NOTE: This file is provided for those who want to modify the lessons to suit their timeframe. this is not meant to be used as a printed copy of the teacher guide. Digital copies of the guides are available through digital pro (myanswers.com).
Day 1
Creation
Bible passage
All Is Good
Genesis 1
Apologetics Content
Examining how it all began—man’s ideas or God’s Word?
Memory verse
In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. Genesis 1:1
Color
Green
lesson Focus
We cruise to our first C of history—Creation—and head back to the beginning of the universe.
Animal pal
Eden the Green Parrot
Today’s Lesson at a Glance
Introduce It!
Take Off on Your Journey
Teach It!
Part 1: Account 1—The Story of Dot
Part 2: Account 2—The Bible Account of Creation
Part 3: Puppet Pal—Praise the Creator
Part 4: Evidences of a Young Earth
Part 5: Daily Review
Apply It!
Part 1: Memory Verse
Part 2: Go and Do
Preparing for the Lesson
Read Genesis 1 and 2 several times. 
Read this lesson thoroughly and prepare the materials. 
For more information on the big bang, visit AnswersVBS.com/junglefaq. 
Pray.

Devotion 1: God Is the Good Creator
The Lord is good to all, and his mercy is over all that he has made. Psalm 145:9
For a few moments, imagine yourself strolling through a section of the garden of Eden. This beautiful abundance of flora and fauna was just declared by the Creator to be “very good.” The creation was a manifestation of the goodness of the Creator. In your mind’s eye, how does this original paradise reflect the goodness of God? 
Do the flowers fill the air with glorious fragrances? Do the serpents hanging from the trees fill you with delight at their bright colors and silky smooth skin? Do you gently stroke the thick fur of the large bear to your right? Do you gasp in awe at the towering sauropod as he lumbers past?
Contrast this with the view that Carl Sagan held about God and his creation:
“If God is omnipotent and omniscient, why didn’t he start the universe out in the first place so it would come out the way he wants? Why is he constantly repairing and complaining? No, there’s one thing the Bible makes clear: The biblical God is a sloppy manufacturer. He’s not good at design, he’s not good at execution. He’d be out of business if there was any competition” (Carl Sagan, Contact [New York: Pocket Books, Simon & Schuster, 1985]).
In Sagan’s Eden, the flowers God created prick you with thorns when you bend over to inhale their fragrance. The serpent slithering past your feet inspires a fearful shriek. The lion creeping up behind the lamb suddenly takes a bite out of it. And the dinosaurs are nowhere to be seen because they died out millions of years ago.
What important factor did Carl Sagan fail to take into account? He believed that the world we live in today is the world God originally created. He didn’t understand that we now live in a fallen world—a world that has been corrupted with sin. His view has been colored by the belief that the world is millions of years old and that the fossil record—filled with evidence of death, disease, suffering, and thorns—is a record of the way things have been for the past several million years.
Carl Sagan isn’t alone in viewing the Creator this way. Media mogul Ted Turner and even Charles Darwin himself are just a few of the many who can’t comprehend the goodness of God because of what they see today.
Although all of creation shouts, “There is a God!” (Romans 1:20), it has been marred with our sin. 
Read Psalm 33:5. In what ways do you see the love of God still reflected in his creation? 
In what ways do you see the effects of our sin?
Think about how you represent the all-good Creator to those in your care. For example, are the “design features” you share with your children reflective of a good God or a fallen creation?
As you present today’s C, do so in a way that emphasizes the goodness of God. His original creation was complete and “very good.” It was full of life, peace, and joy. He provided light for us to see by (day 1), air for us to breathe (day 2), vegetation for us to eat (day 3), majestic arrays of stars to study before bed (day 4), abundant fauna for us to enjoy (days 5–6), and a creation for us to care for. He created for his glory.
Read Psalm 107:1, 15, and 119:68, as well as this Puritan prayer about the infinite goodness of the Creator.
King of glory, divine majesty, 
Every perfection adorns thy nature and sustains thy throne;
The heavens and earth are thine, 
	The world is thine and its fullness.
Thy power created the universe from nothing;
Thy wisdom has managed all its multiple concerns, 
Presiding over nations, families, individuals.
Thy goodness is boundless;
	All creatures wait on thee;
		Are supplied by thee;
		Are satisfied in thee.
How precious are the thoughts of thy mercy and grace!
How excellent thy lovingkindness that draws men to thee!
—Arthur Bennett, The Valley of Vision 
(Carlisle, PA: The Banner of Truth Trust, 2005), 216.

7 C’s Creation Poster 
Optional: Creation Color Word and one sheet of green copy paper
Bible
River guide/jungle costumes for teachers
Mounting putty or tape for posters
M&M’s, 2 per person
Optional: snack baggies or zippered pill baggies, 1 per person

Introduce It!
 Take Off on Your Journey (5 minutes)
Prep: Prepare your set backdrop and decide what you are doing for your “boat.” If making your own backdrop, copy the Creation Color Word on green paper, cut it out, and mount it somewhere on the backdrop. See p. 10 for more information for your backdrop and boat. Prepare your costumes. Bookmark the Scripture passages in your Bible for the whole lesson. Optional: Put two M&M’s in a baggie per person to make them faster to pass out.
Teacher 1: Welcome to our jungle cruise! Come on in and get in the “boat!” Do so. Once everyone is in and settled, continue. My name’s ___, and this is ___. We’re your river guides, and we can’t wait to 
Download these items from AnswersVBS.com/jungle
resources. A shortened one-person script is also available.
Think of fun names for yourselves: Jungle Judy, River Rick, Cruisin’ Kate, Rainforest Ron, or Tiger Tom.
The Bible is listed just once daily in the supply list but is used throughout, so keep it handy and marked at the correct passages. 
Be familiar with the lesson, but don’t memorize it. Place it on a clipboard to use as a reference.
If working as co-teachers, decide daily which parts of the lesson each of you will be responsible for teaching. Both plan to dress in costumes.
Mounting putty or tape is listed just once daily but will be used whenever you hang up posters. Hang them up as you talk, or just hold them up while teaching and hang them up after class.

begin our ride through time.
Teacher 2: This river cruise is gonna be amazing, but it isn’t for the faint of heart. It’s a jungle out there, and we’re heading right for it!
 Teacher 1: Each day, we’ll make a stop at a port named after one of the seven C’s—that is, the Seven C’s of History. These are big events that begin with the letter C and are explained in the history book of the universe—the Bible. Hold it up. 
Teacher 2: It’s time to leave on our cruise. Let’s take two important travel medicines—our malaria pill to protect us from bad bug bites (hold up one M&M, showing the M for “malaria”), and our motion sickness pill (hold up the other M&M). 
Pass them out and have them take their pretend pills. Be aware of allergies.
Teacher 1: Okay, now let’s be on the lookout for the color green. In fact, there’s a green word hidden that you need to find. Who sees it? Have them look and point without leaving their seats, and wait for responses. It is on the set backdrop.
Teacher 2: Green is the color that reminds us of our first stop—the C of Creation. Show the 7 C’s cREATION POSTER. God’s beautiful creation is filled with green plants and trees. And speaking of creation, let’s hear two different ideas about how everything came about!
 Teach It!
Part 1: Account 1—The Story of Dot (10 minutes)
Prep: Put the funnel in the end of the balloon and pour in lots of bead letters. Do not tie the end shut. Make one balloon letter set per rotation. Note: Those allergic to latex can use a latex-free medical glove in place of the balloon. These can be found online, at drug stores, or in medical offices. Cut out the Brick Factory Poster.
Teacher 1: I’m going to create a jungle animal with this foil. Try to guess what it is. Do so, then put it down so you have nothing in your hands. Now I’m going to create an animal using no supplies. Play it up as you try to make it with no supplies, and see how they respond. 
Teacher 2: Are we able to create something from nothing? Take responses. Well, what about the world 
Brick Factory Poster
Several pieces of foil per rotation
Grains of salt
Balloons, 1 per rotation
Lots of bead letters for each rotation
Funnel
Pin or pointy end of a paper clip

we live in? Could it have begun from nothing? Pause. Let’s explore that question—where did everything come from? There are two main ideas about what happened in the beginning. One idea comes from people. The other account was given to us by God. Only one can be right. Let’s listen to both and then talk more.
Teacher 1: Choose a volunteer and put a grain of salt in his hand. Refer to the grain of salt as you say the following: Our first idea begins with a tiny speck. Can everyone see it?
They won’t be able to see it, of course. Ask the volunteer to hold the grain up. He may drop it. Even if the volunteer succeeds in holding it up, the kids still won’t be able to see it.
Teacher 2: Since our speck is so tiny, I’ll blow it up for illustration purposes. Remember it’s no bigger than the size of a grain of salt. But for this demo, we’ll make it bigger.
Have the volunteer toss the grain of salt. Blow up the balloon with the bead letters inside it. Tie it off and hand it to the volunteer. 

Teacher 1: This account of the past is an idea people came up with. They decided the universe started billions of years ago with a teeny, tiny, non-living speck. They don’t know how the speck got there in the first place. It just existed somehow. 
Have the volunteer shake the balloon.
Teacher 2: We’ll call this speck Dot. Dot was tiny, but it wasn’t lightweight. You see, Dot had all the ingredients for the entire universe squished inside of that little space. That’s a lot of stuff!
Teacher 1: Dot was very uncomfortable with all that stuff squished in there. Dot was so full and so jam-packed that one day, Dot just expanded with a big bang!
Poke the balloon with a pin or the pointy end of a paper clip while the volunteer holds it. This will send the letters cascading all over the place.
 Teacher 2: As you can see from the floor, when Dot exploded, all the stuff in the universe, called matter, energy, and space, flew all over the place. It was a mess.
Teacher 1: Now, I don’t know about you, but anytime I think of an explosion, I think of chaos. Show the Brick Factory Poster. For instance, pretend you own a brick factory, and it explodes. Do you think a perfectly built brick house would result from the explosion, or a big, messy pile of bricks? Pause.
Teacher 2: But the writers of this story say this explosion was different from all other explosions. They say the stuff that exploded this time didn’t stay in a big mess. Without the help of any intelligent person, it started to organize and arrange itself.
Teacher 1: Let’s look at this mess on the floor. Have everyone gather around for a closer look if your class is not large. If we sit and watch it, do you think it seems possible for that mess to end up arranged into a book, with nobody’s help? Pause for responses. But in this story of Dot, with no intelligent person working with it, the matter got organized all by itself. In fact, as billions of years went by, it arranged itself into complex galaxies and (somehow) into our sun, moon, and earth.
Teacher 2: Keep in mind that, so far, all the stuff that came from Dot was still not alive. Somehow, after millions and millions more years, the stuff that wasn’t alive turned into stuff that was alive. Wow! And then it eventually turned into all the perfectly formed plants and animals we know of today. It even turned into you and me! They call this “evolu
Creation Drawing Pattern, 1 per person
Clipboards or hard surfaces such as magazines, 1 per person
Drawing utensils, 1 per person
Large dry erase board and dry erase marker, or chalkboard and chalk

tion—molecules to man evolution.”
Teacher 1: So, to review, the authors of this story of evolution say all things started from a big bang that came from that Dot billions of years ago.
Part 2: Account 2—The Bible Account of Creation (10 minutes)
 Prep: Print the Creation Drawing Pattern and put on clipboards or a hard surface for each person. Practice drawing the illustrations ahead of time on the dry erase board or chalkboard.
Pass out a Creation Drawing Pattern and drawing utensil to each person.
Teacher 1: I need you to help me with the next account. As I share it from the Bible, please draw it along with me. This account begins not billions or millions of years ago, but just thousands of years ago. It’s right here in the book of Genesis. Now remember—God gave us the Bible and he is truthful, so we can trust the Bible to tell us the truth. According to Genesis 1, in the beginning, God is the one who created the heavens and the earth. 
Teacher 2: Read or paraphrase Genesis 1:1–5. Have everyone recite Genesis 1:1 together.
Teacher 1 demonstrates how to write the number 1 in the top left corner of the paper and draw the earth with shading. The kids do it on their papers. Point out that light was shining on the earth, making day and night, but it was not the sun. 
Teacher 2: Read or paraphrase Genesis 1:6–8.
Teacher 1 demonstrates how to write the number 2 in the middle left section and draw a waterline. The kids do it on their papers. God created the atmosphere that we need to breathe. He was creating a beautiful place for us to live!
Teacher 2: Read or paraphrase Genesis 1:9–13.
Teacher 1 demonstrates how to write the number 3 in the bottom left section and draw a line for dry land. The kids do it on their papers. Continue drawing plants and trees. Allow the right side to remain open to be filled on day six. God created these plants and trees to provide food for the animals and humans.
Teacher 2: Read or paraphrase Genesis 1:14–19.
Teacher 1 demonstrates how to write the number 4 in the top right corner and draw the sun, moon, and stars. The kids do it on their papers. God made these for us to know signs, seasons, days, and years.
Teacher 2: Read or paraphrase Genesis 1:20–23.
Teacher 1 demonstrates how to write the number 5 in the middle right section and draw simple birds in the air and simple fish and sea creatures under the waterline. The kids do it on their papers. Point out that God created creatures such as plesiosaurs, pteranodons, and pterodactyls on this day.
Teacher 2: Read or paraphrase Genesis 1:24–25.
Teacher 1 demonstrates how to write the number 6 in the lower right section and draw land animals (including a dinosaur—since dinosaurs were land animals, they were created on this day along with the other land animals). The kids do it on their papers.
Teacher 2: Read or paraphrase Genesis 1:26–27.
Teacher 1 demonstrates how to draw two stick people. The kids do it on their papers. God made all of this so we would have a beautiful place to live in and enjoy.
Teacher 1: God made a beautiful garden for Adam and Eve to tend. He made them in his image, not from apelike creatures. And because we all come from Adam and Eve, every person is made in God’s image. We’re special and set apart from the animals. We should treat each other with respect and care because we’re God’s special creation.
Teacher 2: Read or paraphrase Genesis 1:29–2:3. Then discreetly get behind the puppet set as Teacher 1 finishes. 
Teacher 1: In the beginning, all the animals and humans ate only green plants. That means tyrannosaurs would have been munching on melons or berries, but not on other animals! Then the Bible tells us the heavens and earth were finished. On the seventh day, God ended his work which he’d done, and he rested. This wasn’t because he was tired—God never gets tired or sleeps. He rested because he was finished with his work. God was setting an example for us. Our seven-day week comes from the first week of seven days, where we have times of working hard and a time of rest.
Part 3: Puppet Pal—Praise the Creator (5 minutes or less)

2 copies of Day 1 Puppet Script 
Boy or girl puppet and puppet stage
Clipboard

 Prep: Tape one script inside the puppet stage and attach the other to a clipboard for reference. 
Each day, the puppet pal will teach part of the lesson or reinforce what the kids just heard. It’s always a favorite, so try to include it even if you have to cut something else. 
Decide which of you will be the puppet and figure out when you need to leave the previous teaching so you will be positioned for the start of the puppet pal time.

