for us even though it’s in space!

2. How important is it that He made the air we breathe?

º God knew that all that was made on day 2 was good!

1. What all did God make on the second day? 3. Was everything good that God made on day 2?

B-NOTES pg. 54

3

B is for Bible, where it says on day 2, God made the clean air for me and for you. He divided the waters above and below; Day 3 comes next, so there we shall go.

4

Let’s Read: C is for Continent, the first dry land, Which God had made by His Powerful hand. Then He commanded that all the plants grow; The third day was truly a beautiful show.

The Starting Point: Most plants need soil to grow in, and so on the third day God miraculously made the hills, valleys, and mountains and all the dry ground. From this, He began to make the many varieties of plants that we find around us! Read Genesis 1:9–13: Then God said, “Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear”; and it was so. And God called the dry land Earth, and the gathering together of the waters He called Seas. And God saw that it was good. Then God said, “Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb that yields seed, and the fruit tree that yields fruit according to its kind, whose seed is in itself, on the earth”; and it was so. And the earth brought forth grass, the herb that yields seed according to its kind, and the tree that yields fruit, whose seed is in itself according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. So the evening and the morning were the third day.

Bible Bits: (Share one at a time, and have the child repeat what you say.)

º All these amazing plants that grew helped make sure the air would stay clean and fresh. º Another day was done and God said that everything was good!

Let’s Talk! (Be sure that the child responds to each point and signals his or her understanding with an answer.) º What all did God make on the third day of creation? º Have you ever seen a pond, river, or lake? º The water is held within the land that rises up around it. º God made the land with different elevation in places so it could hold the rivers and seas. º Have you ever planted seeds and watched them grow? º God also created all the kinds of plants that fill the earth on this day!

Always Remember: (The child needs to repeat this back to you.) When you eat a salad or a plate of veggies, remember that God made the land on the third day of creation and covered it with all kinds of wonderful plants. He is the one responsible for plants in our homes, gardens, forests, and everywhere else in the world.

Stuff to Do:

º Now that there was dry ground, God miraculously brought forth the plants to fill the world.

After reading the day 3 account from Genesis, have the child continue his or her drawing of this wondrous event of God. On this day, God “divided” the land from the water, and brought forth the plants. If done on an individual page, attach it to the first two days and write “Day 3” on the top.

º There was grass, flowers, fruit trees, and more, each one created had seed for more.

Quick Review:

º As the third day began, God put the water into one place and made the dry land.

1. What are all the wonders God created on the third day? 2. What do most plants need to put their roots into?

C-NOTES

3. Did God say that all of these things were good?

pg. 55

5

C is for Continent, the first dry land, Which God had made by His Powerful hand. Then He commanded that all the plants grow; The third day was truly a beautiful show. 6

Let’s Read: D is for Dinosaur, but you’ll have to wait, ’Cause on day four other things God did make. He formed the sun, the stars, and the moon.

Let’s Talk!

Are you ready? We’ll see those dinosaurs soon!

(Be sure that the child responds to each point and signals his or her understanding with an answer.)

The Starting Point: When the world was created, there were no people to watch or record it, but God was there! He shared with us through His Word that on the fourth day He made the sun, the stars, and the moon to light our sky in day and night. Genesis 1:14–19: Then God said, “Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs and seasons, and for days and years; and let them be for lights in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth”; and it was so. Then God made two great lights: the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night. He made the stars also. God set them in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth, and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. So the evening and the morning were the fourth day.

Bible Bits: (Share one at a time, and have the child repeat what you say.) º The fourth day of creation filled the sky with lights.

º What were the wonderful things God made on the fourth day? º When does the sun light up the sky? º When do you see the bright lights from the stars and moon? º God made the sun to light our days, and He made the stars and moon to light our nights. º The sun also helps plants and other living things live strong!

Always Remember: (The child needs to repeat this back to you.) God didn’t want us to live in darkness and fear. He gave us the sun to light our days, and the stars and moon for our nights.

Stuff to Do: God made the sun, moon, and stars on this day. Have the child continue his or her drawings after you’ve read the Genesis account. Be sure to write “Day 4” on the top of this one, and attach it to the others that were created (unless all the days are being drawn on a long sheet of paper).

º God made the sun, moon (greater and lesser lights), and stars to light the world in both day and night.

Quick Review:

º With our earth now circling the sun, God’s creation helped signal the seasons of summer, autumn, winter, and spring.

2. What do these things do for us in the day and night?

1. Can you still see the things God made on day 4?

º These lights in the sky help plants grow and help us find our way. º With everything in place at the end of the day, God said that it was good!

D-NOTES pg. 56

7

D is for Dinosaur, but you’ll have to wait, ’Cause on day four other things God did make. He formed the sun, the stars, and the moon. Are you ready? We’ll see those dinosaurs soon! 8

Let’s Read: E is for Everything that swims in the seas, Made on day five, with the birds in the trees. He also created the great Plesiosaur;

Let’s Talk!

Reading God’s Word, we can know this for sure.

(Be sure that the child responds to each point and signals his or her understanding with an answer.)

The Starting Point: With the sun now warming the earth, God created the creatures that fill the seas and the birds [and other flying creatures like butterflies, bats, and pterodactyls,] that fill the skies on day 5. They did not come about by accident, but because He wanted to fill the world He had made! Genesis 1:20–23: Then God said, “Let the waters abound with an abundance of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the face of the firmament of the heavens.” So God created great sea creatures and every living thing that moves, with which the waters abounded, according to their kind, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. And God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.” So the evening and the morning were the fifth day.

Bible Bits: (Share one at a time, and have the child repeat what you say.) º On the fifth day, God began to fill the world with creatures. º The waters now contained fish and other swimming life. º God also made the birds to fill the sky with color and song. º Each wonderful creature was made after its own kind which is different from our modern word species. º At the end of this day, God declared that all of the life He had made was good!

º What does the Bible tell us happened on day 5 of creation? º Now there were creatures in the sea and in the sky. º What kinds of swimming creatures do you know? º Do you know the names of some of the birds God made? º Give God praise for the wondrous creatures He created!

Always Remember: (The child needs to repeat this back to you.) Some people will tell you that everything in the world is just an accident. But God’s Word is very clear that He had a plan, and on the fifth day of creation, His plan was to make all the sea creatures and the birds.

Stuff to Do: After reading about day five from Genesis, let the child draw the swimming and flying creatures that come to mind. Talk about the days that came before, and how God created more and more for us to see and enjoy. Once done, be sure and write “Day 5” on the top of the page and tape the sheet to the others, all five days in a row.

Quick Review: 1. What kinds of creatures did God fill the earth with on day 5? 2. How do we know He made all these on this special day? 3. What was warming the earth that helped these creatures live stronger?

E-NOTES pg. 57

9

E is for Everything that swims in the seas, Made on day five, with the birds in the trees. He also created the great Plesiosaur; Reading God’s Word, we can know this for sure. 10

Let’s Read: F is for Fantastic — that’s all we can say, As we see what God made on this, the sixth day! Adam and Eve and the pouched kangaroo; The rest of the animals and dinosaurs, too.

The Starting Point: On that all important sixth day, God created the other creatures that filled the world, including the dinosaurs! Then He took special care to form the first man and woman, breathing His life into them. We are all related to Adam and Eve! Read Genesis 1:24–31: Then God said, “Let the earth bring forth the living creature according to its kind: cattle and creeping thing and beast of the earth, each according to its kind”; and it was so. And God made the beast of the earth according to its kind, cattle according to its kind, and everything that creeps on the earth according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” And God said, “See, I have given you every herb that yields seed which is on the face of all the earth, and every tree whose fruit yields seed; to you it shall be for food. Also, to every beast of the earth, to every bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth, in which there is life, I have given every green herb for food”; and it was so. Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good. So the evening and the morning were the sixth day.

Bible Bits:

º This exciting day saw the land creatures such as the reptiles, insects, amphibians, mammals, and more come to life, with dinosaurs too! º God said that all of these things were good, then He stopped and made man and woman special. º Forming them carefully, God breathed life into Adam and Eve and told them to fill the world with their family to come. º Once the people were made, God looked and said that it was all very good!

Let’s Talk! (Be sure that the child responds to each point and signals his or her understanding with an answer.) º What all did God make on the sixth day of creation? º Can you describe some of your favorite animals and what makes them special? º Do you have a favorite dinosaur that you wish you could see today? º God lovingly created people to know Him and to care for His creation in a special way. º We were made unique from everything else God made!

Always Remember: (The child needs to repeat this back to you.) It’s such a blessing to know that God lovingly created people on the sixth creation day. This is also the day that the dinosaurs and other land animals were created.

Stuff to Do: Write “Day 6” on the top of the completed drawing, attach it to the other five days, then talk about all those things God made. Ask the child what God formed in His own image and likeness, and why that makes people special.

Quick Review: 1. What kinds of life did God bring forth on day 6 of creation?

F-NOTES

(Share one at a time, and have the child repeat what you say.)

pg. 57

º Day 6 of the creation days is when God made the creatures that live on land.

3. Which of God’s creations was made in His image?

2. Did this include the dinosaurs?

11

F is for Fantastic — that’s all we can say, As we see what God made on this, the sixth day! Adam and Eve and the pouched kangaroo; The rest of the animals and dinosaurs, too. 12

Let’s Read: G is for the Garden God specially made, Where Adam and Eve could always have stayed. Living in Eden, a world without sin; What a beautiful place for them to live in.

The Starting Point: We often think of gardens as small spaces to grow a few flowers or vegetables. For Adam and Eve, God made a vast, beautiful garden, the Garden of Eden, that was filled with fruit trees and more. This He made so they could enjoy all that He had created! Read Genesis 2:8: The Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there He put the man whom He had formed.

Bible Bits: (Share one at a time, and have the child repeat what you say.) º The first home God made for Adam and Eve was a garden. º All the food they could possible need would be found on the vines and in the branches.

º Adam and Eve were placed in a garden without the hardship of dealing with bad plants (like thorns and thistles which came later due to sin). It was a safe, beautiful place given them from God. º Even though sin brought about sadness in the world, God still gives us all we need to live and makes good food for us to enjoy.

Always Remember: (The child needs to repeat this back to you.) God created people to live surrounded by peace and beauty. If sin hadn’t entered the world, everything would have stayed just like that for us.

Stuff to Do:

º All the abundant life God had created thrived here.

Take some time to go outside, either to the garden in your yard or a park nearby. Enjoy time to explore the wonders that God created, and take a moment out of the busy day to give praise to God for His goodness to give so much to us.

Let’s Talk!

Quick Review:

(Be sure that the child responds to each point and signals his or her understanding with an answer.)

1. Who were the first two people God made?

º Gardens are filled with wonderful plants. If you had a garden, what would you want to grow there?

3. Was this a peaceful place, or one filled with sin and pain?

º There were no creatures that ate meat, so it was a peaceful, wonderful world.

2. Where did God put them as their first home?

º Do you ever have to pull up weeds in your garden?

G-NOTES pg. 58

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G is for the Garden God specially made, Where Adam and Eve could always have stayed.

Living in Eden, a world without sin; What a beautiful place for them to live in. 14

Let’s Read: H is for Hungry, it’s how we describe A big dinosaur with his mouth open wide. Adam wasn’t scared to watch dinosaurs eat, Because all the creatures ate plants, and not meat.

The Starting Point:

Let’s Talk!

It might seem “scary” at first living in a big garden alongside “wild” animals, including dinosaurs! However, when God created this very good world and everything in it, the creatures all ate plants, not each other. Adam and Eve just ate plants, too! There was no death.

(Be sure that the child responds to each point and signals his or her understanding with an answer.)

Read Genesis 1:29–30

º Now a long time ago, the people and creatures all ate only plants. No matter how scary creatures looked, they originally would never eat people or other animals.

And God said, “See, I have given you every herb that yields seed which is on the face of all the earth, and every tree whose fruit yields seed; to you it shall be for food. Also, to every beast of the earth, to every bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth, in which there is life, I have given every green herb for food”; and it was so.

