Summer provides the perfect opportunity to explore God’s creation with children! Encourage people of all ages in your congregation to spend time outdoors together. Share ideas and activities that will help them notice the beauty and abundance of the created world and cultivate a spirit of wonder and gratitude. Get them started with the ideas below.
- Read or memorize verses from Psalm 104 together.
- Prepare a nature table in your home to display small objects found in nature during the summer, such as shells, sand dollars, stones, nests, honeycomb, pine cones, branches, leaves, and flowers. Include a magnifying glass on the table and spend time examining the objects.
- Create a “Snap and Go” Photo Journal to record summer memories. As you travel and participate in activities this summer, be on the lookout for striking landscapes or ordinary items of beauty in nature and snap a photo. At the end of the summer, create a collection of these nature photos to remind you of the wonders of God’s creation. Invite families to share their photos and create a slide show to use during worship at the end of the summer.
- Say a prayer together at the beginning of each day: “Help me, O God, to live peaceably with all creation. Amen.”
- Introduce the spiritual practice of listening that can be done outdoors or indoors. Find a place to sit quietly and listen to the sounds around you for several minutes. Name the sounds you hear and what made the sounds. Or make a guess if you don’t know what is making the sound! Say a prayer, thanking God for all that is around you.
- Read Isaiah 65:17–25. Think of the most peaceful place for you in your home or yard. Take a tour. Each family member guides the others to their own peaceful place. Why and when is it peaceful at this chosen place? If you wish, draw a picture of this peaceful place.
Resources for Families
Consider sharing Shine’s “Follow the Peace Path: Peace with Creation” Cards with families in your congregation. This deck of 52 cards follows the “Peace with Creation” Peace Path found in The Peace Table: A Storybook Bible and is packed with ideas for families to do together! These cards can be used around the table at mealtime, in the car traveling to or from activities, or as an easy-to-pack resource for vacations or long trips. The deck includes three “Let’s Pray” Cards with interactive prayer activities and three “Let’s Play” Cards with instructions for three simple card games that parents and children can play together. These cards are a great way to provide parents and caregivers an easy and fun faith formation resource to use at home!
For families who are not able to travel during the summer, create a summer resource shelf filled with books that take children on an imaginary journey into the outdoors and emphasize the beauty of creation. Share a list of picture books, such as the list below, or purchase some books for your church library and make them available for families to check out.
- When God Made the World by Matthew Paul Turner
- The Hike by Allison Farrell
- Let’s Go on a Hike by Katrina Liu
- What in the World? by Nancy Raines
- We’re Going on a Nature Hunt by Steve Metzger
- What’s in Your Pocket? Collecting Nature’s Treasures by Heather L. Montgomery
- Stand Like a Cedar by Nicola I. Campbell