The puppet can be dressed in a small VBS T-shirt or jungle-themed shirt. To make a small VBS T-shirt, photocopy, cut out, and laminate a color copy of the logo and tape it to a baby-size T-shirt.
If you want to get snazzy, use a quick musical introduction and exit when it’s time for the puppet to come and go.

If you don’t have a teaching assistant or co-teacher, enlist someone (a group guide or other volunteer) ahead of time to work the puppet each day. The puppet can come up from behind a large rock or bush. (See Decorating Decisions.) If you’re alone, have the puppet come up from behind a suitcase with the lid flipped up, or just stand and work the puppet. (It’s fine if your lips move. No need to be a ventriloquist.)

You can either use a boy or a girl puppet. It is written as a boy (Jungle Jimmy—JJ), but it can instead be a girl named Jungle Jenna. Use a consistent voice for the puppet all week. Speak clearly and exaggerate words and expressions. For instance, draw out certain words for emphasis or make an exaggerated action for things like groaning, turning its head, or sneezing. Use your free hand to do things with the puppet’s hands or arms. For example, if the puppet is “thinking,” put the puppet’s hand on its chin. When the puppet is talking, make sure the mouth is open. (This is the opposite of what people often do!) In other words, the mouth should be open on most syllables. You don’t have to open very wide, which will help you move the mouth faster and more naturally. 
When the puppet is entering, hold your arm back and down and have the puppet take three steps up, getting higher each time, until the puppet is visible. When exiting, turn the puppet toward you and take three steps down until out of sight. 
 Teacher: Let’s talk to our puppet pal to hear a little more about our wonderful Creator God. His name is Jungle Jimmy (or Jungle Jenna if a girl). Let’s all call for him (her) now. Do so.
Puppet: Come up.
Teacher: Hi there, Jungle Jimmy. 
Puppet: Hi! You can call me JJ for short.
Teacher: Okay! Let’s say, “Hi, JJ!” Do so.
Puppet: Wave. Hi, everybody!
Teacher: Hey, JJ, do you like to play outside? 
Puppet: I sure do! It’s fun to play chase with my friends and go to the park and swing.
Teacher: Whisper with the back of your hand by your mouth. Do you ever feel sick when you’re on that tire swing? It’s the one you can twist up and then let go for a spin. 
Puppet: No! I love spinning! Spin around, laughing.
Teacher: Well, your stomach is stronger than mine! So, JJ, when you’re outside, do you ever notice any of the critters or plants that are out there?
Puppet: Umm . . . I watched a bunch of ants the other day. They were so busy working! Oh, and I saw a bird that was blue! BLUE!
Teacher: Sounds beautiful! How about all the plants and trees? Do you ever notice them? 
Puppet: Sure! We’ve got some really cool flowers in our yard called snapdragons. When you squeeze them, they open up! 
Teacher: When you see beautiful things in nature, does it ever make you think of our wonderful, creative God who made them? He’s the one who created all these beautiful things we get to see and smell and hear. 
Puppet: I don’t know if I remember to think about God when I’m outside.
Teacher: Let’s try a little experiment. Boys and girls, you can do this too. When you’re outside playing or walking in the woods or going to the zoo, take time to thank God for at least one animal or plant that you see or hear. 

Gospel Opportunity: Because this lesson focuses on God and his good creation, before sin entered the world, there isn’t a natural place to share the bad news/good news of the gospel. Share the gospel as you feel led during this lesson. 

Puppet: That sounds fun! I usually see lots of animals and plants on my way to the park. There’s one dog on my street who always runs to the fence and barks like crazy at me when I walk by! Make barking sounds.
Teacher: Some of God’s creatures can be loud! We want to be in the habit of noticing God’s beautiful creation and praising him for it! You can thank God for animals, plants, sunsets, the moon, stars—all kinds of things he’s made!
Puppet: I’m going to do that, and I hope the boys and girls do too!
Teacher: Sounds great, JJ! God should receive heaps of praise for being a wonderful Creator. One Bible verse even tells us this: Read Psalm 34:1. Well, boys and girls, it’s time for JJ to take off, so let’s say bye to him. Do so. 

Evidences Posters, cut apart

Part 4: Evidences of a Young Earth (5 minutes)
 If you are short on time, condense or skip this except for discussing which account is right, then move on to the brief review. 
Teacher 1: Let’s discuss the two accounts we heard about how things were made. You have an account of a little, non-living speck turning into everything we see, and the account of the all-powerful and good God creating everything. Do you think they’re pretty different? Pause. Can they both be true? Pause. Which is true? Take responses.
 Teacher 2: Jesus said that God’s Word is truth. Read John 17:17b. God’s Word, the Bible, is truth—every word of it. So if God’s Word reveals to us that he’s the Creator of the universe and he made everything, then that settles it. 

By adding up the ages given in the genealogies, along with a few other key events, it can be determined that God created the world about 4,000 years before Jesus came to earth, or about 6,000 years before now.

Teacher 1: But what should you think when you hear at school or read in books or are told at museums or zoos that the earth and universe started with a big bang billions of years ago and then eventually turned into all the things we see, all on its own?
Teacher 2: We know that God and his Word are the authority. We always start there and trust what God says. If the Bible says it, that settles it. And, according to the Bible, God created all things in six days about 6,000 years ago—not billions of years ago.
Teacher 1: There are also many scientific findings that confirm what the Bible teaches. Here are just a few to consider when you hear about the age of the earth. Show the Evidences Posters as you talk about the following. 
Salt in the Oceans: How many of you like to go to the beach? Pause. Have you ever played in the waves and gotten a mouthful of salty water? You may want to share a quick personal story here regarding a time that happened to you. That salt has been gathering since the beginning of time. But scientists have found that there’s not nearly enough salt in the oceans if the earth is billions of years old. On the other hand, the amount can be explained by an earth that’s more like 6,000 years old.
Cave Formations: Any of you ever gone in a cave? Pause. You may want to quickly tell about a time you have been in a cave. You may hear it takes many hundreds of thousands of years for these things called stalactites and stalagmites to form. But look at this picture of a bottle that’s been covered with minerals in just a short while. Do you think it took millions of years for minerals to form on this bottle? No! This bottle isn’t very old at all, and it took just a little while for it to get covered.
Mud on the Seafloor: Billions of years of erosion would have filled the oceans with mud long ago. But there’s not nearly enough mud in the ocean for an earth that’s billions of years old. The amount is much more in line with an earth that’s just a few thousand years old.
Continents Wearing Away: Every year, the wind and waves wear away (erode) a little bit more of the continents. If they were billions of years old, the continents should be almost flat. 
There are many more examples that confirm that God’s Word is true. If you want to read more about this, check out the kids section on the Answers in Genesis website.

Day 1 Animal Pal Poster
7 C’s Maps, 1 per person

Part 5: Daily Review (5 minutes)
 Share the Day 1 Animal Pal Poster to summarize today’s teaching. Or, if you have time, use the following questions (and more you make up) to use in a review game. One simple way to play a review game is to divide into teams, ask a question, have each team write down their answer, then award a point to each team that gets it correct. This can be done any day during the Daily Review time.
Let’s take a look at our animal pal poster to remember what we talked about today. Our animal pal is a parrot that is what color? Take answers. What does green remind us of? Take answers. The beautiful creation would have been lush and green, like a rainforest. The parrot is named Eden. What does that name have to do with creation? Take answers. The 
garden God created was called Eden, like our parrot. What are some things you learned today about the difference between the universe being created by God or by a big bang? Take answers, then discuss Go and Do question #2 below. 
Pass out the maps and add today’s sticker. Don’t put names on them until the last day, when they can take them home. It goes faster passing them out without names.

The front page of each day’s student guide is a review of the lesson. The back page matches this section in the teacher guide. 

Apply It!
 In the remaining class time, complete one or more of the following ideas. These are also on the back of the Primary Student Guides and can be done at home with a parent or caretaker if you are out of time. If you send them home, motivate the kids to do them because they are full of good stuff! Have the group guides check with the kids tomorrow to see how they did on them, and consider giving contest bonus 
Theme and Day 1 Memory Verse Posters 
Optional: Student Guides and supplies

points to them for their hard work.
Supplies for this section are not included in the supply list on the back cover since they will vary depending on the activities you choose. 
Part 1: Memory Verse
 Today’s Verse: In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. Genesis 1:1 
Practice this verse a couple times using the Day 1 Memory Verse Poster as a reference, then try the challenge.
Challenge: Practice saying this super slow like a sloth, then super fast like a speeding basilisk lizard.
Tomorrow’s Verse: They have all turned aside; together they have become corrupt; there is none who does good, not even one. Psalm 14:3 
Theme Verse: To the King of the ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen. 1 Timothy 1:17
If time, say tomorrow’s verse together and try the challenge again. Try the theme verse as well, explaining the big words: immortal—living forever without beginning or end; invisible—not seen; honor and glory—giving God the credit and respect due him. Remind them God is the King of the ages and has been here as Ruler over all and throughout all history.
Part 2: Go and Do
Prepare to be amazed and honor the Creator as you look at the world he’s created! Go on a walk and see if you can discover at least 10 things God has made, and praise him for them. Besides things you see, do you smell anything good God has made? Feel anything? Hear anything? Find out more about at least one of them. 
Here’s a great habit: Talk to God every day and thank him for at least one thing he created—a plant, an animal, a person, or a material that something is made out of (wood for a chair, gold for jewelry, aloe for lotion). It honors God when you give him credit for what he’s made!
Tell someone something you learned today about the creation account versus the story of Dot.
Check AnswersVBS.com/junglekids for more fun information! 
Ask yourself this question: Do I honor God by enjoying his creation and praising him for it?
Purchase the 7 C’s Maps from AnswersVBS.com 
Day 2
Corruption & Catastrophe

Bible passages
All Sin
Genesis 3; Genesis 6–9
Apologetics Content
Examining the reality of a global flood
Memory Verse
They have all turned aside; together they have become corrupt; there is none who does good, not even one. Psalm 14:3
Colors
Dark and Blue
lesson Focus
Corruption and Catastrophe enter the world. Sin and its effects affect everyone.
Animal pal
Tox the Poison Dart Frog
Today’s Lesson at a Glance
Introduce It!
Tree Trivia
Teach It!
Part 1: The Fall of All
Part 2: Water, Water Everywhere
    Option 1: Puppet Pal
    Option 2: Rainforest News
Part 3: Daily Review
Apply It!
Part 1: Memory Verse
Part 2: Go and Do
Preparing for the Lesson
Read Genesis 3 and Genesis 6–9.
Read this lesson several times and prepare the materials. 
For more information on the fall of man, Noah’s ark, the flood, fossils, and rock layers, see AnswersVBS.com/junglefaq.
Pray.
	
