toddler school | noah's ark

It's amazing how much information little toddlers can take in.  We just finished a unit on Noah's Ark - we liked it so much that we made it last a month!  Noah's Ark is a classic Bible story for young kiddos, but there's so much theological awesomeness that I was okay with camping out on it.  And Rebekah really seemed to respond.  Even now that we've been done with Noah for almost two weeks, she still talks about boats and animals and rainbows.  She picks up her books on Noah's Ark and reads them to herself.  The last time it rained, she ran through the house yelling, "I need umbrella!  I need a boat!"  And she can't stop singing the songs that we learned or reciting her Bible verse.  She loved this unit! 

I decided to focus on the biblical truth that God keeps his promises.  Every time we read the story, every time we acted it out, we talked about how God keeps his promises.
On our playlist:

• Hymn of Promise
• All Creatures of Our God and King
• The Rain Rain Rain Came Down Down Down (Disney)
• Trust in the Lord (Proverbs 3:5-6) by Seeds Family Worship
• Standing on the Promises
• Rise and Shine (Arky, Arky)
• Every Promise in the Book Is Mine
• He's Got the Whole World
• Who Built the Ark?
• The Carnival of the Animals by Saint-Saens (classical)

Our letter of the unit was C, and our number was 2 (the animals came by twos!).

 

ASL Signs: boat, rain, animal, rainbow

Arky Activities:

•  We took advantage of a rainy day to sit outside in an "ark" (a big plastic tub) with all of Rebekah's stuffed animals.  We talked about the story while we were out there and how Noah trusted God to provide for him and all of the animals.  This activity didn't last too long because I forgot to wear shoes (and it was cold!), but it was one of the more memorable for her.  She still refers to that tub as her "boat".

 

• Rebekah and Nathan worked hard to construct their own ark out of blocks.  Rebekah's favorite part was putting animals inside.  Her rubber duckies found a happy home in that ark (that is, of course, until she knocked it down).

 

• We built an ark with shapes!  (Is anyone else seeing a pattern here? lol!)  I cut out a square, rectangle, crescent, and triangle from construction paper.  We went over our shape names, and then I showed her how we can put them together to make an ark.  When we added the rectangle for the door, we talked about how God shut the door of the ark.  I just think that's an awesome part of the story!  Rebekah loved putting the shapes together to make an ark and did it several times on her own before we glued them down - it made a great puzzle!  After we glued it, she put animal stickers in their boat - two of each kind, of course!

 

 

• We made our own Noah's Ark game!  I cut the silhouette of an ark out of two paper plates, and we each decorated one (rainbow on top, ark on bottom).  After we colored them, I glued them together so that they made an actual paper plate boat.  Then I printed off this free animal matching game by Jan Brett, glued it to card stock, and laminated it.  We love to play this simple little game.  We lay all of the cards on the floor upside down and take turns turning them over two at a time.  When we find a matching set of animals, they go in the ark (two by two!).  Rebekah gained a lot of skills in matching and counting, and it reinforced the idea that the animals went on the ark in twos.

 

• We enjoyed making rain clouds out of poster board and strung up beads.  I cut out the cloud, and Rebekah colored it while I strung up the beads of "rain".  I was hoping that she would be able to string the beads, but my beads were too small for her little fingers.  Note to self - get toddler-friendly beads next time!
  


• To help us act out the story of Noah's Ark, we made our own rain stick!  I filled an empty paper towel roll with dried rice and then taped foil on each end.  She loved shaking it every time we talked about the rain. 

• We made rainbows out of Fruit Loops!  Rebekah ate more than she glued, but it was a fun craft for a relaxing afternoon.

 

• We learned about the colors of the rainbow with food coloring in water.  I mixed up blue, yellow, and red water and then took them out to the front porch to show Rebekah how we can combine those colors to make orange, green, and purple.  She was fascinated, and she actually understood it!  Then, we took our paintbrushes and "painted" with our new colors on the sidewalk.  It was basically painting with water - the colors didn't show up on the sidewalk.  But she had a blast anyway and got pretty creative with mixing up her own palette.  It was the perfect activity for a warm day.

•   We had a Noah's Ark PARTY!!!  Learning about God is way more fun when you get to share it with others, so Rebekah invited a few of her friends over for a Noah's Ark party.  We read the story together in Rebekah's Bible, listened to some Noah's Ark songs, played the animal matching game, ate animal crackers, and made rainbows out of Fruit Loops.  For a party favor, I sent each mom home with shapes and stickers to make their own shape boat later.  I unfortunately didn't get any pictures of this - we were too busy having fun!

We also plan on going to the zoo again sometime, but we wanted to wait until her daddy could join us.  It's been so much fun rediscovering Noah's ark with her!

Next up - Tower of Babel!