Bible Bits: (Share one at a time, and have the child repeat what you say.)

º Different birds, fish, and animals eat different kinds of foods. Can you name some of your favorites and what they eat?

º Would you have been scared of a huge animal from the Garden of Eden if you knew it wasn’t going to hurt you? Neither was Adam!

Always Remember: (The child needs to repeat this back to you.)

º When God first created creatures and people, none of them ate meat and nothing died.

When God created the world, Adam and Eve and all the creatures just ate plants. There was no pain or death in God’s garden, so no need to fear even the dinosaurs.

º There was a beautiful time of peace in the Garden of Eden when there was no danger, even from the largest dinosaur.

Stuff to Do:

º God gave the good world He had created to Adam and Eve to tend and enjoy. º The Bible mentions a river that flowed out of Eden and became four rivers: the Pishon, Gihon, Hiddekel (also known as the Tigris), and the Euphrates (Genesis 2:11–14). º With shelter, water, and food, Adam and Eve had all they needed.

While looking through a kitchen or grocery store, take some time to talk about what foods are meat (beef jerky, hamburger, bacon, etc.) and what foods come from plants (breads, cereals, fruits, and veggies). Talk about how, at first, Adam and Eve and the animals all just ate plants. There was no death.

Quick Review: 1. What did people eat when they were first in the Garden of Eden? 2. What did the dinosaurs and other creatures eat then?

H-NOTES pg. 58

15

H is for Hungry, it’s how we describe A big dinosaur with his mouth open wide.

Adam wasn’t scared to watch dinosaurs eat, Because all the creatures ate plants, and not meat.

16

Let’s Read: I is the letter in the middle of sIn, To remind us all of the trouble we’re in. Dinosaurs, people, and the whole universe; Because of man’s sin, God judged with a curse.

The Starting Point:

Let’s Talk!

Adam and Eve did something very wrong — they disobeyed God. When they did, that sin changed the world from good and safe to bad and dangerous. It was like a sickness had come, and everything and everyone needed a cure.

(Be sure that the child responds to each point and signals his or her understanding with an answer.)

Read Genesis 2:15–17: Then the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it. And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”

Bible Bits: (Share one at a time, and have the child repeat what you say.) º Sin is doing something that is wrong. º God had told Adam (and Eve) not to eat the fruit from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. º Even though God made them and cared for them, Adam and Eve chose to disobey Him. º After eating of the one tree they were told not to, God sent them out of the garden. º What had been a good world became a world filled with pain and suffering because sin came (Romans 5:12).

º How would you describe what sin is? º Sin is doing something that is wrong because God told us it was bad. º When Adam and Eve sinned against God, the whole world was hurt by it. º The horrible nature of sin brought us sorrow, sickness, and death. Things in the world started to die for the first time.

Always Remember: (The child needs to repeat this back to you.) The sin from long ago still hurts us today, just like our sins hurt others and God. It’s so good to consider every day that God makes a way for us to do what’s right through His Son Jesus.

Stuff to Do: Discuss what sin is; perhaps having a child list out what he or she knows is bad or hurtful. Then talk about some of the specific things in Scripture that God clearly states as sin in a context children can relate to, such as lying or stealing.

Quick Review: 1. What is sin? 2. How did sin change the good and perfect world? 3. Is sin still in the world today?

I-NOTES pg. 59

17

I is the letter in the middle of sIn, To remind us all of the trouble we’re in.

Dinosaurs, people, and the whole universe; Because of man’s sin, God judged with a curse.

18

Let’s Read: J means Just awful — I’m sure we could say The effects of sin grew worse every day. Flesh became violent, the Bible reveals. Were people and creatures now dinosaur meals?

The Starting Point: Sin and the pain it brought to the world began to change everything. Where there was peace before among all the creatures and people, now certain animals became ferocious meat eaters. Sickness filled the earth as well as uncontrollable weeds, including thorns and thistles. Read Genesis 6:5–6: Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the LORD was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart.

Bible Bits: (Share one at a time, and have the child repeat what you say.) º Long ago, people not only sinned, but they seemed to get worse every day. º People began to lie, steal, and even kill other people. º When people God created for good do bad things, this grieves God’s heart. º From the Garden where there was peace, now some creatures began to eat meat. º Certain dinosaurs and other creatures that ate meat would have to kill to get food, so this would create feelings of fear.

Let’s Talk! (Be sure that the child responds to each point and signals his or her understanding with an answer.) º After Adam and Eve sinned by eating the fruit of a special tree God told them not to eat, all their children and children’s children also did bad things as a result. º What was worse, the people who sinned loved God less and less. º God is good, so what do you think happens when people don’t want to be good anymore? º People were selfish and proud, hurting other people more each day. º Even some animals started to kill, so there were definitely creatures that would frighten people back then like today.

Always Remember: (The child needs to repeat this back to you.) The sinfulness of people from Adam to the time of Noah just got worse. Today, people sin as well, but God can help us if we call on Him through prayer and repentance (repentance means to turn away from sinning and be sorry for doing bad things).

Stuff to Do: Have a child pile blocks up in one single stack to see how high they can go. When the blocks finally fall over, state that the blocks are like sins; the more sin there is, the more things become shaky and insecure. Long ago, the balance of the world was thrown off by all the sin in the world, and our sins today can hurt us as well as our family and friends.

Quick Review: 1. What kinds of sins happened long ago that still happen today?

J-NOTES

2. How did sin change the way some animals got their food?

pg. 60

19

J means Just awful — I’m sure we could say The effects of sin grew worse every day. Flesh became violent, the Bible reveals. Were people and creatures now dinosaur meals?

20

Let’s Read: K is for Knowledge, which made Noah sad; The world would be judged, because people were bad!

Let’s Talk!

God warned he would send a terrible flood

(Be sure that the child responds to each point and signals his or her understanding with an answer.)

That would cover the world with water and mud.

º Who was Noah?

The Starting Point: Many years after Adam and Eve’s sin, a man named Noah loved God, even though most people in the world turned against the Lord. God told Noah to build an ark, a large boat that would keep Noah and his family safe from a great flood that was coming. Read Genesis 6:13–17: And God said to Noah, “The end of all flesh has come before Me, for the earth is filled with violence through them; and behold, I will destroy them with the earth. Make yourself an ark of gopherwood; make rooms in the ark, and cover it inside and outside with pitch. And this is how you shall make it: The length of the ark shall be three hundred cubits, its width fifty cubits, and its height thirty cubits. You shall make a window for the ark, and you shall finish it to a cubit from above; and set the door of the ark in its side. You shall make it with lower, second, and third decks. And behold, I Myself am bringing floodwaters on the earth, to destroy from under heaven all flesh in which is the breath of life; everything that is on the earth shall die.

Bible Bits: (Share one at a time, and have the child repeat what you say.) º Noah was a good man who loved God, even though most of the world had turned against God. º With so many people sinning and only getting worse, God told Noah that He would send a flood to cover the earth. º Because Noah was good, God gave him instructions for a large boat to save himself, his family, and the land animals of the world. º The Bible shows how terrible sin can be if we do not seek God.

K-NOTES

º God provides a way to save those people who love and follow Him.

º Noah was a friend of God who pleased Him and honored Him with his life. º At the time of Noah, most people on earth had turned against God. º Sometimes when people do bad things they get punished, and God knew He had to punish those who would not obey Him. º Do you know what God told Noah to do? He asked him to build an ark or boat because a great flood would come and cover the earth; the biggest flood ever.

Always Remember: (The child needs to repeat this back to you.) Sin is a terrible thing. Because it had caused so much pain and so many people had turned away from God, He let Noah know that the world would be completely covered by water.

Stuff to Do: Put a Bible on a table and stack regular books like dictionaries and informational reference books next to it. Talk about how the information books are filled with facts and figures, while the Bible has God’s wisdom and knowledge in it. The one stack can help you know about certain things in the world, while the Bible helps you know God’s loving plan. This was the difference between what the people knew and what Noah understood.

Quick Review: 1. If Noah loved God, why was God still so sad about sin? 2. What was God going to do to punish the world for sin? 3. Why did God want to save Noah and his family from the Flood?

pg. 60

21

K is for Knowledge, which made Noah sad; The world would be judged, because people were bad! God warned he would send a terrible flood That would cover the world with water and mud.

22

Let’s Read: L is for Listen: Noah knew that he should, As soon as God said, “Make an ark out of wood.

Let’s Talk!

Take each land animal, two-by-two;

(Be sure that the child responds to each point and signals his or her understanding with an answer.)

Your family’s among the hard-working crew.”

The Starting Point: Noah listened to God and began to build the ark, which likely took somewhere between 50 and 75 years to complete. (Noah wasn’t told to build the ark until his three sons were born and old enough to be married — Genesis 6:13–18). What a job! After it was completed, God brought the land-dwelling creatures of the earth two by two so they could be saved from the Flood (seven of the clean animals — Genesis 7:2). Read Genesis 6:18–21: But I will establish My covenant with you; and you shall go into the ark — you, your sons, your wife, and your sons’ wives with you. And of every living thing of all flesh you shall bring two of every sort into the ark, to keep them alive with you; they shall be male and female. Of the birds after their kind, of animals after their kind, and of every creeping thing of the earth after its kind, two of every kind will come to you to keep them alive. And you shall take for yourself of all food that is eaten, and you shall gather it to yourself; and it shall be food for you and for them.”

Bible Bits: (Share one at a time, and have the child repeat what you say.) º The ark would have been a very large boat, big enough for Noah’s family, the creatures, and food enough for all of them. It was longer than a football field and was three stories tall! º Noah listened to God and did just what He said. º For all the creatures that were needed, Noah would have found a place for every one of them, including the dinosaurs.

L-NOTES pg. 61

º All the ark needed to do was float, so it didn’t have sails or propellers. º Everything the people and creatures needed to live for that year-long Flood would have fit in the gigantic ark.

º Who listened to God and did what He said: Adam or Noah? º Noah and his family followed God’s instructions, even though it took a long time. º How many people went on the ark with the animals? º There was Noah and his wife, Ham and his wife, Shem and his wife, and Japheth and his wife; eight in all (see also 1 Peter 3:8). º Everybody on earth came from these eight people who followed God!

Always Remember: (The child needs to repeat this back to you.) Noah listened to God, and God blessed Noah. He told him how to build an ark to save his family and each kind of land animal on the earth from the Flood. God still looks for people who listen to Him today.

Stuff to Do: Play a listening game. Whisper ideas first, but have the child shout loudly so he or she can’t follow what you’re saying. Then whisper clear suggestions (like “go pick up that book and bring it to me”) and have them listen quietly. Let them know how it encouraged you when he or she did what you said. This is how it was for Noah. He listened for God’s clear voice, and then he followed it, while the others didn’t want to hear God’s voice because they wanted to do their own thing.

Quick Review: 1. What exactly is an ark? 2. Did Noah honor God by building the ark like God asked? 3. Why did God send the animals to be put into the ark?

23

L is for Listen: Noah knew that he should, As soon as God said, “Make an ark out of wood. Take each land animal, two-by-two; Your family’s among the hard-working crew.” 24

Let’s Read: M is for Monster like the great dinosaur; But how could he enter the ark through the door? Well, many dinosaurs were really quite small; The young ones, especially, were not very tall.

The Starting Point:

Let’s Talk! (Be sure that the child responds to each point and signals his or her understanding with an answer.)

Some people wonder how Noah could fit all the animals on the ark, including dinosaurs. However, it was likely that younger and stronger animals were brought, which would have been smaller. Also, many dinosaurs were only the size of chickens or sheep!

º Are animal babies bigger or smaller than the adult animals?

Read Genesis 7:2–3:

º Also, a lot more dinosaurs were small, like the size of a chicken or sheep, than huge like we see in books and movies.