Devotion 2: God Is Our Righteous Judge
The Rock, his work is perfect, for all his ways are justice. A God of faithfulness and without iniquity, just and upright is he. Deuteronomy 32:4
After every tragedy, the media abounds with reports of people asking, “If there is a good and loving God, why is there so much pain and suffering in the world?” Have you ever asked this question or heard this question asked?
As the infinitely good God, the Creator fashioned a world that manifested his goodness according to his pleasure and for his glory. He established rules for his creation to follow. The standard to which he held his creation is himself: absolute goodness. With one bite of fruit, Adam fell short of that standard. With every act of disobedience, we too fall short of his standard.
Because God is absolutely pure and holy, untouched by sin, he cannot partake in sin nor approve of it in others. He established a penalty for falling short of his standard: death. The goodness and holiness of God demands that he judge sin. As the righteous judge, he had no choice but to carry out the punishment that he had set for breaking his rules. 
He imposed a sentence from which we have no means of escaping on our own. We can’t get away from our punishment for sin—death, eternal separation from our Creator.
When a murderer is given a sentence for his crime, do we blame the judge who sentenced him? The answer to the age-old question, “Why?” lies not at the feet of the Creator but in the bite of a fruit by man. 
As you share with the children today about the second and third C’s in our journey through time—the corruption that entered the universe after Adam sinned and the catastrophe that resulted from God’s judgment on sin—be careful to emphasize that the mess we find ourselves in is not the fault of our good and loving Creator. This helps children answer the “why” question when they encounter a tragedy. In general, this is the result of living in a cursed world, which is the deserved punishment for sin. We need to also continually point them toward the great gift that the Creator has for us (salvation through Jesus Christ), which we’ll talk more about later.
Read Psalm 89:14 and think about the words of this Puritan prayer.
Thou Maker and Sustainer of all things,
Day and night are thine,
	heaven and earth declare thy glory;
But I, a creature of thy power and bounty, have sinned against thee
	by resisting the dictates of conscience, 
		the demands of thy law,
		the calls of thy gospel;
	yet I live under the dispensation of a given hope.
Deliver me from worldly dispositions,
	for I am born from above and bound for glory.
May I view and long after holiness
	as the beauty and dignity of the soul.
—Arthur Bennett, The Valley of Vision 
(Carlisle, PA: The Banner of Truth Trust, 2005), 139.

7 C’s Creation Poster
Jungle Trees Poster
Optional: Corruption and Catastrophe Color Words and one sheet of dark copy paper, one of blue
Bible 
Jungle costumes for teachers
Mounting putty or tape

Introduce It!
 Tree Trivia (5 minutes)
Prep: Bookmark the Bible passages that will be used today. If making your own backdrop, copy onto dark and blue paper, cut out, and mount the Corruption and Catastrophe Color Words to it.
Teacher 1 welcomes the kids and has them sit in the “boat” as they prepare for today’s river cruise. Once settled, ask the kids to point to the green word they found yesterday (Creation). Spend a minute asking what they remember from yesterday while pointing to the 7 C’s Creation Poster. 
Teacher 1: The next stop we’re cruising to on our river cruise is a dark stop. There are lots of dark areas in the rainforest because of the different jungle trees. Show the jungle trees poster and point to each tree as you talk about it. The strangler fig tree grows up a host tree, wrapping around it (strangling it) to reach sunlight. The rubber tree is known for its white sap, called latex. The latex sap is still used to make rubber today. The neon colors of the rainbow eucalyptus tree are revealed when it sheds its bark. The layer exposed to the air turns into bright reds, oranges, blues, pinks, and purples. Cocoa trees, also known as cacao trees, can grow in the shade of taller rainforest trees. Each tree produces seeds that are used to make chocolate. Yum! The kapok tree can grow to be over 200 feet tall. That’s as high as a 20-story building! When lots of kapok trees grow together, they create a thick canopy which blocks out much of the sun and makes the forest floor dark.
Teacher 2: Talking about dark colors and trees reminds me of our next stop. Let’s see if you can find a dark word hidden somewhere. Point to it when you find it. Do so. It’s on the set backdrop. Let’s say that word together. Corruption. There was an important tree at the Corruption stop. Let’s gather some supplies, and then we’ll hear about it.

7 C’s Creation, Corruption, and Catastrophe Posters
Play dough balls, 1 per person
Optional: baggies for play dough balls, 1 per person

Teach It!
 Part 1: The Fall of All (10 minutes)
Prep: Make or buy play dough so each child has approximately a tennis-ball-size piece. Any colors can 
Play dough Recipe:
2 c. flour
1/2 c. salt
2 c. warm water
4 t. cream of tartar
2 t. oil
Food coloring
Glitter
Mix the first five ingredients in a saucepan. After blended, mix in food coloring. Stir over low to medium heat until the dough is formed and is no longer sticky. Remove from the pan and knead until smooth, adding the glitter. After it has cooled, store in an air-tight container.

work. If making your own, see the recipe in the sidebar. Consider putting each ball in a baggie. 
 Pass out a ball of play dough to each person. Remind them to listen, not talk, as they make their creations.
Teacher 1: Make your play dough into something to represent God’s good creation. Remember, we talked about lots of things God created when we made our creation drawings yesterday. Have them make their creations then hold them up. 
Teacher 2: It’s fun to see good things from God’s perfect creation. But at our next stop, things are about to change. From reading Genesis 3, we learn a serpent enters the scene. Go ahead and make a serpent. Do so while Teacher 1 continues. 
Teacher 1: The Bible says the serpent was more cunning (tricky) than any beast of the field that God had made (Genesis 3:1a). Who do you think that serpent was? Take answers. Yes, it was Satan (the devil) taking the form of a serpent. What shape are you making your serpent into? Take answers and check some out. 
Teacher 2: The Bible calls it a serpent, so we can’t be positive it was a snake. It could have been some extinct animal we don’t know about. But it sounds very snake-like, so you’re good if you made a snake.
Teacher 1: Animals nowadays can’t talk, but Satan used the serpent to ask Eve a question. Read Genesis 3:1b. 

Teacher 2: God had told Adam he could eat from any tree except one. Go ahead and make a tree out of your play dough. Do so while Teacher 1 continues.
Teacher 1: Eve answered the serpent. Read Genesis 3:2–3. God didn’t say the part about not touching it—Eve added that. It’s important to know what God says in the Bible and not change or add to his words!
Teacher 2: When the serpent heard this, he told Eve she wouldn’t die if she ate from that tree but would instead have her eyes opened and be like God. Have them hold up their trees. 
Teacher 1: Eve liked this idea, so she took the fruit from the tree and ate it. Let’s make a piece of fruit with our play dough. Do so, giving them a minute.
Teacher 2: Now, I wonder—what are you making your fruit look like? Take answers. 
Teacher 1: The Bible just calls it fruit, so we don’t know what kind it was, but the kind doesn’t matter so much. What does matter is Adam and Eve disobeyed God’s command not to eat it, and that caused huge trouble.
Teacher 2: Their act of disobedience broke the perfect, good world. Sin—disobeying God—was now part of the world, and God put a curse on creation. Now instead of everything being all good, bad and sad things started happening, like animals attacking other animals, and bushes having thorns, and people getting sick. 
Teacher 1: The effects of that sin didn’t just affect Adam and Eve. That’s why it’s such a big deal. The Bible tells us every single one of us has sinned too. Read/have them recite Psalm 14:3.
Teacher 2: In fact, because we are all descendants of Adam and Eve, each one of us is born a sinner. Every day, we do and think things we shouldn’t.
Teacher 1: And with that first sin, things began to change in the garden of Eden. There was no longer just good, but good and bad. Good and sad. That’s what corruption means—changed from good to bad. Things weren’t all good and pure anymore, but broken and sinful. Every day, Adam and Eve disobeyed God’s commands, and guess what? Every day, we disobey God too.
Teacher 2: Let’s take a few minutes to make some things that are now part of our world as a result of the sin, corruption, and curse we now experience. First, make something out of your play dough that has to do with sickness. For instance, you may want to make a medicine bottle. While they’re making them, continue. Can you imagine a world where no one ever got sick? I wonder how long it was after they ate the forbidden fruit that Adam and Eve felt ill for the first time? There wouldn’t have been colds, flus, shots, hospitals, COVID, or any of that before sin. All right, let’s see what you made. Have them show what they made.
Teacher 1: Now let’s make something that has to do with bad weather or natural disasters. While they’re making them, continue. Bad weather and natural disasters, like volcanoes, tornadoes, earthquakes, floods, blizzards, and tsunamis, weren’t part of the world before corruption entered. Romans 8:22 tells us the earth now groans with the troubles of a cursed world. But can you imagine perfect weather all the time? Have them show what they made. 
Teacher 2: Now let’s make something that makes people sad or mad. While they’re making them, continue. Think of a world where every marriage is happy and there are no divorces, where everyone’s treated kindly and nobody’s taken advantage of, where nobody argues or fights, where nobody is bullied, where there are no accidents or injuries, and so much more. It was like that before sin entered the world. Have them show what they made. 
Teacher 1: Now let’s make an animal that’s scary. While they’re making them, continue. Just think, you could have petted a bear or a tyrannosaur before sin entered the world because animals that are venomous or dangerous wouldn’t have had harmful behaviors before sin. That would have been cool, huh? Have them show what they made.
Teacher 2: Last thing to make—a tombstone. While they’re making them, continue. What’s really incredible to think about is nobody would have died if Adam hadn’t sinned. Everyone would have lived with God in a perfect paradise forever. Right now, the world is cursed and not perfect. But we’ll be talking more about the super good news of how we can live with God forever in a perfect paradise. God did make a way, and it has to do with more of our C’s we’ll hear about in a couple days. Discreetly get behind the puppet set as Teacher 1 finishes.
Teacher 1: But at this point, the world sure would have seemed like a dark and sad place. Have them show their tombstones. In the Bible, sin is compared to darkness (note that the Bible doesn’t refer to sin as “black” but as “darkness”—Romans 1:21, 13:12; John 3:19–20). Let’s say our first two stops and the colors that go with them. Do so. Creation and Corruption—Green and Dark. Show the 7 C’s creation poster and corruption poster. Okay, let’s put the play dough away. Do so. Now we’ll continue to our next stop called Catastrophe. A catastrophe is a terrible, destructive event. Look for the hidden color 
Ark Dimensions Poster
Animals Coming Poster
Dinosaurs Poster
Water Everywhere Poster
Ark and Rainbow Poster
Boy or girl puppet and clipboard
Mini rain poncho made from a trash bag
Items to throw out the puppet area

word “Catastrophe.” Do so and discuss that it’s blue for water. Show the 7 C’s Catastrophe poster.
 Part 2: Water, Water Everywhere
 Do either Option 1 or Option 2.
Option 1: Puppet Pal (5 minutes)
Prep: Tape one script inside the puppet stage and attach the other to a clipboard for reference. Cut apart the posters. Fashion a mini rain poncho from a plastic trash bag. Put the rain poncho on the puppet backward so its face is fully covered.
Puppet: Stay hidden. Speak in a muffled voice. Help! Help!
Teacher: Boys and girls, did you hear something? Where’s that coming from? Walk over to the area where JJ will be appearing, and look down inside. Oh, my! It’s Jungle Jimmy! And he’s looking very, uh, waterproof today. Come on up here where we can see you better, JJ.
Puppet: Come up with the poncho on backward. Help! Somebody turned the lights out!
Teacher: Oh, here, let me help you! Turn the poncho around so he can see. Is that better?
Puppet: Yes, thank you!
Teacher: I’m just wondering why you’re wearing a rain poncho.
Puppet: I heard you were going to talk about a great big flood of water, so I thought I better get ready!
Teacher: I’m glad you’re ready because we’re going to hear a true account from my favorite book, the Bible.
Puppet: I love the Bible! It’s the best book in the whole wide world because it’s written by God.  
Teacher: Yes, it is. Boys and girls, have you ever heard of a man in the Bible named Noah? Pause for responses.
Puppet: Yess–ah! I’ve heard of Noo–ah. Get it? Yes, no?
Teacher: Chuckle. I get it. Do you remember when we talked about sin at our Corruption stop?
Puppet: You mean when we disobey God and do wrong things?
Teacher: Yep. Well, by the time Noah came along, all the people on earth were doing bad things (sinning) all the time. All except Noah, that is. He was the only one left who wanted to obey God.
Puppet: That must have made God sad that nobody else listened.
Teacher: It did. The people kept disobeying. They wouldn’t even listen to God when he gave them warnings, so he sent a really, really, really big flood.
Puppet: A flood is lots and lots and lots of water, right?
Teacher: Yes, lots of water. So much water, it covered the whole earth! There’s never been a flood like it before, and there never will be one again. The earth was completely covered—even the highest hills and mountains.
Puppet: Yikes! How did everyone stay alive? Did they hold onto a tree or something? 
Teacher: No. When the flood came, only the people who were in the big ship called the ark were saved. Everyone else died.  
Puppet: What’s the ark?
Teacher: The ark was an enormous ship God told Noah to build. Hold up/put up the Ark dimensions poster. It was large enough to hold Noah and his family and the animals.
Puppet: So everyone outside the ark died? That’s really sad! I wish everyone had turned from their sin and believed God.
Teacher: I do too. God loves us and wants us to obey, just like he wanted those people to obey. Obeying God is a way to love and honor him.
Puppet: But wait a minute! God saved some of the animals?
Teacher: Hold up/put up the Animals coming poster. He sure did! Noah didn’t have to go and get them. The land animals and birds came on their own and got on board.
Puppet: That’s awesome.
Teacher: Hold up/put up the dinosaurs poster. There were even dinosaurs! 
Puppet: How did they fit?
Teacher: They could have been babies or young dinos, and only some of them needed to come. Once all the animals and 
Make a rainstorm, going from light rain to storm and back to light rain using snaps, claps, and stomps. See p. 6 for details.

