Creation statues

On your marks

Here’s a simple activity to help everyone learn, remember and explore the days of creation from Genesis 1.

Get set

No special props are needed.

Read through and remind yourself of the story of creation from Genesis 1.

Go!

1  Spread out around your meeting space or simply invite everyone to stand up beside their seats, if in a service. Explain that we are going to become statues for each of the seven days of creation.

With older children, you could invite them to suggest statue shapes as you tell the story. For younger children, or when using this with a congregation, suggest the statue shapes and then keep everyone on their toes by swapping to different days as you re-build the week again and again!

2  Suggested statues – these will move a little, as suggested below.

• On Day 1, God gave the gift of light: statue of a candle – hands together over their heads, flickering.
• On Day 2, God gave the gift of water: statue of a fountain – hands rising and falling above your heads like water spilling out from a fountain.
• On Day 3, God gave the gift of land, plants and flowers: growing statue of a tree or plant– start small and slowly grow upwards, unfolding your body.
• On Day 4, God gave the gift of day and night: statue of a star shape – hands and feet splayed wide and the hands ‘twinkling’.
• On Day 5, God gave the gift of fish and birds: hand movements for a bird and a fish – palms and lower arms together for a fish swimming in the water and linking thumbs with the palms as wings for a bird flying.
• On Day 6, God gave the gift of land creatures: statue of any creature – big, small, tame and wild – leave this to everyone’s imagination! Then, stand still and look around – the gift of me and you! Point to each other and smile.
• On Day 7, God gave the gift of rest: invite everyone to become a statue of someone doing something relaxing – sitting in a chair, reading a book, going for a walk, snoozing… thinking… and praying. Encourage everyone to think beyond just lying down! This is the day to thank God for giving us.

Repeat this activity of describing the gifts, possibly even out of order, and making the statues faster and faster like a ‘Simon says’ game.

3  Now sit down and explore which of these amazing gifts they like the best and which they think is the most important. How have we looked after these gifts? How can we rest and be thankful?