You shall take with you seven each of every clean animal, a male and his female; two each of animals that are unclean, a male and his female; also seven each of birds of the air, male and female, to keep the species alive on the face of all the earth.

Bible Bits:

º Babies are smaller, so it’s very possible that Noah was able to bring younger creatures on board the ark that wouldn’t have taken as much food or space, or produced as much waste!

º Do you see how this would make it easier to fill the ark, which was around 500 feet long and over three stories tall? º God knew just what was needed, and Noah and his family did well to listen!

(Share one at a time, and have the child repeat what you say.)

Always Remember:

º God wanted to make sure that His creations would survive.

(The child needs to repeat this back to you.)

º This included Noah and his family, the land animals, and the birds.

There are people who will try to trick you. They will say dinosaurs were too big to fit on the ark. But God has made living things grow from little to big. In this way, any creature He wanted could be saved.

º Though we think of dinosaurs being big, many were quite small and the younger ones would have been little for sure. º “Clean animals” was a limited list of animals that God later said people could eat, at the time of Moses, and unclean animals were the rest of the creatures. º There are only about 50 kinds of dinosaurs, so only 100 individuals were needed on the ark.

Stuff to Do: With blocks shaped in the form of an archway or paper cut outs forming a sphere, gather similar items of varying sizes to slip through the hole. Make sure some are small enough to fit and that others are far too big to fit. Discuss how though some animals might grow to be too big to pass through a doorway, baby or younger animals are generally much smaller in size than adults.

Quick Review: 1. Did dinosaurs actually go on the ark?

M-NOTES

2. How could such big creatures fit on a boat?

pg. 62

25

M is for Monster like the great dinosaur; But how could he enter the ark through the door? Well, many dinosaurs were really quite small; The young ones, especially, were not very tall. 26

Let’s Read: N is for Noah, his wife, and his kin, Who, with the animals, also went in. Dinosaurs outside the ark were all drowned; That’s why as fossils their bones are now found.

The Starting Point: You might wonder to at times why there are so many fossils from “long ago,” but you don’t find them much from creatures today. Well, the Flood that covered the whole earth stirred up lots of mud that concealed the ones that drowned, forming fossils! Read Genesis 7:22–24: All in whose nostrils was the breath of the spirit of life, all that was on the dry land, died. So He destroyed all living things which were on the face of the ground: both man and cattle, creeping thing and bird of the air. They were destroyed from the earth. Only Noah and those who were with him in the ark remained alive. And the waters prevailed on the earth one hundred and fifty days.

Bible Bits:

º Noah and his whole family trusted God and entered the ark to escape the heavy rains that were to come, and the animals were all in place when God closed the door. º The creatures, including the dinosaurs, that didn’t enter the boat were all drowned. º All that water moving around stirred up tons of mud and rock that covered over them. º The weight of the water pressing on the mud helped form the dinosaur fossils we now find all over the earth!

Always Remember: (The child needs to repeat this back to you.) What we find in the world confirms what God’s Word says. For all the fossils of dinosaurs and other creatures to be found all over the world, and for sea fossils to be found on the tops of mountains, the Flood of Noah’s day is the only thing that explains it all so well.

Stuff to Do:

º During that time, massive amounts of stuff that had died would have been covered in layers of the floating debris that would settle.

Messy alert! Take a small toy boat, flour, a deep pan, small rocks to represent animals, and a gallon of water. Fill the base of the pan with flour and place the boat and animals on the flour. Slowly pour in the water, letting it stir up the flour and start to raise the boat. Talk about how during the Flood the water even rose over the mountains of those days (the mountains we have today are a result of the Flood!). Once the water has been poured, let everything settle, then come back to see how the flour has covered over the “animals” yet the boat is still floating above the water. This is a simplistic way to see how God saved Noah, his family, and the animals, yet all else would have been covered in water and mud (the flour), eventually forming fossils all over the earth.

Let’s Talk!

Quick Review:

(Share one at a time, and have the child repeat what you say.) º All Noah’s family and the animals God sent, including dinosaurs, entered the ark, and were kept safe and dry inside. º Those that did not enter the ark were died; many were covered by the water and mud/sediment. º For 150 days, the waters of the Flood washed over the earth then receded for about five months after that. Noah’s family was on the ark for over a year!

N-NOTES pg. 63

(Be sure that the child responds to each point and signals his or her understanding with an answer.)

1. What happened to all the animals outside the ark when the rains came?

º Would it be a little scary to get into a big boat with a huge storm all around?

3. Was Noah and his family on the ark for very long?

2. How could such creatures become fossils?

27

N is for Noah, his wife, and his kin, Who, with the animals, also went in.

Dinosaurs outside the ark were all drowned; That’s why as fossils their bones are now found. 28

Let’s Read: O is for Out of the ark they all ran, Once the huge vessel came safely to land. Stegasaurs, lambeosaurs, nodosaurs, and more;

Let’s Talk!

After the Flood there were dinosaurs galore!

(Be sure that the child responds to each point and signals his or her understanding with an answer.)

The Starting Point: Noah, his family, and all the creatures on the ark drifted on the waters of the Flood until the 150th day. After that, the ark came to rest on top of the mountains of Ararat, but had to wait to come out until the 370th day. What an amazing sight that would have been! Genesis 8:15–19: Then God spoke to Noah, saying, “Go out of the ark, you and your wife, and your sons and your sons’ wives with you. Bring out with you every living thing of all flesh that is with you: birds and cattle and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, so that they may abound on the earth, and be fruitful and multiply on the earth.” So Noah went out, and his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives with him. Every animal, every creeping thing, every bird, and whatever creeps on the earth, according to their families, went out of the ark.

Bible Bits: (Share one at a time, and have the child repeat what you say.) º For about a year, the ark had been the home to Noah, his family, and all the creatures that filled its space. º Now the time had come for them to come out and fill the earth. º The ground was now dry, and seeds would be sprouting for all to eat of the plants, and some sapplings may have also taken root. º Animals would disburse from this great ship and begin to wander away in their groups of like kind.

º Do you know how long they all had to stay in the ark until the water went down enough? º It was almost a whole year on the boat but they only drifted until the 150th day when they landed on the mountains of Ararat. º After that long year, Noah, his family, and all the creatures came out of the ark to begin life in this new world. º Some of those creatures would have included dinosaurs that would have grown a bit!

Always Remember: (The child needs to repeat this back to you.) God was able to save Noah, his family, and all the animals of the world through the Flood. He did this by giving Noah a warning to build the ark and showing him how to prepare for what was to come. God has given anyone who will listen His plan for eternal life and how to be saved through Jesus His Son.

Stuff to Do: Get a dinosaur coloring book or download dinosaur pages from a website like http://www.answersingenesis.org/kids. Have a child color the pages and talk about the different kinds of dinosaurs that God made. After nearly a year on a boat, most of us would want to run out and play!

Quick Review: 1. What happened after the ark landed on top of the mountains?

O-NOTES

2. What kinds of creatures came out of the ark when the doors opened?

pg. 63

29

O is for Out of the ark they all ran, Once the huge vessel came safely to land. Stegasaurs, lambeosaurs, nodosaurs, and more; After the Flood there were dinosaurs galore! 30

Let’s Read: P is for Pronounce: are the names hard for you? Iguanodon, diplodocus, now how did you do? Brachiosaurus, tyrannosaurus, and others as well, What happened to them is the story we’ll tell.

The Starting Point: While dinosaurs certainly came in all shapes and sizes, it’s possible there were around 50 different “kinds.” That is, many were simply variations of a brachiosaur or diplodocus which are part of the sauropod kind or variations of ceratopsian kind like the Triceratops! Read Genesis 8:20–22: Then Noah built an altar to the LORD, and took of every clean animal and of every clean bird, and offered burnt offerings on the altar. And the Lord smelled a soothing aroma. Then the Lord said in His heart, “I will never again curse the ground for man’s sake, although the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth; nor will I again destroy every living thing as I have done. “While the earth remains, Seedtime and harvest, Cold and heat, Winter and summer, And day and night Shall not cease.”

Bible Bits: (Share one at a time, and have the child repeat what you say.) º There were certain animals that Noah was asked to take seven of on the ark, not just two. º These creatures were called clean animals. º With some of these, Noah and his family were able to make offerings of thanks once they came off of the ark.

P-NOTES pg. 64

º Once the Flood was over, God promised to never flood the entire world again, though there are small local floods at times. The rainbow is a reminder of that.

º God promised to bring continuous seasons to the earth as long as it remained, which would remind people always of His faithfulness to Noah and to us.

Let’s Talk! (Be sure that the child responds to each point and signals his or her understanding with an answer.) º Can you think of some funny dinosaur names you know? º These in the poem are pronounced like this: iguanodon (ig-WANoh-don), diplodocus (dih-PLOD-uh-kuss), brachiosaurus (BRACK-eeuh-SAWR-us), and tyrannosaurus (tye-RAN-us-SAWR-us). º There were perhaps only about 50 different families of dinosaurs (kinds), so about 100 dinosaurs were carried on the ark, males and females. º Do you see any dinosaurs around today? Many people wonder what happened to them! Due to sin, animals have been dying off and we have an endangered species list today to help keep some from dying off.

Always Remember: (The child needs to repeat this back to you.) Sometimes words are hard to pronounce and ideas are hard to understand, but God makes His message one that a child can know and His love open to any who come to Him for salvation.

Stuff to Do: Pull out a dinosaur book (or look at a dinosaur website that is child friendly) to look over the images of the types of dinosaurs that would have been on the ark. Look over the names and try to pronounce as many as possible. Look at the similarities and see how certain “kinds” are closely related.

Quick Review: 1. Can you name some of the dinosaurs that came out of the ark? 2. About how many types of dinosaur kinds were there?

31

P is for Pronounce: are the names hard for you? Iguanodon, diplodocus, now how did you do?

Brachiosaurus, tyrannosaurus, and others as well, What happened to them is the story we’ll tell. 32

Let’s Read: Q is for Question — why can’t we any more, Look around and see even one dinosaur? They’re surely all dead, it’s as simple as that; Try to guess why — put on your thinking hat.

The Starting Point: If you look around your street, or at a zoo, or in books of animals, you don’t see dinosaurs walking around. Your parents or grandparents didn’t either. What happened to all of the dinosaurs after the Flood is a mystery people are still trying to solve, but there are some reasons that make sense: 1. Lack of proper vegetation/food after the Flood 2. An Ice Age that followed the Flood — reptiles don’t like cold weather! 3. Being hunted (Nimrod was a mighty hunter soon after the Flood) but other animals were hunting these smaller populations after the Flood, too

º Just as the other animals left the ark and went off into the world, so did those dinosaurs that were aboard. º God made a promise, a covenant with Noah, his family, and every living creature, that He would never destroy the world with a flood again. º The rainbow was the sign that we should remember whenever we see it.

Let’s Talk! (Be sure that the child responds to each point and signals his or her understanding with an answer.) º If there were so many dinosaurs on the ark, what do you think has happened to them? º Some folks say there was a meteorite, or lots of little floods, or some other horrible event. º A lot of people try to answer this question, but the Flood gives us a clue!

4. Diseases

Always Remember:

5. Catastrophic events like local floods, volcanoes, tsunamis, hurricanes, tornadoes, meteorites in local areas, and so on could kill entire families of dinosaurs

(The child needs to repeat this back to you.)

6. Other possibilities, too! Read Genesis 9:12–15: And God said: “This is the sign of the covenant which I make between Me and you, and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations: I set My rainbow in the cloud, and it shall be for the sign of the covenant between Me and the earth. It shall be, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the rainbow shall be seen in the cloud; and I will remember My covenant which is between Me and you and every living creature of all flesh; the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh.

Bible Bits: Q-NOTES pg. 64

(Share one at a time, and have the child repeat what you say.)

Some answers are harder to find than others. When you find hard problems and don’t at first know what to do, pray to the Lord who gives us wisdom and hope, just like He gave to Noah.