Noah’s family were on board, God shut them in and the flood began. Water gushed up from inside the earth, and water poured down from the sky. Volcanoes were erupting, earthquakes were shaking, and everything was going crazy. Hold up/put up the water everywhere Poster. 
 Puppet: Flash! Boom! Bang!
Teacher: You’ve got it! Waters came up from the earth, and it stormed for a long time. The waters got higher and higher and higher. Then Noah and everyone on the ark waited for all the water to go away. Finally, after over a year on the ark, it was time to get off.
Puppet: What was it like when they got off the ark? 
Teacher: Well, there weren’t any other people or animals around anymore. And the world didn’t look like it used to. The beautiful paradise was ruined! Lots of trees and animals got buried in the mud and water from the flood. We can see them in the fossils even today. 
Puppet: Disappear.
Teacher: Um, JJ, where are you? Peer around his area to try to see him. Pretend to see him hiding. Kids still can’t see him. Oh, there you are! What’s going on down there? 
Puppet: Throw small items out and onto the ground. All this talk about a global flood has me worried. I’m trying to find my life preserver in case God ever sends another one!
Teacher: JJ, come back up here. There’s something you need to know.
Puppet: Come back up. There is?
Teacher: Yes. You don’t need to worry about another global flood. The Bible tells us God promised to never send another flood that will cover the whole world.
Puppet: Wow! I’m really glad to hear that!
These measurements are based on a cubit of around 20 inches. 
Teacher: Hold up/put up the ark and rainbow poster. And God never breaks a promise. In fact, he even put a rainbow in the sky to remind us he’ll never again send a flood to cover the whole earth. When you see a rainbow in the sky, it should remind you that God is a promise keeper. 
Puppet: I’m glad we have the Bible to tell us these things.
Teacher: Me too. The Bible is true, and God always keeps his promises.
Puppet: I just wish more people had obeyed God.

Ark Dimensions Poster
Ark Being Built Poster
Animals Coming Poster
Dog Kind Poster
Dinosaurs Poster
Water Everywhere Poster
Ark and Rainbow Poster
Grand Canyon and Other Poster
Fossilized Hat and Teddy Bear Poster
Dinosaurs Being Hunted Poster
Play microphone or something silly to act as a microphone
Scientist wig or jacket

Teacher: Yes, it’s a good reminder for us to obey God. God is in control of everything—and we’re not. We need to trust and obey him! Well, boys and girls, let’s say goodbye to JJ now. Do so.
 Option 2: Rainforest News (10 minutes)
Prep: Cut the posters apart. Choose something as a microphone.
Teacher 1: We’ve talked about sin entering the world and corrupting it. With our next stop, the corruption had gotten so bad, God sent a global flood as judgment on the whole world. Read Genesis 6:5, 7–8. The flood was a catastrophe, which is a terrible, destructive event. Creation, Corruption, Catastrophe. Let’s say those first three stops on our cruise together. Do so. 
Teacher 2: Hold on a minute. I’ve got some questions about this. Turn to Teacher 1. I know you’ve studied it a lot, so can you help me? 
Teacher 1: Sure. I’d love to.
Teacher 2: Oh! I have a fun idea. Let’s pretend I’m a news reporter, and I’m interviewing you about Noah and the flood. Are you game?
Teacher 1: Well . . . okay.
Teacher 2: Good. Now you’re talking. You get ready and I’ll just find myself a microphone, then we’ll be in business. Teacher 1 puts on the wig or jacket while Teacher 2 grabs the play microphone or something silly like a rubber snake. Hello, and welcome to Rainforest News. I’m ___, reporting live from the jungle. Today’s special guest is ___, the world-famous Bible scholar and scientist. Welcome, ___.
Teacher 1: Thank you. I think.
Teacher 2: I understand you’ve studied the biblical account of Noah quite extensively, so let me pose a question. How large was Noah’s ark? 
Teacher 1: Show the ark dimensions poster. We may picture Noah with a little hammer and saw, but think about it. This was a big ship! The Bible tells us it was 510 feet long (Genesis 6:15–16). That’s almost two whole football fields long! Besides being long, the ark was tall. It was 50 feet tall—as tall as a five-story building! And it was 85 feet wide. Depending on the size of your building, you can tell them it would go from here to there and be this tall. 
Teacher 2: That’s huge!
Teacher 1: Show the ark being built poster. Right! Noah was a smart guy (people weren’t dumb back then), and he would probably have used cranes, pulleys, and other machines to help engineer this ark. The cool thing about the ark was it had the ideal dimensions for a ship. It was six times longer than it was wide. Those are the dimensions shipbuilders today still use.
Teacher 2: Well, that answers how big it was and how Noah might have built it, but what about all those animals? I mean, how in the world did he round them all up?
Teacher 1: Show the animals coming poster. If you’re picturing Noah running around the earth saying, “Here, ducky, ducky!” or “Come on, Mr. Bear, get in here!” then forget it! 
These measurements are based on a cubit of around 20 inches. 
Noah didn’t have to round up the animals. The Bible indicates God directed the animals to come to the ark. They came on their own (Genesis 7:8–9).
Teacher 2: That would make things easier. But I’m still having trouble imagining how all those animals could fit. 
Teacher 1: Show the dog kind poster. That’s because you’re imagining every species of animal getting on board, rather than every kind. There’s a difference. God said he wanted two of every kind of land animal, seven of the clean animals (Genesis 7:2). Take the dog kind, for instance. Noah didn’t have to take two dalmatians, two beagles, two wolves, and two coyotes. He just had to take two of the dog kind—a male and a female. Big difference. Also, the ark didn’t have to carry every kind of animal—just the birds and the air-breathing animals living on land. That eliminates most animals because many animals live in water. There were likely about 6,700 animals on the ark.
Teacher 2: But what about dinosaurs? Were they on the ark too?
Teacher 1: Yep. Remember, the Bible says land animals were created on day six, and dinosaurs were land animals, so they would have been around at the time of the flood. That means they would have been on the ark.
Teacher 2: But . . . how would they fit? They were huge!
Teacher 1: Show the dinosaurs poster. I never said they had to be full-grown animals. God most likely brought Noah two young adults of each dinosaur kind—a male and a female. Plus, we know the average size of a full-grown dinosaur was about the size of a sheep or a bison. They weren’t all huge like T. rex. 
Teacher 2: Okay, I’m convinced they all fit. But what about the flood? How could it possibly rain enough to flood the whole world at one time? 
Teacher 1: If you read the Scriptures carefully, you’ll see the floodwaters were not only coming from above the earth but also from below the earth. It was raining all over the world at the same time, and water was bursting forth from below the ground (Genesis 7:11–12). 
Teacher 2: That sounds like a lot of water, but even so, how can we be sure the flood covered the whole world and wasn’t just where the ark was?
Teacher 1: Show the water everywhere poster. First of all, why would Noah need to build a huge ark if the flood was just going to be local? Since he knew years in advance it was coming, he and his family could easily have walked to another area to miss the flood. Also, the Bible tells us the water rose to 25 feet above the mountains (Genesis 7:19–20). How could it rise that high over local mountains and leave the rest of the area untouched?
Teacher 2: Good point. Any other evidence of it being a flood that covered the whole world?
Teacher 1: Show the ark and rainbow poster. The best one of all. God put a rainbow in the sky and promised he would never again send such a flood (Genesis 9:11–13). If it had been a local flood, God would have broken his promise, because we’ve had many local floods since then. But there’s never been another global flood, and we can remember that God is a promise keeper.
Teacher 2: That’s the best news! But I’m wondering if there’s scientific evidence to support the idea of a worldwide flood. 
Teacher 1: Show the grand canyon and other poster. Yes, lots! With the flood, there were huge amounts of water and mud flowing all over the earth. Because of that, we would expect to find many layers of sediments—different types of rocks—all over the world. And this is exactly what we find! You see it in many of the rock layers found around the world. You see it in land that has been raised up, like mountain ranges (Genesis 7:19–20). You see it in the billions of dead things buried in rock layers all over the 
earth. All the land animals and people not on the ark died in the flood. We find the remains of these animals as fossils around the world because the plants and animals were rapidly buried in the water, mud, and materials of the flood and then eventually hardened into fossils.
Teacher 2: But I thought it took millions of years for fossils to form.
Teacher 1: Show the fossilized hat and teddy bear poster. Nope. If you have just the right conditions, fossils can form quite quickly. Do you think this fossilized hat and teddy bear are millions of years old? Pause. Of course not. They turned into fossils quickly, under just the right conditions. The flood provided the right conditions for many fossils to form.
Teacher 2: There really is a logical answer for all of this, isn’t there? Before signing off, I’ve got one more question. What happened to the dinosaurs after the flood? 
Teacher 1: Show the dinosaurs being hunted poster. The earth was a very different place after the fall and the flood. The beautiful paradise was gone. Now the world was a broken up, difficult place in which to survive. The dinosaurs that survived the flood on the ark repopulated the earth like all the other animals. But eventually they began to die off, perhaps because the climate changed, or they couldn’t find enough food, or they became diseased, or people hunted and killed too many of them. These are the same reasons many animals become extinct today.
Teacher 2: I guess it really isn’t such a mystery after all, is it? 
Teacher 1: Nope. You just need to start with the Bible. It helps you make sense of the world we live in.
Teacher 2: Well, thanks, ___, for sharing with us. It was quite enlightening. And thank you, boys and girls, for tuning in to Rainforest News. This is ___, reporting live. Now back to you!
 Teacher 1: Wow, that was quite an interview. Before I sign off completely, let me leave you with this thought. When I think of the color blue, I think of water. And when I think of water, I think of the flood. And when I think of the flood, I think of God’s judgment on sin. I know I’m sinful and need to be saved. Just as God saved Noah and his family, God saves people today. How about you? Do you realize you’ve disobeyed God’s commands and sinned? Do you realize you need to trust God to save you like Noah did? We’ll talk more about this in the days ahead! But now, let’s check 
Day 2 Animal Pal Poster 
7 C’s Maps, 1 per person

out our animal pal.
Part 3: Daily Review (5 minutes)
 Share the Day 2 Animal Pal Poster to summarize the teaching of the day. Or, if you have time, use the following questions (and more you make up) to use in a review game.
Today, our animal pal is a poison dart frog. What two colors is he, and what do those colors remind you of? Take responses. His name is Tox. What does that name have to do with what we talked about today? Take responses—it’s short for the word toxic. The perfect world isn’t perfect anymore but now has sad and bad things in it, like poisonous animals. What’s something you learned about Noah and the ark? Take responses. If you had been living at the time, do you think you would have taken God seriously and gotten on that ark? Take responses. Do you take God seriously now? Take responses. It honors God when you trust him and take him seriously. 
Pass out the maps and add today’s stickers.
Apply It!
In the remaining class time, complete one or more of the following ideas. These are also on the back of the Primary Student Guides and can be done at home with a parent or caretaker if you are out of time. If you send them home, motivate the kids to do them because they are full of 
good stuff! Have the group guides check with the kids tomorrow to see how they did on them, and consider giving contest bonus points to them for their hard work.
Supplies for this section are not included in the supply list on the back cover since they will vary depending on the activities you choose, so decide what you will do and add them to your supply list accordingly. 

Day 2 Memory Verse Poster
Optional: Student Guides and supplies

Part 1: Memory Verse
 Today’s Verse: They have all turned aside; together they have become corrupt; there is none who does good, not even one. Psalm 14:3
Practice this verse a couple times using the Day 2 Memory Verse Poster as a reference, then try the following challenge.
Challenge: Tree frogs can jump 150 times their body length. Try big leapfrog jumps as you say each word of your verse. How far can you get?
Tomorrow’s Verse: Therefore its name was called Babel, because there the Lord confused the language of all the earth. And from there the Lord dispersed them over the face of all the earth. Genesis 11:9
Try the challenge again, this time with tomorrow’s verse.
Part 2: Go and Do
Our good and kind God loves it when we want to trust and obey him. That’s a way to honor him! What’s one way you can honor and please God today with your words and actions? Look up Ephesians 4:25–32.
Pray and ask God to help you take him seriously like Noah did and to live to honor and obey him.
Tell someone something you learned about the ark and Noah’s flood.
Check AnswersVBS.com/junglekids for more fun information!
Ask yourself these questions: Do I realize I sin? Do I take God seriously?

Day 3
Confusion
Bible passage
All in Confusion
Genesis 11
Apologetics Content
Examining where the people groups came from
Memory verse
Therefore its name was called Babel, because there the Lord confused the language of all the earth. And from there the Lord dispersed them over the face of all the earth. Genesis 11:9
Color
Gray
Lesson Focus
The fourth C—Confusion—checks out the world-altering events that began at the tower of Babel.
Animal pal
Scatter the Silverback Gorilla
Today’s Lesson at a Glance
Introduce It!
Build the Tower
Teach It!
Part 1: Babel Bible Account
Part 2: Confusion Concentration
Part 3: Puppet Pal—Babel Rabble
Part 4: Daily Review/Review Game
Apply It!
Part 1: Memory Verse
Part 2: Go and Do
Preparing for the Lesson
Read Genesis 11.
Read this lesson several times and prepare the materials. 
For more information on the people groups, check AnswersVBS.com/junglefaq.
Pray.

Devotion 3: God Is the Infinite Sustainer
And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us. Acts 17:26–27
Imagine if our entire world spoke the same language. Even with our English-speaking world of over 300 million people, what have we accomplished? 
It’s easy to pat ourselves on our backs about how much we have done. This attitude is perhaps best demonstrated at NASA. A tour of the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, USA, provides a glimpse at the massive machines and impressive technology NASA scientists have produced. During one segment of the tour, a narrator intones that with man “nothing is impossible.” Another narrator, an astronaut, affirms this attitude, “Whatever we can conceive, we can achieve.”
Do such arrogant statements shock you?
If you’re familiar with today’s lesson, they shouldn’t. Read Genesis 11:4–6. 
At the time of the tower of Babel, people arrogantly thought they could achieve whatever they wanted. However, God judged their rebellion by bringing a multiplicity of languages, causing them to scatter over the earth.
Why does mankind today have this same philosophy: “And nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them” (Genesis 11:6)?
Ever since the temptation in the garden of Eden, when Satan said Eve would be like God, knowing good and evil (Genesis 3:5), mankind has been in rebellion against God, trying to be god. The first judgment was the entrance of death into the world. Later, God judged mankind’s rebellion with a watery catastrophe. And in today’s lesson, we find a judgment that included a confusion of mankind’s one common language into many languages.  
So, what should our attitude be? Read Acts 17:24–31. These verses show that God is the Infinite Sustainer of all things—apart from him, we can do nothing. He gives us life, breath, and everything else. In him, we live and move and have our being.
Today, let’s look for opportunities to show the children the importance of walking humbly before the Infinite Sustainer, recognizing our continual need for him. We need to carefully reflect any glory that might come our way to God, and teach our children to do the same.
Read Colossians 1:15–17 and think about this Puritan prayer.
O God All-Sufficient,
Thou hast made and upholdest all things by the word of thy power;
	darkness is thy pavilion,
thou walkest on the wings of the wind;
	all nations are nothing before thee;
		one generation succeeds another,
		and we hasten back to the dust;
the heavens we behold will vanish away
	like the clouds that cover them,
the earth we tread on will dissolve as a morning dream;
But thou, unchangeable and incorruptible,
	art for ever and ever,
		God over all, blessed eternally.
Infinitely great and glorious art thou.
We are thy offspring and thy care.
Thy hands have made and fashioned us.
Thou hast watched over us with more than parental love,
		more than maternal tenderness.
Thou hast holden our soul in life,
	and not suffered our feet to be moved.
Thy divine power has given us all things
	necessary for life and godliness.
Let us bless thee at all times and forget not how thou hast
		forgiven our iniquities,
		healed our diseases,
		redeemed our lives from destruction,
		crowned us with lovingkindness and 
		tender mercies,
		satisfied our mouths with good things,
		renewed our youth like the eagle’s.
May thy Holy Scriptures 
	govern every part of our lives,
	and regulate the discharge of all our duties,
so that we may adorn thy doctrine in all things.
—Arthur Bennett, The Valley of Vision 
(Carlisle, PA: The Banner of Truth Trust, 2005), 211.

Introduce It!

7 C’s Creation, Corruption, and Catastrophe Posters
Amazon Tall Tower Observatory Poster
Optional: Confusion Color Word and one sheet of gray copy paper
Bible
Jungle costumes for teachers
Mounting putty or tape

 Build the Tower (5 minutes) 
Prep: Bookmark all Bible passages used in today’s lesson. If making your own backdrop, copy onto gray paper, cut out, and mount the Confusion Color Word to it somewhere. Cut apart the Amazon Tall Tower Observatory Poster.
Teacher 1: Welcome back, everyone. Come on in and get in the “boat.” Do so. Let’s see if you can remember the three stops we’ve talked about so far. Point to the first word and color. Do so. Creation—green. Now the second. Corruption—dark. And the third. Catastrophe—blue. Review, showing the 7 C’s creation, corruption, and catastrophe posters.
Teacher 2: Okay, at today’s cruise stop, we’re going to be talking about a tower. There are towers all over the world, like the Amazon Tall Tower Observatory. Show the Amazon Tall Tower observatory poster. It’s located in the middle of the Amazon rainforest and is run by scientists from Germany and Brazil. It’s over 1,000 feet (323 m) tall, which is a little taller than the Eiffel Tower. It takes about an hour to walk to the top of the tower. That’s a long way up! All kinds of rainforest research is done there, including tracking the weather and studying soil. Would you like to walk up to the top of that tower? Pause for responses. 
Teacher 1: That’s a useful tower, and of course, there’s nothing wrong with building a tower—unless it’s going to cause rebellion against God. The one we’re going to talk about today is one the people shouldn’t have built, and their disobedience led to our next stop—Confusion. What color might go well to represent something that’s confusing? Take guesses and have them find the hidden word and color—Confusion, gray. Explain that if something isn’t clearly one way or another, it can be thought of as gray, or confusing. 

7 C’s Confusion Poster
10 tower-building items in a baggie per child
Plates, 1 per child

Teach It!
 Part 1: Babel Bible Account (5–10 minutes)
Prep: Gather tower-building items for each person—10 in a baggie per child. This can be blocks, Jenga blocks, dominoes, or a small, stackable food like Honeycomb cereal pieces. Check for allergies if using food. Each person also needs a plate. 
Teacher 2: Show the 7 C’s confusion poster. Our next stop is Confusion. The history book of the universe, the Bible, describes this event when people built very tall walls and things got chaotic. 
Teacher 1: We’re going to read the account from Genesis 11. As each verse is read, you’re going to try to build a tower out of ___ on your plate. You’ll put one piece down before we start, and then one piece down after each verse is read. We’ll see if we can finish hearing the Bible account before our towers fall over. 
Pass out the supplies. Read one verse at a time from Genesis 11:1–9, alternating between Teacher 1 and Teacher 2. After each verse, stop for a few seconds while the kids add the next tower piece. See if they can make it the whole way through without it toppling over. Then have the kids bag up or set aside their pieces. If it’s food, they will eat the pieces later during a review game.

Babel Posters, select ones as noted
Confusion Concentration Cards, 2 sheets per pair of kids
Rubber bands or paper clips

Part 2: Confusion Concentration (10–15 minutes)
 Prep: Print two sheets of Confusion Concentration Cards per pair of kids, cut apart, and place in sets with a rubber band or paper clip around them. Cut apart the Babel Posters and use the ones that are noted in the following teaching.
Pass out a set of confusion concentration cards to each pair of kids. Share the teaching and have students find and look at each card while you share the information. 

If using food for tower pieces, make sure nobody has an allergy to it. 
Ziggurat card: Show card and the Babel Posters—Tower. This may be the basic shape of the tower of Babel. It’s called a ziggurat. Show the Babel Posters—Ziggurats. If you travel around the world, you can still find old ziggurats today which remind us of what happened at Babel. People took that building knowledge with them and built towers all over the place.
Map of the world card: Show card and the Babel Posters—Race. Because the people didn’t obey God at Babel, he scattered them all over the world. Now people live all over the place and have different cultures, but we’re still just one race—the human race—starting all the way back from Adam and Eve. That means you’re related to the person you’re sitting next to! 
Different skin shades card: Show card and the Babel Posters—variety. After the people separated from Babel, they eventually ended up in groups with different skin shades. Everyone is a shade of brown because of something in our skin called melanin. Some people are light brown, some are medium, and some are dark brown. But remember—we aren’t different races; we’re all one family. 
Quit building card: Show card and the Babel Posters—Quit. God scattered the people, so they had to quit building. They didn’t trust God and do what he said. We need to trust God and do as he says, because he’s completely trustworthy and always knows best.
People groups card: Show card. When God scattered the people all over the world, some people ended up in cold places, some in hot places, and some in wet places. That’s why they ended up with different ways of doing things.
Languages card: Show card and the Babel Posters—Language families. Everyone had one language at the tower of Babel. But because they disobeyed God, God confused their languages. Now we have many different languages.
Now let’s play a concentration game with the cards. Have the kids shuffle their cards and lay them face down in rows. You’ll take turns turning over two cards to see if they match. If they do, keep that pair if you can tell your partner something about it. If you can’t remember anything about it, or if they don’t match, flip them back over. Either way, play goes to the next player. Once all cards are matched, the person with the most matches wins. Allow a few minutes for kids to play 1 or 2 rounds. Teacher 2 should discreetly get behind the puppet set as they play this.

2 copies of Day 3 Puppet Script 
Boy or girl puppet and puppet stage
Clipboard

Part 3: Puppet Pal—Babel Rabble (5 minutes)
 Prep: Tape one script inside the puppet stage and attach the other to a clipboard for reference.
Teacher: Kids, help me call for Jungle Jimmy. JJ? Hello? Are you in there? Hello?
Puppet: Come up saying hello in other languages. Hola! Guten tag! Shalom!
Teacher: JJ, what are you babbling about?
Puppet: Oh, hi! I’m just saying hello in other languages.
Teacher: I didn’t know you could speak in other languages.
Puppet: Sure! Let me teach you all how to say hello in French. Can you say bonjour, everyone? 
Teacher and Kids: Bonjour.
Puppet: Good job!
Teacher: Well, it’s interesting that you’re talking about other languages, because that’s what our Bible lesson is about today.
Puppet: Reeeallly?
Teacher: Yep! At our fourth stop—Confusion—which happened way back over 4,000 years ago, something confusing—and amazing—happened.
Puppet: I know . . . meatballs started falling from the sky, right?
Teacher: Nope, but that would be amazing!
Puppet: How about this . . . everybody started walking upside down?
Teacher: Fun . . . but no. Let me share what the Bible says.
Puppet: I am all ears!
Teacher: Did you know there was a time on earth when everybody spoke the same language?
Puppet: Everybody?
Teacher: Yes! Every single person. And not only that, but they also lived in the same place. The trouble was that since they all spoke the same language and lived in the same place, they started thinking up bad ideas.
Puppet: You mean like peanut butter and ketchup sandwiches? Now that’s what I call a bad idea. Yuck!
Teacher: No, it’s nothing to do with food. The idea they came up with was to build a city and a really tall tower that would reach way up into the sky.
Puppet: Why’s that a bad idea? I love to go up high.
Teacher: It’s bad because God told them to spread out, but they stayed together and they didn’t obey God.
Puppet: Uh-oh.
Teacher: Yeah, I know. We should always listen to God and do what he says. We find his words in this special book, the Bible!
Puppet: Why did they go against God and build the tower?
Teacher: They wanted to make a name for themselves—that means, they wanted everyone to think they were great for building a cool tower. And they didn’t want to be scattered all over the earth, even though God had told them to have families and spread out over the whole world. But they didn’t want to do what God said. They wanted to stay right where they were.
Puppet: Wow, that is bad. When God tells you to do something, you should do it, right?
Teacher: Right! God wants us to obey him because we love him and trust him to always know what’s best for us. He’s a good, good Father who’s always right. So when they didn’t obey, God changed the way they talked so they couldn’t understand each other anymore.
Puppet: KEESHA-BOO-DUM-DEE-DUM-FEE-FO-FUM!
Teacher: Say what?
Puppet: KEESHA-BOO-DUM-DEE-DUM-FEE-FO-FUM!
Teacher: I don’t understand a word you’re saying!
Puppet: I was just wondering what it would be like if I suddenly spoke a different language.
Teacher: It’d be crazy! Can you imagine talking to someone one minute and then the next minute you can’t understand them? Everyone would be so mixed-up and confused.
Puppet: Wild! So that’s why we have French and German and Italian and Russian and Spanish and Japanese and Greek and Hebrew. . . .
Teacher: Yes! All the different language families today are because of what happened at the tower of Babel. But you know what else is interesting?
Puppet: Yep . . . sharks! I think sharks are really interesting . . . and scary!
Teacher: True, but here’s what I was going to say. What’s really interesting is that even though people all over the world speak different languages, we’re all related to each other. Did you know that?
Puppet: Haha! You’re being funny!
Teacher: No, it’s for real! We may look a little different or speak different languages, but according to the Bible, we all came from Adam and Eve. They’re our great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great . . . 
Puppet: Okay, I get the idea!
Teacher: . . . grandparents! Whew! So you see, JJ, we’re just one great-great-great-great-great-great . . . 
Puppet: Oh no, not this again!
Teacher: . . . great big family!
Puppet: So let me get this straight. I’m related to all the people in Africa?
Teacher: Yep! All 1+ billion of them!
Puppet: How about India?
Teacher: India too!
Puppet: Wow, I learned a lot today! I can’t wait to go home and tell my family and friends!
Teacher: That’s a good idea, JJ. But the important thing to remember is that just like Adam and Eve and the people during Noah’s time, the people at Babel didn’t obey God. They sinned, and so do we. But our good and kind God wants us to follow him and do what he says because he knows what’s best. Okay, boys and girls, it’s time to say goodbye to Jungle Jimmy. Goodbye, Jungle Jimmy. See you tomorrow!