Stuff to Do: Play 20 questions with either animals or dinosaurs in mind. Try to see if a child can think of one of the dinosaurs you’ve looked at, and then let people try and guess what type he or she is thinking of, or see if he or she can ask the questions and figure out the creature from you. Have fun!

Quick Review: 1. How come the dinosaurs are all gone? 2. Will it ever rain again like it did in Noah’s day? 3. What sign did God give to remind us of His promise?

33

Q is for Question — why can’t we any more, Look around and see even one dinosaur?

They’re surely all dead, it’s as simple as that; Try to guess why — put on your thinking hat. 34

Let’s Read: R is for Reasons — perhaps there are more; After the Flood, times were tougher for sure; Volcanoes and storms, then drought and snow, Maybe people killed them — they frightened them so.

The Starting Point: After the Flood, things around the world changed. Because of all the water, volcanoes, storms, and more, heavy snows and ice swept over much of the earth and caused what it called the Ice Age. This may well have killed off many of the dinosaurs. Read Job 38:29–30: From whose womb comes the ice? And the frost of heaven, who gives it birth? The waters harden like stone, And the surface of the deep is frozen.

Bible Bits: (Share one at a time, and have the child repeat what you say.) º The great Flood that covered the earth with water would have caused lots of disturbances.

º With the excess water still lingering and increased precipitation due to warm oceans from the Flood, the reduced sunlight would have caused it to be colder, eventually freezing some of the water into glaciers and making more snowfall. º The colder temperatures would have been enough to kill off many of the dinosaurs in areas affected by it. It’s what people call the Ice Age where snow and ice covered much of the earth. º Others most likely died over time, since there are stories of “dragons” in nearly every culture around the world — and most of these end with a dragon getting killed! “Dragon” is the old name for large reptiles and is even found in the Bible.

Always Remember: (The child needs to repeat this back to you.) Some things happen slowly, like a dripping faucet. Others happen powerfully and quickly, like a rainy day flooding a river. After a powerful thing like the Flood of Noah’s day, lots of other things would happen to change the world. No matter what, God is there.

º Some of those would include increased storms and heavy snows.

Stuff to Do:

º It’s possible that Job mentioned the effects of the Ice Age when he talked about the waters turning hard like stone.

Storms (and other natural disasters) can be very frightening for children, even if they only see them in the news. Have a child draw a picture of a storm, and talk with him or her about how God watches over us no matter what we might face. Just as God kept Noah safe, He can keep us safe as well.

º During the Ice Age it is likely that many animals used to the warmer weather before the Flood would have died. º Many dinosaurs would have died during that time.

Let’s Talk! (Be sure that the child responds to each point and signals his or her understanding with an answer.) º During and after the Flood year, it is likely that volcanoes erupted around the world, causing the globe to be a bit darker from all the ash (reflecting some of the R-NOTES sunlight back to space).

Quick Review: 1. What are some of the events in the world that can destroy creatures? 2. Could the creatures called “dragons” really have been dinosaurs? 3. What was the Ice Age?

pg. 65

35

s

ice

rm

an Vo lc o e s S to e g a

ug

?

hunters

Disease d r o

ht

s n ow

R is for Reasons — perhaps there are more; After the Flood, times were tougher for sure; Volcanoes and storms, then drought and snow, Maybe people killed them — they frightened them so. 36

Let’s Read: S is for a Section from God’s Holy Book; About a great beast; when he walked the ground shook. Behemoth, or monster, was this animal’s name: Our word “dinosaur” means almost the same.

The Starting Point:

Let’s Talk!

The Book of Job (40:15–24) refers to the behemoth, an enormous creature many think was a dinosaur, like the brachiosaurus. No living beast quite fits the description of this one that had a tail that moved like a cedar tree.

(Be sure that the child responds to each point and signals his or her understanding with an answer.)

Read Job 40:15–18:

º It’s very possible that a few lived for quite some time even after the Flood!

Look now at the behemoth, which I made along with you; He eats grass like an ox. See now, his strength is in his hips, And his power is in his stomach muscles. He moves his tail like a cedar; The sinews of his thighs are tightly knit. His bones are like beams of bronze, His ribs like bars of iron.

Bible Bits: (Share one at a time, and have the child repeat what you say.) º God spoke with Job about the behemoth.

º How could Job in the Bible describe this dinosaur if they were all dead?

º Did you see that the behemoth had a tail that moved like a cedar tree? º No matter what kind of dinosaur this was, it was certainly gigantic!

Always Remember: (The child needs to repeat this back to you.) Job was a man like Noah who walked with God. God wants to be there for you and with you, too, in every part of your life. And like Job, you have nothing to fear when you trust in God.

Stuff to Do:

º Many think it’s possible that the behemoth was perhaps a brachiosaurus.

Find a large tree in your yard or in a park. Have a child try and place his or her arms around the trunk. Let them know that this would have been about the size of the Behemoth’s leg, and it would have stood taller than most houses!

º The brachiosaurus may have been one of the last large living dinosaurs during the Ice Age in Job’s area.

Quick Review:

º This creature seemed much larger than any hippo or elephant.

º To read the description of the creature is amazing, with a tail that moves like a cedar tree and bones like bronze beams and has no fear of the flooding and gushing waters of the Jordan River.

1. What kind of creature might the behemoth have been? 2. Who wrote about it in the Bible? 3. Was this a large or small animal?

S-NOTES pg. 66

37

S is for a Section from God’s Holy Book; About a great beast; when he walked the ground shook. Behemoth, or monster, was this animal’s name: Our word “dinosaur” means almost the same.

38

Let’s Read: T is for Tales that we often hear

Let’s Talk!

About terrible dragons that made men fear.

(Be sure that the child responds to each point and signals his or her understanding with an answer.)

Maybe these tales could actually be Stories of dinosaurs men used to see.

The Starting Point: From Job in the Bible, to the account of Saint George and the dragon, it is highly possible that some dinosaurs lived quite a while after the Flood. Perhaps what people have said were just myths and stories might just be fact! Read Job 40:19–23: He is the first of the ways of God; Only He who made him can bring near His sword. Surely the mountains yield food for him, And all the beasts of the field play there. He lies under the lotus trees, In a covert of reeds and marsh. The lotus trees cover him with their shade; The willows by the brook surround him. Indeed the river may rage, Yet he is not disturbed; He is confident, though the Jordan gushes into his mouth.

º Some people think it’s likely that these creatures called “dragons” were probably dinosaurs. º Every continent but Antarctica has legends and ancient drawings that look just like dinosaurs, long before their bones were ever discovered. º The word dinosaur is rather new, being invented in 1841, and means “terrifying lizard” or “terrible lizard.” The word used before this was . . . dragon!

Always Remember: (The child needs to repeat this back to you.) Long before they ever discovered dinosaur bones, people described what these animals looked like. Because of that, we can know that they didn’t live millions of years ago. God made them on day 6 and we find many of their fossil remains in the Flood sediment that is only about 4,300 years old

Stuff to Do:

Bible Bits: (Share one at a time, and have the child repeat what you say.) º This great creature that Job describes seems something much larger than any land animal today. º It was not only very large but unafraid of anything. º With other dinosaurs still around, it’s possible that what Job described was just one of many that still lived.

T-NOTES

º Have you heard of places like South America, China, Greece, or Wales? Those are all places from around the world, and they all have dragon legends!

º It’s very possible that these last dinosaurs are the creatures some called “dragons” in so many legends around the world.

On some cardstock, have a child draw and color a dinosaur (what some legends called dragons!). Try and help them draw it from an angle above the creature with the four legs out at the sides, so that it can be cut out and taped up so it will stand. They might also make cut-out ponds, trees, rocks, and more to go with this new creature.

Quick Review: 1. Did dinosaurs live after the Flood was over? 2. What are some of the reasons we know this is true? 3. Do you want to dig dinosaurs out of Flood sediment someday?

pg. 67

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T is for Tales that we often hear About terrible dragons that made men fear. Maybe these tales could actually be Stories of dinosaurs men used to see.

40

Let’s Read: U is for Understand, which we want to do; The Bible explains the dinosaurs for you.

Let’s Talk!

It also tells how from sin to be saved;

(Be sure that the child responds to each point and signals his or her understanding with an answer.)

By trusting in Jesus, who rose from the grave.

The Starting Point: The Bible can be trusted to talk about the beginning, about the Garden of Eden, about sin, about the Flood, all because God passed this on to people. He also tells us what we can do to find a way to escape the pain of sin. Jesus, the Son of God, came and died to set us free! Read Romans 10:8–9: But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart”(that is, the word of faith which we preach): that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. (See also John 3:16–18)

Bible Bits: (Share one at a time, and have the child repeat what you say.) º There are so many questions about life that the Bible answers. º Of those questions, the ones about God are the most important, because no other book has all the correct answers. º In the Bible, you find that even though sin was so horrible, God made a way for all of us to be saved. The punishment for sin was death and Jesus died in our place so we can be saved through Him. º We can believe in Jesus and find a hope and eternal life like no other.

º Do you remember what sin is and what happened to Adam and Eve way back? º Sin is doing something that is against God’s Word, and people still sin every single day. º No matter how “good” someone is, everyone needs help from the bad things sin brings in our lives. º Jesus actually died and rose up from the dead to save us from sin. º If you believe and trust in Him, you can find hope and salvation from sin and its “sting” (1 Corinthians 15:55–57).

Always Remember: (The child needs to repeat this back to you.) The Bible is filled with history, and that history tells us about God creating the world. It also tells us about Jesus, His miraculous birth, His sinless life, His death on the Cross, and His Resurrection from the dead. We can be saved from sin when we put our trust in Him.

Stuff to Do: In your home or local library, get a book filled with pictures about Israel and where Jesus walked. Talk about His life and all He did, and about how He died for our sins then rose from the dead to save us. It’s important for children to know that the account of Jesus is not just a story, like so much children hear or see, but that He lived His life in a real place, and still lives today to guide us.

Quick Review: 1. What does the Bible teach us about sin and being saved from sin? 2. Why did Jesus have to die?

U-NOTES

3. What did He do to show that He was greater than death?

pg. 68

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U is for Understand, which we want to do; The Bible explains the dinosaurs for you. It also tells how from sin to be saved; By trusting in Jesus, who rose from the grave. 42

Let’s Read: V is for how Very much we can say We all should read the Bible each day. Dinosaurs we’ve proven, are no mystery; God’s Word teaches us true history.

The Starting Point: The library is filled with storybooks; page after page of made-up stories to entertain us. You can also find books filled with facts and figures, truth about the world. The Bible is a book of earth’s true history, from God’s wonderful creation of the world until the time we will be with Him! Read 2 Timothy 3:16–17: All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.

Bible Bits: (Share one at a time, and have the child repeat what you say.) º Some books are about true things and some just made up and these books talk about a lot of different subjects; but the Bible is unique in that it is God’s true Word for us in all things. º Some people try to tell us that the Bible is just another book, but you can learn that it is the only book that records what happened at the beginning — because God inspired it! º The Bible is like a teacher that tells us why we need a Savior, how to be saved, how to live right, and to have joy in living. º We can know what the Bible teaches is true history.

Let’s Talk! (Be sure that the child responds to each point and signals his or her understanding with an answer.) º Is the Bible just filled with made-up stories or is it filled with history? º God’s Word, the Bible, keeps for us a record of history and the lives of His people, up until just after Jesus rose from the dead. º What have we learned from the Bible? º We have learned that Adam and Eve sinned, that they had to leave the peaceful Garden of Eden, and that because of growing sin Noah built an ark to keep his family and the animals of the world safe. All this in the Bible!

Always Remember: (The child needs to repeat this back to you.) There is no other book like the Bible, for no other book can be truly called the Word of God. Try to read the Bible or have someone read it to you every day. You can learn a little more of God each time!

Stuff to Do: Let a child hold a Bible and tell them how truly amazing it is. There are actually 66 books in it, and they were written by about 40 different people over about 1,500 years, in three different languages (Hebrew, Greek, and Aramaic), and it’s God’s Holy Word. And even though it is filled with history, poetry, prophecy, and more, it all comes together to teach us God’s heart and His desire to share with us His grace and truth forever. God is good!