Day 3 Animal Pal Poster
7 C’s Maps, 1 per person

Part 4: Daily Review/Review Game (10 minutes) 
Pass out the maps and have the kids add today’s sticker. Share the Day 3 Animal Pal Poster to summarize the teaching of the day. Ask questions as a review. If you used food, they can build a tower using one piece for each correct answer, and then eat it afterward. If you used blocks, they can add a block with each correct answer. 
What kind of animal is today’s animal pal? Take responses—a gorilla. 
What color is he, and what does that color remind you of? Take responses—silver (gray), which reminds us of confusion. 
His name is Scatter. Why do you think he’s named Scatter? Take responses—God scattered the people at Babel. 
Yes or no: Did the people at Babel want to spread out all over the world? Take responses—no. Just like silverback gorillas like to stay together in a group, the people at Babel wanted to stay together too. 
What did the people decide to build? Take responses—a city and a tall tower that reached up to the heavens. 
Why did they say they wanted to build the tall tower? Take responses—to make a name for themselves. To make them famous. To bring attention to themselves.
What did God do that caused them to stop building? Take responses—he confused their languages. This was a kind way to get them to stop disobeying because now they couldn’t communicate, so they couldn’t keep building.
As people were broken into groups, different skin shades began to appear regularly in different locations. People are not different colors, but different shades of one color. 
What color? Take responses—brown. We are all shades of brown—from light brown, to medium brown, to dark brown.
Because the people from Babel took the knowledge of how to build a tower with them, towers started showing up all over the world. Some of them are a shape called a zig____? Take responses—a ziggurat. 
 Yes or no: Have you noticed a pattern going on with the people throughout our cruise of history? Take responses—yes. First Adam and Eve, then the people of Noah’s time, and then the people at Babel all went off course and rebelled against God (sinned, disobeyed). They all did what they wanted instead of what God wanted. God is kind and wants us to turn to him and obey him. 
Apply It!
In the remaining class time, complete one or more of the following ideas. These are also on the back of the Primary Student Guides and can be done at home with a parent or caretaker if you are out of time. If you send them home, motivate the kids to do them because they are full of good stuff! Have the group guides check with the kids tomorrow to see how they did on them, and consider giving contest bonus points to the groups for their hard work.
Supplies for this section are not included in the supply list on the back cover since they will vary depending on the activities you choose, so decide what you will do and add them to your supply list accordingly. 

Day 3 Memory Verse Poster
Optional: Student Guides and supplies

Part 1: Memory Verse
 Today’s Verse: Therefore its name was called Babel, because there the Lord confused the language of all the earth. And from there the Lord dispersed them over the face of all the earth. Genesis 11:9
Practice this verse several times using the Day 3 Memory Verse Poster as a reference, then try the following challenge.
Challenge: Find blocks or something to build with, and say the verse as you build a tower, one block for each word. Can you say the whole thing before the tower topples?
Tomorrow’s Verse: But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God. John 1:12
Try the challenge again using tomorrow’s verse. 
Part 2: Go and Do
Make a list of things you’re good at. Do you like to tell others about them and try to make a name for yourself (like the people at Babel), or do you give the credit to God for the things you’re good at? It’s awesome you have abilities from God. Thank him for them! 
Rather than bringing attention to yourself, take time to bring attention to God, which honors him. Tell at least two people something amazing about God or God’s creation.
Talk to God and ask him to help you want to live to please him and bring him honor.
Check AnswersVBS.com/junglekids for more fun information! 
Ask yourself this question: How can I bring attention to God?

Day 4
Christ & the Cross
Bible passages
Savior for All Who Believe
Various Scriptures
Apologetics Content
Examining the need for a Savior
Memory Verse
But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God. John 1:12
Colors
White and Red
lesson focus
Christ and the Cross are our next C’s. We will share the gospel today.
Animal pal
Rose the Pink River Dolphin
Today’s Lesson at a Glance
Introduce It!
Guess the Jungle Baby Animals
Teach It!
Part 1: Color Cross
Part 2: Puppet Pal—Gospel Presentation
Part 3: Bag of Beads Game
Part 4: Daily Review
Apply It!
Part 1: Memory Verse
Part 2: Go and Do
Preparing for the Lesson
Read “Leading a Child to Christ,” found on the inside back cover of this guide. 
Read this lesson several times and prepare the materials.
For more information on Jesus’ birth and resurrection, check AnswersVBS.com/junglefaq.
Pray.

Devotion 4: God Is the Sovereign Savior
The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein. Psalm 24:1
Fill in the following blanks.
_____ told Noah how to build the ark.
God provided all that _____ needed, including great wisdom.
God brought all the _____ to the ark at just the right time.
God provided a seaworthy, safe way for man and animals to _____.
God shut the _____ after Noah, his family, and the animals entered the ark.
God caused the _____ to cover the entire earth.
God directed Noah when to leave the ____.
God provided the _____ as a sign that he would never send another global flood.  
Based on these statements, what attribute of God do you think we are focusing on today? He is the sovereign Savior of the world. 
Although each of the questions in the quiz highlights God’s sovereign salvation as seen in the account of the Genesis flood, let’s focus specifically on number five. 
In his instructions for building the ark, God told Noah to put a door in the side of the ark (Genesis 6:16). The ark had only one door to pass through to escape God’s terrible judgment. By faith, Noah and his family entered the ark. Once they were all inside, the Lord shut them in (Genesis 7:16).
What is significant about God shutting the door of the ark? After God shut the door, the time of judgment was at hand. Only those who had gone through the doorway would be saved. No one else could enter. Noah and his family had to obey God’s command to build and then enter the ark for salvation—but God commanded the construction of the ark as the means of saving Noah’s family in this time of judgment.
The ark is a picture of salvation in Jesus Christ, our “ark” of salvation. Jesus said that he is the door of salvation (John 10:9). 
The Bible makes it clear that we are dead in our sins (Ephesians 2:1). Nothing we can do can save us from our sin and its consequence of eternal separation from God. But the Bible also tells us that if we confess with our mouths the Lord Jesus and believe in our hearts that God has raised him from the dead, we will be saved (Romans 10:9). We are saved by grace through faith as a result of God’s gift to us (Ephesians 2:8). Salvation is all due to God. Our responsibility is to go through the doorway (Jesus), and God will save us. 
The next judgment will be by fire (2 Peter 3:5–12). God has provided salvation through the ark—his Son, Jesus Christ. Many are hearing the warning of the coming judgment, but who will enter through the God-given means of salvation—the death and resurrection of Jesus on our behalf? A time is coming when God will close this door. Are we ready?
Let’s close this time by reading Acts 4:10–12 and thinking about this Puritan prayer.
Sovereign Lord,
Thy will is supreme in heaven and earth,
	and all beings are creatures of thy power.
Thou art the Father of our spirits;
	thy inspiration gives us understanding,
	thy providence governs our lives.
But, O God, we are sinners in thy sight;
	thou hast judged us so,
		and if we deny it we make thee a liar.
Yet in Christ thou art reconciled to thy 
		rebellious subjects;
Give us the ear of faith to hear him,
		the eye of faith to see him,
		the hand of faith to receive him,
		the appetite of faith to feed upon him;
	that we might find in him light,
		riches, honour, eternal life.
—Arthur Bennett, The Valley of Vision 
(Carlisle, PA: The Banner of Truth Trust, 2005), 222.

Introduce It!
 Guess the Jungle Baby Animals (5 minutes) 

Jungle Baby Animal Posters 
Bible
Jungle costumes for teachers
Mounting putty or tape
Large Post-its or removable paper to cover animal poster names

Prep: Cut apart the jungle baby animal posters. Cover each animal name with removable paper. Bookmark all the Bible passages used in today’s lesson.  
Teacher 1: Welcome back, travelers! Come on in and get in the “boat.” Do so. We’re moving on to more stops today. First, let’s take a look at some jungle baby animals God has created. We’ll show you a picture, and you have to guess the animal.
Show the Jungle Baby Animal Posters as listed below.
Show the baby sloth Poster and have them guess the animal. If they are stumped with this or any of the ones below, give them three choices and have them guess which one it is. This little guy hangs onto its mama’s belly for the first six months of life as Mama moves slowly, slowly, slowly through the trees—so slowly, in fact, that green algae grows on her. Take the removable paper off to show the answer.
Show the baby capybara Poster and have them guess the animal. This stubby little cutie grows up to have a shape that’s like a barrel on legs. When full-grown, it’s the largest rodent in the world. Remove paper.
Show the baby jaguar Poster and have them guess the animal. This baby cub sticks with his mom until about age two. Then he goes off to hunt on his own. His name means “he who kills with one leap.” Remove paper.
Show the baby giant otter Poster and have them guess the animal. This babe squeaks for attention, but barks and whines when he’s older. He lives near a riverbank and spends a lot of his life swimming. Remove paper.
Show the baby sun bear Poster and have them guess the animal. This cub is born blind and is usually positioned on buttress tree roots until he learns to walk and climb. He’s the smallest and rarest bear species and loves honey. Remove paper. 
Show the baby tapir Poster and have them guess the animal. This baby is standing within an hour of birth and swimming by week three. He’s shy and has a flexible nose that’s like a snorkel, helping him breathe better. Remove paper.  
Teacher 2: There are so many cute jungle baby animals God has made! But today, we’re gonna be talking about a baby person, not a baby animal. People aren’t animals. People are made in God’s image and are God’s most special creation. But the baby person we’re talking about today is so special, he’s not even like any other baby person ever. Let’s pass out some supplies, and then we’ll hear more about this one-of-a-kind baby.
Teach It!
Part 1: Color Cross (15 minutes)

7 C’s Poster Set  
Day 1–3 Memory Verse Posters
Color Cross Pattern, 1 per person on a clipboard
Optional: Christ and Cross Color Words and one sheet white copy paper, one red
Optional: clipboards or hard surfaces like magazines, 1 per person
Crayons or colored pencils, 1 of each of the following in a bundle per person: green, dark, blue, red, and yellow (white and gray are optional)
Optional: paper clips or mini envelopes, 1 per person

 Prep: Print and cut out the Color Cross Patterns. Put each Color Cross Pattern on a clipboard or hard surface. Buy or bundle the crayons or pencils. If making your own backdrop, copy onto white and red, cut out, and mount the Christ and Cross Color Words to it somewhere.
Give each person a color cross Pattern and a bundle of the following crayons or colored pencils: green, dark, blue, red, and yellow. White and gray are optional. Two students can share. 
Stop 1: Creation—Green
Teacher 1: We started our journey through time with a certain color. Cruise on over to something that’s that color, taking your supplies with you. Do so. Or just have them point to something or hold up that color of crayon or pencil. If they moved, they should be standing by something green. If they have chosen different green locations, have them all gather at one green spot and sit down.
Teacher 2: Yes, we started at green. What was our first C, and why was it the color green? Take answers. Green reminds us of God’s green, beautiful CREATION, our first C. Show the 7 c’s creation poster.
Teacher 1: What letter is missing from the word in square one of your cross? (C) Write the letter C for CREATION, then color the square green around the inside edges like this. Show example of coloring around the inside of the edge lines and have them do so while Teacher 2 continues. 
Teacher 2: We heard about two different accounts regarding how everything came to be. One was the story of Dot. One was the creation account from the Bible. Which one is true? Take answers. 
Teacher 1: Right. God can only tell the truth, and he tells us in his Word that he is the Creator—not a random big bang. So we know God made the heavens and the earth.
Teacher 2: And everything God made was good. It was a perfect, good creation. Show the Day 1 memory verse poster and recite Genesis 1:1 together.
Stop 2: Corruption—Dark
Teacher 1: Okay, now we cruise to a spot with the color of the second C. Do so, and have them all gather at one spot by a dark color. Or hold up or point to a dark color.
Teacher 2: What is our next C, and what does it have to do with a dark color? Take answers. Dark reminds us of sin and our second C, CORRUPTION. Show the 7 c’s corruption poster. Remember, in the Bible, sin is compared to darkness—the Bible doesn’t refer to sin as “black” but as “darkness” (Romans 1:21, 13:12; John 3:19–20).
Teacher 1: Write the missing letter C in the word CORRUPTION in square two of your cross, then color it with your dark color around the edges. Do so while Teacher 2 continues.
Teacher 2: We learned the world was all good and two people were living there named ____? (Adam and Eve)
Teacher 1: They made a really bad choice—the worst! What did they eat? (The fruit) They were told not to eat it, but they did. That’s when sin (not obeying God) entered the world. They veered off God’s good path and sinned, as our Bible verse says. Show the Day 2 memory verse poster and recite Psalm 14:3 together.  
Teacher 2: And that was the fall of all, when bad and sad stuff started happening. The world from that point until now is full of both good and bad.
Stop 3: Catastrophe—Blue
Teacher 1: Okay, now cruise over to the color of the third C. Do so. Or hold up or point to a blue color.
Teacher 2: What is our next C, and what does it have to do with blue? Take answers. Blue reminds us that water covered the whole earth. It was a global CATASTROPHE. Show the 7 c’s catastrophe poster.
Teacher 1: Complete the word CATASTROPHE in square three of your cross, and then color it blue around the edges. Do so while Teacher 2 continues.
Teacher 2: By this time, mankind had become so wicked that God chose to judge the world, as it says in Genesis 6:11–13. Read the verses. Here we go again! Man was veering away from God’s path and rebelling.
Teacher 1: God sent a global flood and destroyed all the land animals and people. Only one man remained who followed after God. What was his name? (Noah) Noah was saved with his family and some animals. Many of the fossil graveyards of the world are leftovers from this one-of-a-kind event.
Stop 4: Confusion—Gray
Teacher 2: Okay, cruise over to the color of the fourth C. Do so. Or hold up or point to a gray color.
Teacher 1: What is our next C, and what does it have to do with gray? Take answers. Gray reminds us of what happened at the tower of Babel when everything was in CONFUSION. Show the 7 c’s confusion poster.
Teacher 2: Add the C for CONFUSION in square four of your cross, and then color it gray around the edges. Do so, using the black crayon or colored pencil, but pressing lightly so it looks like gray. Or use a gray crayon. Teacher 1 continues.
Teacher 1: We learned that, not long after Noah’s flood, the earth filled with people again, and they once more turned away from God. Are you noticing the pattern? Time and time again, people rebel against God! This time the people disobeyed God by staying together and building what? Take answers. Right, a tower. So God came down and gave them different languages, causing them to scatter all over the ___? (earth) Let’s quote Genesis 11:9 together to remember this. Show the Day 3 memory verse poster and recite it together. 
Teacher 2: The family groups moved apart and eventually developed distinct physical characteristics: skin shade (we’re all shades of brown, from light to dark), hair color, eye shape, and so forth. But still, all people from all time are related. We all go back to the first people named ___. (Adam and Eve) And as one, big, related family, we should treat each other with kindness and respect.
Stop 5: Christ—White
Teacher 1: Okay, let’s move on. Find a color that stands for pure, clean, and no sin, and stand by it. Do so. Or hold up or point to a white color.
Teacher 2: Yes, white is the color of the next C. Can you find the hidden color word that shows who is pure with no sin? Point to it if you see it. Do so. Right, Jesus Christ! White stands for our next C, which is another name for Jesus—CHRIST. Christ is not his last name, but is a word showing his special mission. It means “Messiah.” He was the one coming to save people. Show the 7 c’s christ poster.
Teacher 1: Write the letter C for CHRIST in square five, and don’t color that one. Just leave it white. Do so. 
Teacher 2: Let’s sit down for a minute and hear a little about Jesus coming. You can shout out the answers when we motion to you.
Teacher 1: Jesus is God’s ___? Motion for answers. Right, God’s Son. He’s also God.
Teacher 2: Before he came to earth, Jesus lived in ___? Motion for answers. Yes, heaven. He lived there for all eternity past. He never had a beginning but has always been—a mind-blowing thought!
Teacher 1: He was involved in creating the world. God the Father, God the Son (Jesus), and God the Holy Spirit were all at creation, making the world.
Teacher 2: But as you have heard, after they created the world, Adam and Eve sinned, and the world became sinful and cursed. God promised a Savior would come (Genesis 3:15), and people could be rescued from the catastrophe that was awaiting them—life forever without God, not in heaven but in ___? Motion for answers. Yes, sadly, hell.
Teacher 1: So God sent his Son, Jesus, to earth. (Galatians 4:4) He was born as a little ___? Motion for answers. Correct—baby. This is what we celebrate at what holiday? Take answers. Yep, Christmas. Now God lived with us and could be our Savior from sin and eternal death.
Teacher 2: Jesus grew up and lived what kind of life on earth? Describe it in one word. Take answers. They may vary. Yes, he was holy, sinless, perfect. He did miracles and had all power over everything because he had made it all.
Teacher 1: He has power over nature. He has power over sickness and death. He even has power to forgive sins. And that leads us to the next C.
Stop 6: Cross—Red
Teacher 2: Cruise to a spot that reminds you of the color of blood. Do so. Or hold up or point to a red color.
Teacher 1: Yes, red. Can you find the hidden color word to explain this more? Point to it if you see it. Do so. Red reminds us of Jesus’ blood that was shed for us at the next C—the CROSS. Show the 7 c’s cross poster.
Teacher 2: Fill in the C for CROSS in square six and color it red around the edges. Do so. Discreetly get behind the puppet set as Teacher 1 finishes. 
Teacher 1: Jesus was put to death on a cross because of our sin, even though he had done nothing wrong. The punishment for sin is death. Can you imagine if someone you love was put to death because of you even though they hadn’t done anything wrong? Well, that’s what happened. We’re going to call on JJ to talk more about why Jesus shed his blood. 