Quick Review: 1. Is the Bible just a book of “stories”? 2. What makes it different from all other books?

V-NOTES

3. How often should we read God’s Word, the Bible?

pg. 68

43

Jonah

Adam and Eve

Jesus David and Goliath e told you If I hav y things, and earthl believe not, and ye

how shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly John 3:12 things?

V is for how Very much we can say Dinosaurs we’ve proven, are no mystery; We all should read the Bible each day. God’s Word teaches us true history. 44

Let’s Read: W is for Watchfulness, which we should all learn, Since some day Jesus, our Lord, will return.

Let’s Talk!

He’s going to judge this world once again;

(Be sure that the child responds to each point and signals his or her understanding with an answer.)

But this time by fire, instead of by rain.

º What does the Bible tell about Jesus?

The Starting Point: After the Flood, God told Noah that essentially He would never destroy the world with water again. Later in the Bible, He shows us that Jesus will return for those who follow Him, and having a great fire reserved for heaven and earth. We can have peace knowing He loves us! Read 2 Peter 3:5–7: For this they willfully forget: that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of water and in the water, by which the world that then existed perished, being flooded with water. But the heavens and the earth which are now preserved by the same word, are reserved for fire until the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.

Bible Bits:

º Jesus the Son of God came to the world to teach us the way back to God. º He also willingly gave His life to save us from our sins. º After He rose from the dead, He taught for a time then returned to heaven. º Now those who know Him wait for Him to come back for us!

Always Remember: (The child needs to repeat this back to you.) People are willing to wait for someone or something important, like a fun ride at an amusement park, or a line at the Creation Museum, or a dear grandmother coming on a plane for Christmas dinner. Jesus is going to come back for His people who are waiting for Him, and there isn’t much that is more important than that.

(Share one at a time, and have the child repeat what you say.)

Stuff to Do:

º In the Bible, God tells us that Jesus will return one day to take His people to heaven.

Take a favorite stuffed animal and a blanket, and play a bit of hide and seek. Cover the stuffed animal with the blanket or hide it in the house. Ask a child if the stuffed animal is still around. Use this simple lesson to teach them that though we can’t always see something or someone, that doesn’t mean that they are gone. Jesus is with us, though we can’t see Him, and He will return to take us to be with Him because of His great love.

º Once God judged sin with a Flood, but this time it will be with fire. º We can watch with hopefulness for His return because we know He loves us. º The Flood was real and we can still see its marks on the world.

Quick Review: 1. What does the Bible teach us about watching? 2. Why are we supposed to watch for Jesus?

W-NOTES

3. What will He do once He gathers those who love Him and takes them to heaven?

pg. 69

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W is for Watchfulness, which we should all learn, Since some day Jesus, our Lord, will return. He’s going to judge this world once again; But this time by fire, instead of by rain. 46

Let’s Read: X is in eXcited, which Christians should be, One day we know that heaven we’ll see. There’ll be no more dying, or crying or pain;

Let’s Talk!

For God our Creator, forever will reign.

(Be sure that the child responds to each point and signals his or her understanding with an answer.)

The Starting Point: Just like the Garden of Eden was a place of peace, so heaven will be a place we can live with God without any pain or fear. It is something Christians around the world look forward to. Heaven is no fairy tale; it is as real as your house! Read Revelation 21:3–4: And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.”

Bible Bits: (Share one at a time, and have the child repeat what you say.) º There was much pain that people suffered in the Bible because of sin. º Today, there is still much pain and suffering, as sin is still very real in the world. º Something so wonderful will happen; God will one day wipe away every tear. º He is making a place for us to live with Him forever. º Christians look forward to heaven where only joy will be left for those who love Him.

º Do you remember talking about the beautiful Garden of Eden? º It was the wonderful place of peace and safety God placed Adam in. º Heaven is like the Garden of Eden, only better, because no one will ever cry there, or sin there, or die there. º One day, Jesus will take those who are saved and trust God, like Noah did, and bring them to be with Him forever. º This will be the best celebration ever!

Always Remember: (The child needs to repeat this back to you.) You can get hurt from falling down or getting a cut or having someone say something mean to you. Imagine a place where there is no pain. That will be what heaven is like, and God wants to take us there someday.

Stuff to Do: Talk about heaven and how it is beautiful and perfect and good, like the Garden of Eden once was, but even better. Let a child draw what he or she thinks heaven might be like: a place of peace and joy, with no pain or tears; everything that is wonderful without anything bad. Give praise to God for making such a magnificent home and for inviting us to live with Him there.

Quick Review: 1. What will heaven be like? 2. Does it seem like a beautiful place people would want to go?

X-NOTES

3. How does it compare to the Garden of Eden in Genesis?

pg. 70

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X is in eXcited, which Christians should be, One day we know that heaven we’ll see. There’ll be no more dying, or crying or pain; For God our Creator, forever will reign. 48

Let’s Read: Y is for Years, how long could it be, Since God made the world for you and for me? “Probably only six thousand or so,”

Let’s Talk!

Say many good scientists; they ought to know!

(Be sure that the child responds to each point and signals his or her understanding with an answer.)

The Starting Point: You can often look at someone and guess his or her age. This can also be fun to try if you’re looking at old toys, or cars, or buildings. But it gets harder the older the things are. For the earth, the Bible makes it clear it’s no more than about 6,000 years old! Read Genesis 1:26–31: Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. . . . Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good. So the evening and the morning were the sixth day.

Bible Bits: (Share one at a time, and have the child repeat what you say.) º The Bible has some good time-lines for us.

º The Bible shows that God made the world and gave it to people to care for. º Do you know about how long ago God created everything, if you count the years since Adam? º Even though some people say the world might be millions or billions of years old, God’s Word shows it’s only about 6,000 years of age! º That’s about how many years it is if you count the 930 years of Adam’s life with all his descendants.

Always Remember: (The child needs to repeat this back to you.) Some people will try and tell you that the earth is millions or billions of years old. However, the Bible shows that from Adam to Jesus, only a few thousand years went by. And when you look at the world around you, it confirms the Bible history.

º It tells us about God forming the world, including Adam and Eve.

Stuff to Do:

º Then it lets us know how long they and their descendants lived, all the way up to Jesus (about 4,000 years from Adam to Christ).

Lay 60 crayons, pencils, or popsicle sticks end on end (in a hallway or on a sidewalk). Tell a child that each one represents 100 years, the lifetime of a strong healthy person today. With this they can get a visual idea of how many years ago it was that God created the earth, the time back to Noah, and other big events in history. It wasn’t really that long ago!

º If you use those figures to count up the years, the world is really only about 6,000 years old! º Only God was there, so only He really knows what happened.

Quick Review: 1. How long has it been since God made the world?

Y-NOTES

2. Who is the one who knows about the creation and when it was?

pg. 70

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Y is for Years, how long could it be, Since God made the world for you and for me? “Probably only six thousand or so,” Say many good scientists; they ought to know!

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Let’s Read: Z is for the Zeal which people should see, As we tell the truth about history. The dinosaurs certainly have not evolved; Through God’s Holy Word, the puzzle is solved!

The Starting Point: Though some people like to talk about evolution and things changing into other things over millions of years, the Bible helps us to know that God made everything just as it is. We don’t have to wonder about the beginning or the end anymore! Read Psalm 102:18–19: This will be written for the generation to come, That a people yet to be created may praise the LORD. For He looked down from the height of His sanctuary; From heaven the LORD viewed the earth.

º They said that the world was an accident and that people just came from ape-like creatures. º But God is still calling us to follow Him, just like He called Adam and Eve, and just like He called Noah. º Follow the Lord like Noah did, and you’ll find the joy and grace that he and his family did. º Though the Bible was written before any of us were alive, God knew that you’d read it one day!

Always Remember: (The child needs to repeat this back to you.)

(Share one at a time, and have the child repeat what you say.)

Zeal is a kind of excitement that helps us have the strength to do what’s right even if people try to tell us we’re wrong or foolish. It’s something we should have when telling people about God and His creation.

º It’s so good that God let us know the truth about creation.

Stuff to Do:

º We didn’t evolve over time, and neither did the dinosaurs.

Zeal is a word in Scripture that means a strong passion for God and the things of God. For children, this can be a little hard to understand. Talk about emotions and those things that fill us with joy, or sadness, or anger. We can have a zeal for God no matter what our emotions are, because loving God is something we can commit to doing every day. Pray that you can have that passion for the things of God more every day.

Bible Bits:

º God lovingly created us to be with Him forever. º Now we can live for Him and find the world filled with His blessings!

Let’s Talk! (Be sure that the child responds to each point and signals his or her understanding with an answer.) º A few hundred years ago some people started saying God didn’t create the world or people.

Quick Review: 1. Should we tell people about creation and God’s history? 2. Is the world an accident or something planned and prepared by God? 3. What is zeal for God?

Z-NOTES pg. 71

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Z is for the Zeal which people should see, As we tell the truth about history.

The dinosaurs certainly have not evolved; Through God’s Holy Word, the puzzle is solved!

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“A is for Answers” Overview: God tells us in the Book of Genesis that when He made the earth it was water (Genesis 1:2; 2 Peter 3:5). The Bible also says that the sun was not created until day 4 (Genesis 1:14–19), which is totally the opposite of evolutionary teaching.

(Job 9:6; Psalms 75:3). Also, it is not flat (Proverbs 8:27; Isaiah 40:22). Share with them that some of the Greeks in the past thought the earth was flat, but if they had read the Bible, they would have had a scientifically correct understanding of the earth.

Directed Discussion:

Core Truth Takeaway:

Many modern scientists tells us that the universe began with a “big bang” billions of years ago, that the sun came before the earth, and that, eventually, the earth was formed as a hot molten blob. Show that this contradicts what the Bible says.

Emphasize to them the importance of reading God’s Word in order to understand the correct teaching about the earth.

If the earth was created first, and was water (2 Peter 3:5), then there never was a “big bang.” Teach the children that in 2 Peter 3, God tells us what will happen in the last days, when this earth, as we know it, will finally be judged by fire and changed back into a perfect world. We read in 2 Peter 3:10 that when the earth is judged by fire, the elements will melt with great heat, and that there will be a great noise. Explain to them that this means there will be a “big bang” in the future, but that there never was a “big bang” in the past!

On one side of a sheet of paper, have the students write the following, one underneath the other: “big bang,” sun before earth, earth a hot molten blob, no water on the earth at first, happened over billions of years. Now ask the students to write on the other side what the Bible tells us concerning these matters. They can attempt this on their own by using Genesis chapter 1: No “big bang,” earth before sun, earth cool (because it was water), earth covered with water, creation finished in six days. Emphasize that the order of events according to the Bible is totally different from evolution. Stress the importance of trusting God who has always been there.

You can also share with the children that the Bible teaches explicitly that the earth hung in space — it does not sit on “pillars” or anything similar to “pillars” (Job 26:7) which is a common metaphor for standing firm and not meant to be taken literally

Quick Review Activity:

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“B is for Bible” Overview:

Quick Review Activity:

The children need to understand that God made the world in six days and rested for one day. As well as teaching this from Genesis 1, read Exodus 20:11, which is the Fourth Commandment, and is one of the most important and easily understood reasons why God used six ordinary days to create the world.

Discuss with the students the fact that there was day and night before the sun was created on day 4. Have them read Genesis 1:3–5.

Directed Discussion: We read in Exodus 20:11 and Exodus 31:17 that God made everything in six days and rested for one day, which is the pattern for our sevenday week. Explain that if God had taken a million years for each day, then it would be seven million years long. That would be a long work week! Children will readily understand that this is obviously absurd.

Core Truth Takeaway: Explain that on day 1, God made space and the earth. The earth was water (Genesis 1:1–5). On day 2, He separated water above the earth from the water on the earth (Genesis 1:6–8). When God created everything it worked just right.

Tell them that light from one direction (implied by the phrase “evening and morning”) is needed for day and night — but where did the light come from? They may have a lot of suggestions they could write down. Perhaps the light came from God, Himself (Revelation 21:23), or another created light source. The point of the exercise, however, is that we are not told where the light came from on days 1–3, but the sun took over those duties on day 4. God does not tell us everything — we can never know everything — otherwise, we would be God. Make sure they understand that there will always be many questions we will not be able to answer, which is why we must have faith (Hebrews 11:6). However, the Christian faith is not without evidence. The Answers in Genesis scientists have provided much scientific evidence that is a good confirmation of what we read in the Bible. Display some of their books and videos to the students if you have them.

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“C is the Continent” Overview:

Core Truth Takeaway:

On day 3, God made the plants and the dry land. You can explain to them that some scholars have suggested there was only one large continent before the Flood (from Genesis 1:9).

At this time, it would also be good to talk again about the beauty of God’s creation, and how a plant with a beautiful flower could not have happened just by chance. It had to have been made by the Creator — God. Consider that flowering plants needs insects to pollinate them! How could flowering plants be around for millions of years without bees, butterflies, or other pollinating insects to help the flowers make seeds?

Directed Discussion: We read that on day 3, God made the plants “according to their kinds” (Genesis 1:11–12). This is the first occurrence of this phrase, which is repeated ten times in Genesis chapter 1. Emphasize that God made the plants and all the animals after their own kinds. This means that each group of animals and plants was made uniquely — they were not made from other kinds of animals or plants. Explain that this means that one kind of animal did not evolve into another, but that God made different groups of animals and plants in the beginning, and that they stayed the same within their own groups. However, within a kind, there can be lots of variation (e.g., varieties of bears, variety of dogs, variety of cats — but there is a bear kind, a dog kind and cat kind).

Quick Review Activity: 1. Have the students count the number of times the phrase “according to its kind” or a similar phrase occurs in Genesis 1. (It appears a total of 10 times.) 2. Tell the students to draw a picture representing the earth before the Flood. They can decide the shape and size of the land surface, etc. Some of them may want to draw this as one large continent, as some scholars have suggested. (If there was only one continent originally, it must have split up during the Flood.) Have them mark a place in the east where the Garden of Eden may have been, and the place where Noah may have lived and built the ark. Explain to them that the original world was destroyed by the Flood, so the land surface today may be very different from that before the Flood. Also, because of the Flood, we do not know where the Garden of Eden was located.

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“D is for Dinosaur” Overview:

Quick Review Activity:

On day 4, God made the sun, the moon, and the stars (Genesis 1:14–19). It is important to explain again that the sun was not created on day 1.

Ask the students to write down how we determine the measurement for the following:

Directed Discussion:

º Month

As a review question, ask, “How could we have day and night if there were no sun?” See if they remember previous discussions on this matter. Be sure they understand that God made light on day 1, but that He didn’t make the sun until day 4, when it became the world’s light-bearer from that time on. For a normal 24-hour day, all we need is a light source and a rotating earth.

º Year

Core Truth Takeaway:

º Day

º Seven-day week The students should know that the first three all come from astronomical observations (e.g., earth rotating on axis, earth and moon, earth and sun), but that the fourth has no basis other than the Bible. Hopefully, they remembered to quote Exodus 20:11, which tells us why God made everything in six days, and rested for one. The creation week is the only basis for our seven-day week.

Teach them that God made the sun, moon, and stars for signs and for seasons. Explain how we measure our month by the phases of the moon. You can also explain that people navigating ships, etc., use the stars to determine where they are on the earth. Also explain how the stars we can see change positions daily and according to the seasons of the earth, because of the earth’s rotation on its axis as it revolves around the sun.

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“E is for Everything” Overview: On day 5, God made the sea creatures and the birds (Genesis 1:20– 23). This means He must have also made the great sea reptiles, like the plesiosaurs.

Directed Discussion: Although the plesiosaur is not strictly a dinosaur (the word dinosaur specifically refers to land reptiles that walk upright, not like a crocodile or komodo dragon), according to evolutionists, they supposedly lived at the same time as the dinosaurs, and are often called marine dinosaurs.

Core Truth Takeaway: “Where do we go to find information concerning the creation of the world?” The Bible — God’s Word. Through all of this you are training

them to use the Bible as a foundation for their thinking — all their thinking must start with God’s Word.

Quick Review Activity: Ask the students to answer the following question: “What came first, the chicken or the egg?” Then ask them to share the reason for their answer. The answer, of course, is that the chicken came first because God made the birds on day 5 (which includes the chicken kind), and then He told them to multiply (Genesis 1:22). Again, emphasize that the only way to know what came first is if someone were there to see the first chicken or the first egg. Ask the question, “Who has always been there?” The answer, of course, is God.

“F is for Fantastic” Overview: On day 6, the Bible tells us that God made all the land creatures, and the first two people, Adam and Eve. If He made all the land creatures on this day, then He must have made animals like kangaroos, bears, horses, etc., as well as dinosaurs, because dinosaurs were also land creatures.

the days of creation was an ordinary day, and God made Adam and Eve on the same day He made the land animals. Explain to them that those who believe in evolution think dinosaurs lived millions of years before man even appeared on the earth. Obviously, the true account from the Bible is very different from the story of evolution.

Directed Discussion:

Quick Review Activity:

Explain that the word “dinosaur” was invented by a man named Sir Richard Owen (a famous British anatomist) in 1841, to describe the bones of great reptiles that had been found in the earth. The word dinosaur means “terrible lizard.” This is why the word dinosaur does not appear in the Bible — it is a made-up word, invented in 1841.

Have the students exercise their creativity by composing a four-line poem to illustrate that Adam and Eve lived beside dinosaurs. These could be printed on poster board and put up around the room. You could use this example: God made dinosaurs on day 6;

Core Truth Takeaway:

With Adam and Eve they all did mix.

Make sure they understand that by reading the Bible we can be sure that dinosaurs and people lived at the same time, because each of

He put them all in a garden to live; To God our praises we surely must give.

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“G is for Garden” Overview: When God made Adam and Eve, He made a beautiful garden where they could live. You can read this in Genesis 2.

tell them that the Garden of Eden would have been a much more beautiful place than even this.

Directed Discussion:

Quick Review Activity:

Explain to the children that in this garden God placed two very special trees: the tree of knowledge of good and evil, and the tree of life (Genesis 2:8–9). Adam was told that they were not to eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. God gave them this rule, which He wanted them to obey (Genesis 2:16–17).

Ask the students this question: “Why did the fish obey God and swallow Jonah?” The answer, of course, is that because God made the fish in the first place, it had to obey God. Get the students to write down other examples in the Bible where animals or the elements obeyed God’s Word (e.g., the ravens feeding Elijah, the wind and the sea calming at Jesus’ Word, etc.). There are many examples.

Core Truth Takeaway: Make sure they understand that this was a very beautiful place. It was a perfect world where everything was in total harmony. Get them to picture in their minds a beautiful rain forest where there are lots of green plants, lush vegetation, beautiful big trees, beautiful ponds and water lilies, and creeks with crystal-clear water flowing. Then

After you have gone through all the examples (add more yourself if the students could not think of many), ask them, “Why did they obey God?” They should give the same answer each time: “Because He made it.” Then ask the question, “Why do you have to obey God?” Answer: “Because He made me.” Then you can use this to talk about being obedient to God’s Word — and thus to their parents and teachers. Discuss the Ten Commandments — have them read Exodus, Chapter 20.

“H is for Hungry” Overview:

Core Truth Takeaway:

Most children think of dinosaurs as being very large. Certainly, the bones we have found show some of them as being very large, but many of them were very small, some as small as chickens.

Some children may wonder why animals have sharp teeth if they were not created to eat meat. You can explain to them that their mothers use sharp knives to cut up vegetables, and so animals would have needed sharp teeth just to cut through vegetables and fruits that they were eating. In other words, just because an animal has sharp teeth does not mean it eats meat. Lots of animals have sharp teeth that don’t eat meat, like fruit bats or pandas. It simply means it has sharp teeth for eating other types of foods!

Directed Discussion: Suggest to them that Adam would not have been frightened of a huge, hungry dinosaur with a big mouth, because the Bible tells us that when God first made the animals, and Adam and Eve, they ate only plants (Genesis 1:29–30). Even the biggest dinosaur would have eaten only plants. Thus, Adam would not have been frightened of a dinosaur with a big mouth open wide, ready to eat. He knew that the dinosaur would not have wanted to eat him, because originally, animals did not eat meat, and Adam would not have wanted to eat a dinosaur because Adam and Eve were also told to eat only plants.

Quick Review Activity: Take the students to the library and look up books on animals. Try to find animals that have real sharp teeth but that eat only (or mainly) plants. (Hint: look at the panda, some of the bears, certain monkeys, lizards, etc.) The students could draw pictures based on the information they collect.

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“I is the letter in the middle of sIn” Overview:

Core Truth Takeaway:

We can assume that some of the dinosaurs, because of sin, started eating animals, even other dinosaurs. Read Genesis 9:1–3. This was told to Noah after the Flood. Thus man, for the FIRST time since the creation, was told that he could eat meat. Originally, he, like the animals, ate only plants.

Romans 5:12 says that human death came into the world because of Adam’s sin. As a direct result of human sin the first animals died (Genesis 3:21). There is a relationship between human sin and animal death. The fact that they see animals eating other animals today, or even that some of the dinosaurs ate other animals, was not a part of the original creation before sin, because the animals originally ate only plants. However, because of sin, death came into the world; therefore, some of the animals would have started eating other animals, and perhaps even people. It is also important to understand that there would not have been dead dinosaurs (bones of dinosaurs — fossils) before Adam sinned. This is one major reason why Christians can’t consistently believe in evolution and millions of years and try to mix that with the Bible in Genesis.

Directed Discussion: Tell the children that in this beautiful Garden, Adam and Eve disobeyed God and ate some fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil because the devil tempted Eve through the serpent and Adam ate as a result, too (Genesis 3:1–7). Explain how wrong it was to yield to that temptation and disobey God. Because of this rebellion — not obeying God’s rules — sin came into the world (Romans 5:12). Clearly define sin to them. It is disobedience or rebellion against God’s rules. Explain to them that all of us have the problem of wanting to disobey God at times, and that this is why we often don’t want to obey our teachers, or our parents, or our employers and supervisors. Teach them that because of this rebellion, God placed a curse on the world — in fact, on the whole universe (Genesis 3:14–19). Romans 8:20–22 tells us that the whole of creation is groaning and travailing in pain because of Adam’s sin.

You can use this section to emphasize to them how awful sin is, and that all the terrible things we see in the world — the death and suffering, are because of the sin which we inherited from our great, great, great . . . granddaddy, Adam. Explain that God had to judge sin because God is holy and perfect. The very reason God used death is so that once again we will be able to live in a perfect world after we die, or when Jesus comes again. Tell them that without death, we could not go to live with God; we would always be separated from God. How terrible this would be! This will be discussed further when we get to the letter “U.”

Quick Review Activity: List all the things you can think of that you eat now, that man would not have been able to eat before Genesis 9, if he had been obedient to God (e.g., sausage, bacon, ham, burgers, hot dogs, any animal product).

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“J is for Just awful” Overview:

Quick Review Activity:

Read to the children the passage from Genesis 6:12–13, which states that all flesh had become corrupt (violent). Again, explain that this was because sin had entered the world, and so God had cursed the world.

Have the students pretend they are newspaper reporters at the time of Noah. Ask them to write a short article on what they saw happening in the world, how wicked it had become. Have them make up a headline for this article.

Directed Discussion: Because the Bible says “all” flesh had become violent, you can tell them that it wasn’t just people who became violent, but animals, also. Thus, dinosaurs, as well as other animals, probably became violent, and started killing each other and killing people.