Admit, Believe, Forever Receive Posters
Day 4 Memory Verse Poster 
2 copies of Day 4 Puppet Script 
Boy or girl puppet and clipboard
Play-food cookie and tape

 Part 2: Puppet Pal—Gospel Presentation (5 minutes)
Prep: Tape one script inside the puppet stage and attach the other to a clipboard for reference. Tape the cookie to the puppet’s hand. Cut apart the Admit, Believe, Forever Receive Posters. 
Teacher: Boys and girls, help me call for JJ. 
Puppet: Come up holding a cookie. It can be taped to the puppet’s hand.
Teacher: Hey, JJ, that sure looks good!
Puppet: Yummo! Do you guys like cookies? Pause.
Teacher: Well, the boys and girls and I were just talking about how Jesus died on a cross. Have you ever heard about that before?
Puppet: I sure have! Jesus died AND he rose again. It’s the best news ever!
Teacher: Why do you say that? Why is it important that Jesus died and rose again?
Puppet: Because now we get to celebrate not only Christmas, but also Easter!
Teacher: That IS fantastic, isn’t it? But that’s not why it’s important that Jesus died and rose again.
Puppet: Why, then?
Teacher: You see, you and I are sinners, just like Adam and Eve and like the people who wouldn’t get on the ark and like the people at the tower of Babel.
Puppet: Everybody disobeys God’s commands sometimes.
Teacher: Yeah, sadly, that’s true. For example, when you lie, or are unkind to your brother or sister, or throw a fit, that’s called sin.
Puppet: Is it a big deal that we sin?
Teacher: Yes. Because we’re sinners, we aren’t allowed to live in Jesus’ perfect heaven someday. But God had a plan. 
Puppet: Say while you pretend to take a bite from your cookie. What was it?
Teacher: Let me give you an example. I know you’re allowed to eat that cookie, but let’s pretend your dad tells you not to eat any of the newly baked cookies. But as soon as he leaves the room, guess what you do? 
Puppet: Sneak over and eat a cookie?
Teacher: Yep! Even though he said not to.
Puppet: That would be a sin because I didn’t obey.
Teacher: It would be. Now let’s pretend that your dad walks in and catches you eating the cookie. What do you think he might do? What happens when you get in trouble?
Puppet: I don’t know. Boys and girls, what do you think might happen if your dad caught you disobeying? Take responses.
Teacher: Yeah, you would probably get in trouble—get punished. Maybe he wouldn’t let you have any snacks for the next day, or you’d have to sit in time-out.
Puppet: I’ve had both of those happen to me before.
Teacher: Now let’s imagine that instead of your dad punishing you, your older brother comes in the room. Wouldn’t it be unusual if he asked your dad to punish him instead of you? Your older brother hadn’t eaten any cookies and disobeyed, but he wanted to take your punishment.
Puppet: Wow! That would be an incredible act of love toward me!
Teacher: It would! And that’s kind of like what Jesus did for you when he died on the cross and came back to life. You deserve the punishment for disobeying God (sinning), but Jesus came and took your punishment so you wouldn’t have to be punished.
Puppet: That sounds like the most amazing gift ever!
Teacher: It is! Jesus loves you so much that he was willing to die for you. The Bible explains it like this. Recite John 3:16.
Puppet: Wow, how can I pay for this gift?
Teacher: You can’t pay for it in dollars. It’s a free gift that God offers you. But you don’t get it automatically. You have to ask God for it. To receive the free gift, which is to live forever, first of all, you have to believe you’ve sinned. 
Puppet: Boys and girls, can you think of a time you sinned? Take responses.
Teacher: If you’re sorry for your sin and believe Jesus died to take your punishment, you can tell God you want to be his child. You’ll still be your parents’ child. But this means you’ll also have God as your heavenly Father.
Puppet: I hope the kids believe in Jesus and want to be his child!
Teacher: I do too. If you want to be a child of God, make sure you talk to me or to your leader or parents. Show the admit, believe, forever receive posters.
Puppet: Admit you sin, believe in Jesus, and forever receive him. That reminds me of our Bible verse.
Teacher: Let’s say that together, everyone, and then we’ll say bye to JJ. Show the Day 4 memory verse poster and read it together. If anyone has questions or wants to talk more about it, have them leave with a safe person to go to a safe, not isolated, place to talk more about how to become a Christian.
Teacher: Tomorrow, we’ll talk more about our last stop in our 7 C’s. It’s called Consummation, and it’s about how everything will turn out in the end! But for now, let’s just add the letter C for CONSUMMATION in the last square, then color it yellow around the edges. Do so. Let’s fold our crosses up now so all the squares fit under one square. Show them how to do so and give them a minute to complete the task. There’s no particular order it has to be folded—just so it all ends up the size of one square.
If time, you may want to have them practice telling each other about the 7 C’s of History, using their color cross. Otherwise, move on. You may want to give each child a paper clip or mini envelope to store their color cross in. 
Part 3: Bag of Beads Game (10–15 minutes)
Prep: Bag up the beads and prepare either the dry erase boards or the paper on clipboards. Make a list of review questions based on the examples that follow.

Bag of beads with several of each of the 7 colors: green, dark, blue, gray, white, red, and yellow
Pipe cleaners, 1 per team
Small dry erase boards and dry erase markers, 1 of each per team
OR paper on clipboards and writing utensils, 1 of each per team

 Divide the class into teams. Ask review questions such as the following, based on information covered this week. Teams decide on the answer and write it on a dry erase board, then show their answer when it’s time. If they got it right, they come up and choose a bead from the bag without looking. If they don’t have that color, they keep it. If they do, they throw it back in the bag. The goal is to be the first team to collect one of each color and to put them in order. As they get them, they can thread them on the pipe cleaner for safekeeping, but they’ll need to keep rearranging them to get them in order.

Each team can have a bag of beads to choose from to make it go faster. Put several of each color in each bag.
If you don’t have beads, cut colored card stock into squares.

 Sample Questions
Recite Genesis 1:1.
What is our first day’s animal pal?
What is the first stop—our first C?
What is the first color, and what’s it about?
Did the earth begin with a big bang or did God create it?
What’s another name for the history book of the universe?
What’s a way to honor God as Creator?

Day 4 Animal Pal Poster
7 C’s Maps, 1 per person

Continue with the other stops, colors, memory verses, animal pals, and teaching info.
 Part 4: Daily Review (5 minutes)
Share the Day 4 Animal Pal Poster to summarize the teaching of the day. 
Today’s animal pal is a river dolphin. What color is she, and what does that color remind you of? Take responses and mention that white and red mixed together make pink. Her name is Rose. Why do you think her name is Rose? Take responses. What does her name have to do with Jesus? Take responses and remind them that not only can the word “rose” remind us of a color, but also of the fact that Jesus rose from the dead. See if they can find the cross in the poster. Our Bible verse says each of us sins against God. What great news did you hear today that can take care of our sin problem? Take responses and go over the hope-filled verse below—John 1:12. 
Pass out the maps and have the kids add today’s stickers.  
Apply It!
In the remaining class time, complete one or more of the following ideas. These are also on the back of the Primary Student Guides and can be done at home with a parent or caretaker if you are out of time. If you send them home, motivate the kids to do them because they are full of good stuff! Have the group guides check with the kids tomorrow to see how they did on them, and consider giving contest bonus points to the groups for their hard work.
Supplies for this section are not included in the supply list on the back cover since they will vary depending on the activities you choose, so decide what you will do and add them to your supply list accordingly. 

Day 4 Memory Verse Poster
Optional: Student Guides and supplies

Part 1: Memory Verse
 Today’s Verse: But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God. John 1:12
Practice the verse several times using the Day 4 Memory Verse Poster as a reference, then try the following challenge.
Day 5
Consummation
Bible passages
All Is Good Again
Revelation 21–22
Apologetics Content
Examining how it turns out in the end
Memory VERSE
He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away. Revelation 21:4
color
Yellow
LESSON FOCUS
The last C—Consummation—shows that God wins, and all goes back to very good again.
Animal pal
Bliss the Bird-Wing Butterfly

Today’s Lesson at a Glance
Introduce It!
Man-Made Creations in the Rainforest
Teach It!
Part 1: Puppet Pal—No More Sad or Bad
Part 2: Zip Line Game
Part 3: Daily Review
Apply It!
Part 1: Memory Verse
Part 2: Go and Do
Preparing for the Lesson
Read Revelation 21–22.
Read this lesson several times and prepare the materials. 
For more information on the new heaven and new earth, see AnswersVBS.com/junglefaq.
Pray.
Devotion 5: God Is the Loving Redeemer
Thus it is written, “The first man Adam became a living being”; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit. The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven. 1 Corinthians 15:45, 47
As we wrap up our journey from Genesis to Revelation, let’s take a look at the connection between the seven C’s.
God is the Good Creator: The one who created a “very good” world is the one who will restore his creation to its original glory. 
The one who created the first man is the one who came to be the second man—the last Adam.
The one who breathed into Adam the breath of life is the one who gives eternal life to his children.
God is the Righteous Judge: The one who sentenced the first man to death for his rebellion is the one who came and suffered the sentence of death on behalf of mankind.
God is the Infinite Sustainer: The one who created time is the one who stepped into time so that he could live as a human.
The one who confused the languages at Babel is the one before whom people from every tribe, nation, and tongue will bow and worship.
The one who scattered the people around the world is the one who commands us to go into all the world and preach the gospel, making disciples of all nations.
God is the Sovereign Savior: The one who provided an ark for Noah and his family is the one who provided the Savior of the world.
The one who judged the world with water is the one who will judge the world with fire.
The one in whom all things hold together is the one who became part of his creation, born as a baby.
Today, let’s take a look at another attribute of God seen in the last C. 
God is the Loving Redeemer: The one who killed animals to cover the sin of Adam and Eve is the one who came to bleed on the cross for sinners.
The one who placed a curse on the creation is the one who came to redeem his creation from the curse.
The one who promised to send someone to crush the head of the serpent is the one who fulfilled the promise by rising from the dead, conquering the “last enemy.”
The one who created the heavens and earth is the one who will create a new heavens and earth wherein righteousness and his children will dwell.
Why has God done all this? “For God so loved the world” (John 3:16).
As you talk with the children today, look for opportunities to share the love of the Creator and Redeemer with them, pointing them toward the one who has done so much for us.
Let’s close by reading 1 Corinthians 15:21 and thinking about this Puritan prayer. 
O Thou Most High,
	Creator of the ends of the earth,
	Governor of the universe,
	Judge of all men, 
	Head of the church,
	Savior of sinners;
thy greatness is unsearchable,
	thy goodness infinite, 
	thy compassions unfailing,
	thy providence boundless,
	thy mercies ever new.
We bless thee for the words of salvation.
How important, suitable, encouraging 
	are the doctrines, promises, and invitations
		of the gospel of peace!
We are lost: but in it thou hast presented to 
		us a full, free and eternal salvation;
	weak: but here we learn that help is found 
		in one that is mighty;
	poor: but in him we discover unsearchable 
		riches,
	blind: but we find he has treasures of 
		wisdom and knowledge.
We thank thee for thy unspeakable gift.
Thy Son is our only refuge, foundation, hope, confidence;
We depend upon his death,
	rest in his righteousness,
	desire to bear his image;
May his glory fill our minds,
	his love reign in our affections,
	his cross inflame us with ardour.
—Arthur Bennett, The Valley of Vision 
(Carlisle, PA: The Banner of Truth Trust, 2005), 219. 
Introduce It!