Using a poster board, or something similar, make up the front page of a newspaper and call it “The Daily Curse.” Paste a number of the students’ articles on this page and put the poster up on the wall as a reminder of how wicked the world was in Noah’s day. You may want to develop several newspapers and give them different names.

Core Truth Takeaway: God must have been very sad to see how violent His beautiful world had become. Remember how it once was? Now it was becoming a very terrible place in which to live.

“K is for Knowledge” Overview:

Core Truth Takeaway:

Read Genesis 6:8 and share with them the fact that there was only one righteous man in the whole world, Noah. He was the only man who loved God, and had not turned against Him. Because the world had become so wicked, God warned this righteous man, Noah, that He was going to send a flood to destroy the world.

You can also point out to them that the majority of people (in fact, nearly everyone in the world) were wrong. Today, because most scientists don’t believe in creation, people say they must be right. However, the majority may not always be right. In Noah’s day, the majority was wrong.

Directed Discussion:

Quick Review Activity:

Tell them how faithful Noah was. He did everything God commanded him to do (Genesis 6:22). Because Noah was such a good man and loved God, God promised to save him, his three sons, and their wives, from this Flood that was going to cover the whole world, and which would destroy all the wicked people and violent animals.

Read 2 Peter 3:5, then have the students pretend they are Noah, before the Flood. Have them make up a one-minute sermon that Noah might have preached to warn the people about the impending Flood and to be righteous. They can write out this sermon and then stand up in front of the other students (pretend they are the wicked people), and preach the sermon to them.

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“L is for Listen” Overview:

Core Truth Takeaway:

Read to them Genesis 6:14, where God told Noah to build a big boat to save his family and representatives of all the kinds of air-breathing land animals from the Flood. This boat was to be made of wood, and God would send two of each land animal onto this boat, or ark. In some cases, He would send seven of each kind.

Read the passage from Genesis 7:2–3, where God said He would send two of EVERY kind of air-breathing land animal on board the ark. Genesis 6:19 tells us that God would send a male and female of each kind. (There were to be seven of each of the clean beasts and fowls, and two each of the unclean animals.) If God sent every kind of animal on the ark, this would have included dinosaurs. God made no exceptions; therefore, dinosaurs must have gone on the ark as well.

Directed Discussion: Ask them what happened to the animals that didn’t go on the ark. If the world was covered with water, obviously they drowned. If Noah’s Flood did occur, you would expect to find billions of dead things, buried in rock layers, laid down by water all over the earth. Ask them what do we find in rock layers? We find fossils! Because of Noah’s Flood, there would have been lots of mud all over the earth, and it would have buried many of the animals and plants. We find their remains in these layers, all over the earth. This fits with the fact that animals could die only after Adam sinned. These fossils of animals could not have formed until after the Fall. For fossils to form, there needs to be lots of water and mud. Thus, the Flood provided an excellent mechanism for forming literally millions or more of fossils after Adam sinned.

Quick Review Activity: Write down the caption, “Billions of dead things, buried in rock layers, laid down by water all over the earth” on a poster. The students can then illustrate this caption on the poster. Get them to memorize the caption and recite it.

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“M is for Monster” Overview:

Quick Review Activity:

Because most children (and even adults) think of dinosaurs as extremely large creatures, they have trouble visualizing how they could fit into the ark. Explain to them that some reptiles have been observed to continue to grow as long as they live.

Give the students a library research assignment. Have them look up the names of as many varieties of domestic dogs as possible. Also get them to look up the different types of wolves, and to look up pictures of coyotes and dingos, and write all these names on a list. Explain to them that these animals are all dogs, and came from an original dog kind that may have looked like a wolf.

Directed Discussion: Because God selected the animals to send to Noah, no doubt He would have selected young, healthy animals, ready for the new world after the Flood. God would not have selected a large dinosaur to go in the ark, but probably a young adult. In the famous book The Genesis Flood,1 Dr. Henry Morris and Dr. John Whitcomb estimate, assuming the average size of an animal to be the size of a sheep, that no more than 35,000 individual animals were needed on the ark to represent all the kinds of land animals (including extinct animals). This is an absolute maximum and this would have filled only half of the ark’s space. Other researchers since The Genesis Flood have found that a more reasonable maximum is about 16,000 individuals (John Woodmorappe, Noah’s Ark: A Feasibility Study2) and a minimum of 2,000 (Arthur J. Jones, “How many Animals in the Ark?” CRSQ3). So there was plenty of room for more people, if they had believed Noah and asked to be saved from the Flood. But, sadly, they did not do that and God knew they wouldn’t. Again, remind the children that some dinosaurs were as small as chickens.

You may be able to get a local dog breeder to tell the students how many different varieties of dogs have been bred over the past hundred years. Thus, use dogs as a way of explaining variation within a group of animals. Use the domestic dogs, dingos, and wolves as examples of the same kind, but with variation in shape, size, weight, etc. Explain that this type of situation would be true of all other groups of animals. Noah only needed two dogs on the ark, and since then we have variations in dogs that are their descendants — but they are all dogs!

Core Truth Takeaway: Because dinosaurs were reptiles, maybe some of them also would have continued to grow all their life. However, explain that even the largest dinosaur was small when it hatched out of an egg. It may have taken a long time, perhaps hundreds of years, for these dinosaurs to reach their enormous sizes.

1. John C. Whitcomb, Jr. and Henry M. Morris, The Genesis Flood (Philadelphia, PA: Presbyterian and Reformed Pub. Co., 1961). 2. John Woodmorappe, Noah’s Ark: A Feasibility Study (Santee, CA: Institute for Creation Research, 1996). 3. Arthur J. Jones, “How many Animals in the Ark?” CRSQ, volume 10, number 2, September 1973, p. 102–108.

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“N is for Noah” Overview:

Quick Review Activity:

Because of the effect of the Flood, we find plants and animals buried in mud all over the earth. At the end of the Flood, these mud layers eventually hardened and turned to stone. The preserved remains of animals and plants found in these rocks are called fossils.

Get the students to obtain a glass bottle and half fill it with dirt. Then have them fill the rest of the bottle with water, and shake furiously (after putting a lid on the bottle, or putting their hand over the end as they shake it). Then have them put the bottle down, and let the water and mud settle. Have them observe that as the mud settles it forms different layers. Have them draw a diagram of these layers.

Directed Discussion: Share with them the fact that probably most of the fossils on the earth’s surface would have been formed because of the effect of this worldwide Flood. There have been local disasters, like volcanoes, that have laid down rock layers.

Core Truth Takeaway: Explain to them that if you add up the dates in the Bible, this flood occurred only about four-and-a-half-thousand years ago, which would mean that most of the fossils, including dinosaur fossils, would be no more than about 4,500 years of age.

Show them a picture of the Grand Canyon. Ask them to draw a picture of the Grand Canyon layers on a large piece of paper. Then write the following caption on their picture: Lots of water and lots of mud, Formed these layers during Noah’s Flood. Explain to them that if the little bit of water and dirt in their bottle formed into layers after mixing it up, you would expect to find lots of layers all over the earth, if the Flood of Noah’s day mixed up lots of mud.

“O is for Out of the ark” Overview:

Core Truth Takeaway:

If dinosaurs went on the ark, then they must have come out of the ark after the Flood. This would mean that dinosaurs lived in the world after the Flood.

Remind them that Noah’s ark rested on a mountain for a number of months before the animals came out, so there was plenty of time for the mud to harden and for plants to grow, which would have provided food for the dinosaurs after this terrible event.

Directed Discussion: Review with the children the fact that dinosaurs were created on the same day as Adam. Provided they hadn’t died out (which is unlikely, particularly in the light of Job 40, and dragon legends as discussed in “S” and “T”), they lived at the same time as Noah, they went into the ark, and they came off the ark after the Flood.

Quick Review Activity: Have the students pretend they are Noah keeping a diary during his adventure on the ark. Have them call it “The Ark Log.” Get them to choose five days, either at the beginning, the middle, or near the end of the voyage, and write an entry for each day.

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“P is for Pronounce” Overview:

Core Truth Takeaway:

Sometimes big names can seem overwhelming, but helping children listen as you pronounce dinosaur names, and then speak them back to you can build a confidence and understanding.

Suggest to them that these dinosaurs would have been living in the present world after the Flood.

Directed Discussion:

Have each of the students learn ten of their favorite dinosaur names. Then see how fast they can say all ten names. Perhaps you could have a competition, and time each person as they say the ten names.

One of the things you can do here is to obtain Dinosaurs for Kids.4 This is a popular book on dinosaurs from a Christian viewpoint. Either read the book to them or select a number of different dinosaur names and teach the children to pronounce them.

Quick Review Activity:

It can be fun learning dinosaur names and how to pronounce them.

“Q is the Question” Overview:

Core Truth Takeaway:

Obviously, if dinosaurs came off the ark, they must have lived in the world after the Flood.

Help them come up with ideas as to what they think happened to the dinosaurs, and write down all of their suggestions.

Directed Discussion:

Quick Review Activity:

However, we don’t see any today, so they must have died out — or what may be left is hiding really well! If there were around 50 kinds of dinosaurs represented on the ark, then presumably around 50 kinds of dinosaurs lived after the Flood.

Ask the students for suggestions as to why they think the dinosaurs must have disappeared. We don’t seem to see them around us today, and unless they’re living in jungles or underground where we haven’t found them, we don’t believe they are living at all in this present world. However, they did come out of the ark, and they were living on this earth only thousands of years ago.

4 Ken Ham, Dinosaurs for Kids (Green Forest, AR: Master Books, 2009).

Tr i c e r a t o p s

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“R is for Reasons” Overview:

Quick Review Activity:

Tell them that dinosaurs would have laid eggs, and produced more dinosaurs, so there would have been an increasing number of dinosaurs after the Flood.

One of the reasons the students might come up with in regard to the extinction of the dinosaurs, would be that people killed them. As a fun exercise, have the students imagine they owned a restaurant while dinosaurs were still alive, and all the items on the menu had to come from dinosaurs. Get them to develop a breakfast, lunch, and dinner menu, and make up a name for the restaurant.

Directed Discussion: Explain to them that after the Flood, the world was still not a perfect place. There would have been local floods, and drought, and snow, and people probably would have become violent again, because all human beings suffer from the same problem that Adam brought into the world, sin.

Core Truth Takeaway:

Some Ideas: Breakfast: Dino One-Egg Omlette — suitable for 20 people Lunch: Tyrannosaurus Drumstick — need 5 hours to eat Dinner: Brachioburger — serves the whole family!

Review again all the reasons the students came up with that may have caused dinosaurs to eventually die out. Also share with them that after the Flood there was probably an Ice Age. This may be alluded to in Job 38:29. Because dinosaurs were probably reptiles, they might not have coped very well in a cold climate, so this also may have contributed to killing them off or reduced their numbers.

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“S is for a section” Overview:

Quick Review Activity:

If dinosaurs went on the ark, and came off the ark, and were created by God on day 6, then are they mentioned in the Bible?

If some dinosaurs grew so large before the Flood because animals (and people) lived for a long time (hundreds of years, see Genesis 5:5), why did “behemoth” grow so large after the Flood, since we know people in today’s world live to be only 70 years or so? Read the following verses to the students to see if they can find a possible answer: Genesis 9:28–29, 11:10–11, 13, 17, 19, 21, 25, and 32.

Directed Discussion: At this time, read Job 40:15–24, and consider the description of a great monster called “behemoth.” The Bible describes it as being “first of the ways of God; only He who made him can bring near His sword,” and so it must have been among the largest of land animals God created. Show them that this description fits a dinosaur, such as a brachiosaurus, or supersaurus, or seismosaurus, or some other great dinosaur.

Core Truth Takeaway: The description says this animal had a tail that moved like a cedar tree. Show them that a description like this does not fit an elephant or a hippopotamus, but that it does fit a dinosaur. Actually, there is a special Hebrew word for elephant, and also for hippopotamus. The word “behemoth” literally means “great quadruped.” This means it was a great animal on four legs. Tell them that in the passage from Job, God is talking to Job about this creature. Job was a man who lived after the Flood, and obviously knew about dinosaurs. The Bible thus tells us that dinosaurs lived after the Flood, and that once again they lived at the same time as people.

If you read through Genesis chapters 9–11, they will learn that people still lived for hundreds of years immediately after the Flood, but then their life span started to shorten dramatically. Perhaps some dinosaurs lived for hundreds of years immediately after the Flood, and thus may still have grown very large — e.g., “behemoth.” However, if you do library research with them to find out which animal is the largest ever known to have lived on earth and sea they will discover it is the blue whale, which still lives in the oceans today. It does not live for hundreds of years — but it is the largest known animal to have ever existed. Thus, have the students realize that it may not have been the dinosaurs’ length of life that enabled them to grow to enormous sizes. It may have just simply been a characteristic that God built into their genes. Help them to understand there is still much information about dinosaurs that is unknown, and so we have to be very tentative in regard to many of the things we say about them. (After all, we were not there to see or study them while they were living.)

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“T is for Tales” Overview:

Quick Review Activity:

Some of these dragon legends talk of “fire-breathing dragons.” Could some of the dinosaurs have “breathed fire”? See the book Dragons: Legends and Lore of Dinosaurs5 for more on this connection.

Write a 20-word message about sighting a big animal. Have the children sit down together. Whisper the message to the first person, and have them whisper it to the next person and so on. Then have the last person say out loud the message that they received. It will most likely have some similarities to the original message, but it will also have many differences. Explain how stories can change when handed down by word of mouth — people forget some things, and add other things; thus, the dragon legends could be variations of true stories with some elements of the original versions, but now containing many differences, also.

Directed Discussion: Ask the students if they have ever heard any dragon legends. There are many legends around the world that say there used to be dragons, and that people killed them. Ask them for descriptions of what these dragons were like. Show them that many of these descriptions actually could fit dinosaurs. They are even mentioned in the Bible — 22 times in the King James Version and 24 in the Geneva Bible!

Core Truth Takeaway: Suggest to them that perhaps these dragon legends are based on real encounters with animals that people called dragons, but which were actually dinosaurs. People may have embellished these stories over the years. There is evidence from all around that dinosaurs/ dragons lived in different parts of the world, alongside people.

Now write out a different message. If they can write, have the first student copy exactly what you have written, and then have the next child copy from this one and so on. Get the last student to read the final copy — it should be the same as the original, if they all copied it exactly. Explain that the Bible has been handed down in written form from the beginning (even Adam probably wrote down parts of Genesis which Moses used to compile the book — Genesis 5:1). Also, God supernaturally watched over the people who copied the manuscripts (2 Timothy 3:16; 2 Peter 1:21). When something is handed down in written form, the possibility of error is greatly reduced compared to the problems in things handed down orally. The students probably made some mistakes even when copying, because they are FALLIBLE beings. However, help them understand that the Bible has been supernaturally preserved by the INFALLIBLE Creator God.

5 Bodie Hodge and Laura Welch, Legends and Lore of Dinosaurs (Green Forest, AR: Master Books, 2011).

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“u is for understand” Overview: Read to them from Matthew 27:27–31, and 28:1–7, and tell them about the fact that because of sin, the one who created the world (Colossians 1:16), came to earth and died on a Cross, and was raised from the dead so we can spend eternity with God, and thus live with Him in a perfect place.

and is our Creator. He sent His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, to die and be raised from the dead so that our sins could be forgiven, and so that we could spend eternity with the Lord Jesus (God — the Son). Explain the whole of the gospel message at this stage, from creation to redemption.

Directed Discussion:

Quick Review Activity:

Reinforce the fact that when we start with the Word of God – the God who knows everything because He was always there – we can understand about dinosaurs. However, share with them that the Bible not only tells us about dinosaurs, it also tells us about ourselves and the trouble we’re in because of sin (Romans 3:23; 1 Corinthians 15:22; Isaiah 64:6; John 3:3–5).

Have the students collect funeral notices from their local newspaper for a week. At the end of this time, collect all the notices and summarize the sex, age, and occupations of those who had died. Ask the students what they can learn from this.

Core Truth Takeaway: Explain to them that this is why God judged the world with death. Someone who was perfect needed to die to atone for our sin. The only one who could do this was God, Himself, because He is sinless,

They should realize that death could come at any time for anyone. No one is exempt. It doesn’t matter whether you are male or female, young or old, famous or not — no one is immune from death. Ask the students what they should do, now that they know this. The answer should be to BE READY — to be sure that if they died today, they would go to be with the Creator, because they have been born again as the Scripture says they must be.

“V is for how Very much” Overview:

Core Truth Takeaway:

If we read God’s Word every day, we will not be led astray by people who try to tell us that His Word is false — who tell us evolution is true, and that dinosaurs lived millions of years ago.

Tell them that the evolutionists do not know anyone who has always been there, or who knows everything. But we have the Word of God — the God who has always been there, and who knows everything. We can know what is right about the history of this world, about who we are, why we are here, and where we are going.

Directed Discussion: Read the children the following passages: Psalm 1:2, Joshua 1:8, and 2 Timothy 2:15. These verses tell us that we should read God’s Word every day. Read Psalm 119:11; this tells us we should memorize God’s Word. Explain how important that is; that just as we need to eat good food to be physically healthy, so we need to “eat” God’s “food,” the Bible, to be spiritually healthy.

Quick Review Activity: Have the students construct a “My Bible Diet” poster. For Example: My Bible Diet, by Johnny Smith. 1. Read my Bible morning and night. 2. Think about what I have read. 3. Memorize verses every day.

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“W is for Watchfulness” Overview:

Core Truth Takeaway:

Refer back to the account of the Flood, and show how the people who did not trust God’s Word were destroyed at the time of the Flood, but that those who did trust God’s Word were saved on the ark (Genesis 7:23).

Share with them the wonderful fact that if they trust God’s Word today, the Lord Jesus will save them from the judgment which is coming on this earth. Tell them how much we need to be like Noah, who trusted God’s Word. If we do this, God will save us from the judgment to come.

Directed Discussion: Read the following passages to the children: Acts 1:9–11, Revelation 1:7, 1 Thessalonians 4:16–18. These passages tell us that Jesus Christ, who came to earth to die for our sin, is coming back some day. Explain to them that this world was judged once by water, but that next time it is going to be judged by fire (2 Peter 3:10). Also, at this time, remind them of the account of the rainbow. In Genesis 9:12–13, God tells us that He put a rainbow in the sky as a sign that He will never again send a worldwide flood. Tell them that the next time they see a rainbow it should remind them that God once judged the world with water, but that He will never do it again. This should be a warning that He will next judge the world by fire, but that if we are trusting in Him, as did Noah, we will be saved from this judgment of fire, just as Noah was saved from the judgment of the Flood.

Quick Review Activity: Have them write down the seven major colors of the rainbow (or write it for them) — red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet. Beside each letter, put a color of the rainbow, beginning with Red. (The only reason for this part is to give them something to do and make their page look colorful!) Then opposite the color, get them to write a word for each letter and use all seven words to tell some of the things they have learned in this book. For example: R – Ready — Be ready for Jesus when he comes back. A – Answers — The Bible has the answers about life. I – Into — Dinosaurs went into the ark. N – No — No people outside the ark survived the Flood. B – Behemoth — A dinosaur (behemoth) that lived beside Job. O – Out — Out of the ark dinosaurs came. W – Water — Water covered the whole earth during the Flood.

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“X is in eXcited” Overview: When we dig up the bones of animals such as dinosaurs, it should remind us that death is in the world because of sin.

in the Lord Jesus Christ will be separated from God, and will suffer for the rest of eternity.

Directed Discussion:

Quick Review Activity:

Read Revelation 21:1–5 and 22:1–5. These passages tell us there is a time coming when there will be no more death or suffering. The death and suffering that exist in the world today are because of sin.

Conduct a class discussion. Have the children try to list all the jobs that people have now that will not be needed in heaven. For example: doctor, policeman, fireman, nurses, etc. Really, the conclusion to which they will come is that heaven will be TOTALLY different from what we are used to now. Discuss with them what it might be like, and the famous Christians whom we will meet. Help them to understand that heaven is a REAL place with REAL people, and those who are Christians WILL be going there someday.

Core Truth Takeaway: One day, God is going to judge this world, and make it into a perfect place again, where there will be no more death, and where we will be able to sing praises to our Creator. However, those who don’t trust

Have them looking forward to heaven!

“Y is for Years” Overview: Emphasize to the children that when we add up all the dates in the Bible, from the first day of creation through the Flood, and right up to Christ, we get about 4,000 years. From Christ until the present time, it amounts to only about 2,000 years, for a total of 6,000 years.

Directed Discussion: Tell them that there are many scientists who do not believe in evolution and millions of years. They are called creation scientists, and they work in many research laboratories around the world. Some of them work at Answers in Genesis, the Institute for Creation Research, universities, or national labs and other companies. Tell them they are highly qualified scientists who have done a lot of research to show that the world is only thousands of years old, just as the Bible tells us.

Core Truth Takeaway: Share with them how different this is from the evolutionary scientists who say that dinosaurs lived millions of years ago. Remind them that no scientist was there, but that God has always been there, and that God’s Word tells us the truth about dinosaurs and about history.

Quick Review Activity: The book Men of Science: Men of God6 lists many of the scientists of the past who were very famous, and who were also creationists (e.g., Newton, Kepler, Faraday, etc.).You can also find many listed here: http://www.answersingenesis.org/home/area/bios/#pastsci. Make up sets of six different cards, each about the size of a business card. At the top of each card print, “Adopt a Scientist.” Then select six different scientists from the list in Men of Science, Men of God6 or the Answers in Genesis website, and write their names, when they lived, and what they were famous for on the card. (You could also have the students make these cards — only larger.) Tell the students to carry the cards around for a week and memorize the information on them. At the end of the week they should be able to recite the names of six famous scientists who believed in creation. Give them a test! 6 Henry M. Morris, Men of Science, Men of God (Green Forest, AR: Master Books, 1982).

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“Z is for the Zeal” Overview: Because we know the truth about history, we can tell people that God made the world. We need to oppose the wrong ideas people have, such as evolution, which keep them from believing the Bible.

Directed Discussion: Read the passage of the Great Commission from Mark 16:15, which says that we should go all over the world telling people about the gospel message. This message tells us that God created a perfect world, sin entered the world, and that death came as a result of sin. But, Jesus Christ came and died for our sin, and one day He’s coming back to “remake” or more appropriately, create a new heavens and new earth” (Revelation 21:1).

Core Truth Takeaway: Many people mistakenly believe that dinosaurs lived millions of years ago, and that because this is in opposition to what God’s Word teaches, we can’t trust the Bible. We need to tell them the truth about dinosaurs, and that we have the answers about where they came from, and what happened to them, because we have God’s Holy Word — the Word of the one who knows everything, who also died for us, and who is coming back to restore this world to a beautiful place (Acts 3:21).

Quick Review Activity: Write out a commitment letter that each student could complete and take home to show family and friends. Perhaps you could have this done on special paper in special handwriting. The following is just a suggestion on how to word such a letter:

I h ereby de cl a re th fo reve r be ca use I

at I a m go in g to li ve

h ave rep ente d of m

I in h er ited from A I a ls o de cl a re th at

da m a nd co ntin ue I lo ve a nd tr ust th

a ll my h ea rt a nd so is tr ue be ca use Je de at h be ca use H e be ca use th e Bible C h ristia n .

y si n, w h ic h

to do p erso n a lly. e Lo rd Je su s w it h

u l a nd be lieve in H

su s die d fo r my si

w it h Je su s

im . I k n ow th is

n, a nd co n q ue re d

ro se from th e de ad

. I k n ow th is

te lls me. I de cl a re th at I a m

a

Na me D ate

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