7 C’s Poster Set
Man-Made Creations Poster 
Optional: Consummation Color Word and one sheet bright yellow copy paper
Bible
Jungle costumes for teachers
Mounting putty or tape

 Man-Made Creations in the Rainforest (5 minutes or less) 
Prep: Bookmark all Bible passages used in today’s lesson. If making your own backdrop, copy onto yellow paper, cut out, and mount the Consummation Color Word to it somewhere. 
Teacher 1: Well, here we are, travelers, at our last stop on the 7 C’s river cruise! Come and get in the “boat” so we can head to our last stop. Do so. Let’s see if you can remember the first six stops in order. Take responses and use the hidden color words and the 7 c’s posters for review. 
Teacher 2: Show the man-made creations poster. Before we talk about our last C, let’s talk about some amazing man-made creations in the rainforest. How many of you would like to visit a rainforest some day and stay in a man-made tree house way up in the canopy? Pause. How many would like to walk across hanging bridges? Pause. How about stepping out on a high viewing platform? Pause. What about zipping across the rainforest on a zip line? Pause, then discreetly get behind the puppet set while Teacher 1 finishes the introduction.
Teacher 1: People built these creations so we can get right into the heart of the rainforest. But as cool and magnificent as they are, they’re nothing like what God has prepared for believers—God’s people. There’s a special place all believers will live in forever with God—the new heaven and new earth. That’s our final C—Consummation. Can you find that hidden color word? Point to it if you see it. Do so. Consummation means how things will be completed, or how they will end. Show the 7 C’s Consummation poster. We know all things started out good, then bad and sad came along. That’s the time period we’re in now—good, bad, and sad all together. But someday, all things are going to go back to being very good again. It’s going to be more amazing and wonderful than you can ever imagine. We’re going to assign the color yellow to this time to remind us it will be bright and hopeful. Let’s talk to JJ a little more about it.
Teach It!
 Part 1: Puppet Pal—No More Sad or Bad (5 minutes)

2 copies of Day 5 Puppet Script
Boy or girl puppet and clipboard
Bandage around the puppet’s head

 Prep: Tape one script inside the puppet stage and attach the other to a clipboard for reference. Wrap the bandage around the puppet’s head. 
Puppet: Come up with the bandage on.
Teacher: Hey, what happened to you?
Puppet: I fell off my bike and got a bad cut! It bled down my face and stained my shirt.
Teacher: That sounds a little scary. 
Puppet: It was! I had to go to the hospital for stitches. My head hurt, and I was crying. It wasn’t fun. 
Teacher: You know, JJ, we were just talking about a place where bad things will never happen.
Puppet: Wow! Where?
Teacher: It’s called the new heaven and new earth. 
Puppet: How do you get there?
Teacher: You have to admit and turn from your sins and believe and trust in Jesus. The new heaven and new earth are what we typically call heaven.
Puppet: Why is it a new heaven and a new earth? 
Teacher: Because God is going to make all things new someday. We won’t live on this earth anymore, but on the new one.
Puppet: What’s it going to be like? 
Teacher: It’s going to be amazing! Better than this one. There won’t be any more bad or sad stuff. Only good stuff again, like back in the beginning at the garden of Eden before Adam and Eve sinned.
Puppet: So it’s going to be a perfect place?
Teacher: It is! It’s going to be forever wonderful and full of love and fun and joy.
Puppet: Wow! 
Teacher: Make sure you’re part of God’s family so you can live there someday. And tell others about it too!
Puppet: I will! Well, I’ve got to go, but thanks for sharing so many special memories with me this week at The Great Jungle Journey. It’s been a great week. Bye!

Zip Line Cards
True or False Cards, 1 set per person, paper clipped
5 sheets of blue card stock
Rope for the zip line
Small clothespins

 Part 2: Zip Line Game (20–25 minutes)
Prep: Print the Zip Line Cards on blue card stock and cut them apart. (Print two of each number sheet and one of the word sheet.) Print and cut apart the True or False Cards and paper clip them into sets with one true and one false card per set. Shuffle the Zip Line Cards so they are in random order. Hang up a rope (the zip line) and clip the cards randomly on the zip line so the point totals don’t show. 
Directions: Break into two teams—girls and boys—and give each person a set of True or False Cards. Choose a scorekeeper to keep track of the points. To start the game, ask a question. On the count of 3, all people hold up either their true or their false card. If most of each team gets it right, choose a representative from each team to choose cards off the zip line. The representatives can draw as long as they want, but if they get a Zip card, the team loses all the points from that round. If they get a Zap card, the team loses all their points accrued from the beginning of the game. Representatives can ask teammates if they should keep taking cards off the zip line or if they should stop. (Or you may want to limit it to a maximum of drawing three cards per team per turn to keep it moving. This is what the test churches did, and it worked well.) Once representatives have returned to their seats, award 100 bonus points to each team that is quiet while you share the comments regarding that question (if there are any). Then move to the next question. Choose a new representative from each team to draw cards with each question.
If you don’t have time to do all the questions, do the ones you want to cover the most first. Questions can be done in any order. Make sure to share the comments that go with each answer.
Teacher 1: Let’s play a game to hear even more about the new heaven and new earth. Explain the directions and begin. 
The world was originally very good. Now it’s good (because of God) and bad (because of man’s sin). TRUE
Earth is forever going to be like this with good and bad. FALSE (One day, Jesus will come back and return the earth to very good again.)
Heaven is a real place. TRUE (There’s a current heaven where believers go when they die. One day, all of creation will be destroyed and God will create a new heaven and a new earth. We generally think of that new heaven and new earth as heaven. Revelation 21:1)
A book of the Bible that talks a lot about heaven is Revelation. TRUE (It’s the last book of the Bible, and it shares what’s going to happen in the future. It talks about the new heaven and new earth in chapters 21 and 22. Whatever it says is going to happen will happen.)
Everyone gets to go to heaven when they die. FALSE (Only those who have trusted in Christ as their Savior will go to heaven. John 3:16; Revelation 21:27)
When believers (God’s children) go to heaven, they’ll turn into angels. FALSE (Angels will remain angels. People will remain people. See next question.)
Believers will receive new bodies. TRUE (Philippians 3:21—they’ll be indestructible. We don’t know what they’ll look like, but they’re going to be cool. 1 Corinthians 15:51–53; 2 Corinthians 5:1)
Believers will float on clouds and play harps all day. FALSE (That sounds kind of boring, doesn’t it? But heaven won’t be boring! It will be the opposite of boring—forever. We will have work we love, people we love, and especially the Lord, who we will love and enjoy forever.)
The sun will shine brighter in heaven than it does on earth. FALSE (There will be no more need for lights like the sun, moon, and stars, but it won’t be dark. God will light it up with his presence. Revelation 21:23, 22:5)
There will be no more crying, pain, or suffering. TRUE (Sin is what brings crying, pain, and death. There will be no more sin, so there will be no more bad and sad stuff. Say Revelation 21:4 together.)
We’ll eat food. TRUE (There won’t be hunger pains or starvation, but we will eat. Revelation 19:9, 22:2)
We won’t recognize each other. FALSE (We’ll be able to recognize each other, just as Peter and John recognized Jesus, Moses, and Elijah in their transfigured bodies.)
We most likely will have jobs. TRUE (In the garden of Eden, Adam and Eve had jobs that were the perfect jobs for them and were enjoyable and fulfilling. Nowadays, because of sin, our jobs can be stressful and unpleasant at times. But in heaven, we’ll probably have jobs that will be wonderful and something we love.)
There will be mansions, amazing music, lots of incredible food, and crystal-clear water. TRUE (The Bible describes all these things, so we know they’ll be there. John 14:2; Revelation 14:3, 19:6–9, 22:1)
Animals in heaven will be fighting and killing each other. FALSE (All the animals will get along. The Bible tells us the wolf and the lamb will be together, and a young child will play over a cobra’s hole. Isaiah 11:6–9) 
There may be talking creatures. TRUE (We don’t know this for sure, but it is possible. Revelation 4:8–9, 5:13, 8:13. The Bible speaks of a talking serpent in the garden of Eden and a talking donkey. We will find out!)
We can’t even imagine how amazing heaven will be. TRUE (It will be even more amazing than God’s original creation. Luke 23:43; 1 Corinthians 2:9. Will there be many more colors? Different fruits? Different animals? We don’t know, but we do know it will be beyond our wildest imaginations.)
We’ll do creative things in heaven. TRUE (God is the most creative of all, so we, being made in his image, will do creative things too.)
 Revelation tells us God has a book called the Book of People that has all believers’ names written in it. FALSE (There is a book mentioned in Revelation in which all believers’ names are written, but it’s called the Book of Life. If you’re a believer, your name is in it. If you aren’t, your name isn’t in it. Revelation 21:27) 
Our pets may go to heaven. TRUE (The Bible doesn’t directly say. We do know there will be animals in heaven, such as the white horse mentioned in Revelation. But we don’t know if our pets will be there. Either way, we’ll be perfectly happy. And there are other things we don’t know about heaven. What we know is found in the Bible. That’s our source—not what people imagine in their minds that it is. But we know for sure it’s going to be wonderful beyond description.)
We’ll be with God forever, worshipping him. TRUE (That will be the best part. Think of your favorite person to be with. God is infinitely better, and you’ll love every moment with him! Revelation 7:9–10)
Part 3: Daily Review (5 minutes)

Day 5 Animal Pal Poster
7 C’s Maps, 1 per person

 Share the Day 5 Animal Pal Poster to summarize today’s teaching. Or, if you have time, use the following questions (and more you make up) to use in a review game. 
Today’s animal pal is a bird-wing butterfly. What color is his body and what does that color remind you of? Take responses. His name is Bliss. What does bliss mean? Take responses. What does his name have to do with the new heaven and new earth? Take responses. Why is it a butterfly, do you think? Take responses. Look at what the bird-wing butterfly looks like before becoming a butterfly. Point out the caterpillar on the poster. How does this remind you of our bodies here on earth and what our new bodies will be like on the new earth? Take responses. What’s something you learned about the new heaven and new earth that you’re amazed about? Take responses and remind them that earth started out all good and God will again make it all good. In the meantime, the earth now has sad and bad in it. But God has made a way for us to have hope and joy while we live here and then to live forever with him. God wins!
Pass out the maps and have the kids add today’s sticker. They can take them home today.
Apply It!
In the remaining class time, complete one or more of the following ideas. These are also on the Primary Student Guides and can be done at home with a parent or caretaker if you are out of time.
Supplies for this section are not included in the supply list on the back cover since they will vary depending on the activities you choose, so decide what you will do and add them to your supply list accordingly.
Part 1: Memory Verse

Day 5 Memory Verse Poster 
Optional: Student Guides and supplies
Optional: Follow-up Bible study and/or bookmarks

 Today’s Verse: He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away. Revelation 21:4
Note: You may want to show them the follow-up Bible study or bookmarks that are available if you plan to give these out.
Practice the verse several times, using the Day 5 Memory Verse Poster as a reference, then try the following challenge.
Challenge: Make up actions that go with each section of today’s verse. Do them while saying the whole verse. 
Part 2: Go and Do
Read Revelation 21–22 and think about how the new heaven and new earth will be even more fabulous than we can ever imagine. What new things might there be?
Talk to somebody about what they think heaven will be like. There are lots of ideas out there about heaven, but where should we go to find out what it’s really going to be like?
Talk to God about whether your name is written in God’s Book of Life. Remember—it won’t be there because you try to be a “good” person, but because you have believed in Jesus and trusted him with your life.
Check AnswersVBS.com/junglekids for more fun information! 
Ask yourself these questions: What is something God has taught me this week at VBS? What’s a way I can honor God?