Genesis 3 - The Fall of Adam and Eve Quiet Book Page

In Genesis chapter 3, Adam and Eve eat from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil.

Memory Verse: Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?” Genesis 3:1

Materials needed to create The Fall of Adam and Eve quiet book page:

• A4 felt background sheet. I used sky blue.
• felt scraps
• sewing thread to match
• fabric paint (optional)
• sew on press studs
• a pipe cleaner
• two black seed beads
• thin ribbon scrap
• a tree of the knowledge good and evil template - I used this wall hanging from Wee Folk Art
• a tree of life template - I used the Autumn Oak Applique pattern also from Wee Folk Art
• a printer / scanner
• a laminator and lamination sheets or iron on transfer paper/sublimation printing and white stiffened felt

Image Source

For the Adam and Eve finger puppets, I used the workbook Bible Stories by Twin Sisters Productions, 2005. I printed and cut out around the outside of the puppets, but left the finger holes uncut, then laminated them. After laminating, I cut around each finger puppet again, and cut out the finger holes. I used a single craft hole punch to make a hole in the finger slots so I could get the scissors in. If you want them made from felt, you could use transfer paper and white stiffened felt, or have them sublimation printed onto felt and then back them with stiffened felt.

On your background sheet, arrange some green felt in the foreground to make grass and sew down.

Cut out a double layer of darker green felt in the shape of a bush. Decorate one piece with fabric paint flowers (or use flower buttons etc). Sew one side of two press studs to the back of the bush piece so they will fit between the finger holes of the finger puppets. Sew the two bush pieces together. Then sew the bush down in about the middle of the foreground along the bottom edge. Sew the other half of the two press studs to the background sheet so they line up with their respective studs on the bush. This is how you will store the finger puppets and stop them falling out of the quiet book when not in use.

Print and cut out your tree templates. You may have to reduce the size to make sure it fits to your page (sorry I can't remember whether I did or not as I made this page quite a while ago). I definitely reduced the size of the tree of life template so I could create a peek-a-boo flap. I didn't want the tree of life to seem boring compared to the tree of knowledge of good and evil! I just used one of the sections but straightened out one edge and turned it upside down. Use doubled felt for the flaps to strengthen them. Sew fruit down underneath the flaps.

For the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, sew down your leaf sections first. Double the felt for the trunk and sew it down to the page along the trunk and outer tips of the branches. This way you can weave the snake in and out.

The snake was made by sewing a circle of brown felt folded back and forth between two thin strips of felt. I inserted a ribbon at the end for a tongue. Before sewing together completely at the opposite end, I inserted a pipe cleaner to allow the snake to bend and keep it's shape. It was difficult to get the pipe cleaner past the frill, but I got it eventually. Sew on two black seed beads for the eyes.

Finished!

Difficulty Level = Difficult

The snake was quite difficult as I wanted it to be thin - which made inserting the pipe cleaner hard. You could simplify it by leaving off the winged frill on the snake, using a small toy snake, or making this Pipe Cleaner Craft: Beaded Snake by Kids Activities instead. If I had found this idea before making the snake I might have saved myself a fair bit of bother.

Key Learning Areas and Skills

• Genesis 3 - This page tells the story of how sin entered the world
• Imaginative Play - our Adam and Eve like to play peek-a-boo
• Press Studs - apples and Adam and Eve get held behind the bush for storage with press studs
• Finger Puppets - your fingers are Adam and Eve's legs!
• Peek-a-boo - lift the flap to discover fruit on the Tree of Life
• Weaving - the snake can be woven through the branches of the tree of knowledge of good and evil
• Fine Motor Skills - all quiet books encourage fine motor skill development
• Hand-eye Co-ordination - all quiet books encourage hand-eye co-ordination

Eve giving Adam the apple...

Read the Chapter

Genesis 3

Devotional

The first lie is still believed today. No-one wants to think they are going to die forever. The snake said "you shall not surely die" but God said "The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life" (Romans 6:23). The gift is only given to the righteous. The dead know not anything (Ecclesiastes 9:5).

It is a misnomer that the righteous go to Heaven when they die. The righteous go to Heaven after the resurrection, when Jesus returns with His reward (Isaiah 40:10, Revelation 22:12). Heaven is not the reward - He is not bringing Heaven with Him. Eternal life is. Until then, Jesus refers to the dead as 'sleeping'. The belief in immediate Heaven and Hell following death entered the church with the conversion of Gentile (often Greek) people who brought their ideas from Greek mythology with them.

It would be unjust for punishment to precede judgement - and God will leave no avenue open for Satan to appeal against His justice system.

Adam and Eve - Song for the Kids

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Genesis 28 - Jacob's Ladder Quiet Book Page

In Genesis chapter 28, God appears to Jacob in a dream at the top of a ladder stretching from Heaven to Earth, upon which angels are ascending and descending, and promises to bless him.

Memory verse: "I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.” Genesis 28:15.

Materials needed to create the Jacob's Ladder quiet book page:

• A4 felt background sheet in a dark colour. I used navy.
• felt scraps, in skin colour, grey, dark brown, mid brown, and red
• 36 angel beads, make sure the hole goes through them horizontally not vertically - I used these, you could also use these (not affiliate links)
• yellow or gold ribbon/s
• sewing thread to match each colour of ribbon and felt
• a sleeping Jacob template - I used this colouring page from azcolouing.com

Cut out the template as a complete Jacob and position it at the bottom of your sheet of felt. Cut two lengths of your ladder side ribbons and burn the ends so they do not fray. Position them so the ends will be underneath the template of Jacob and run off the upper edge of the page. You can tuck them in when you sew the pages back to back to make a book. Pin the ribbons in place temporarily. Cut eight lengths of your rung ribbons to fit the width of the ladder and burn the ends so they do not fray. String on your angel beads, one on the highest rung ribbon, two on the second and so forth until you have eight on the lowest ribbon. Pin the ribbons so they are evenly spaced and the ends will lie underneath the ladder side ribbons. You can remove the ladder side ribbons, then sew down the rung ribbon ends. Re-position your side ribbons and sew in place.

Cut out each section of Jacob to use as a pattern out of a new template (you will have to print it out about 3 times):

1. torso, adding a small allowance along the edges that will be covered by his blanket, arm and face
2. blanket
3. face, adding a small allowance to what will be covered by his hair and the rock
4. hair, forget about the ear, just make his hair follow it's course had their been no ear sticking out, add a small allowance for what will be covered by the rock
5. rock
6. arm

Sew each piece down in the order listed above, matching your threads to your chosen colours. Use the complete Jacob template to make it easier to line up the pieces. 

Finished!

Difficulty Level = Intermediate

This page is rather easy, but things can go wrong, particularly when sewing down the ribbons which house the angel beads. Try to get it tight so the angel beads don't hang down, but sit straight on the page.

Key Learning Areas and Skills

• Genesis 28 - This page tells the story of Jacob's ladder, where God appeared to Jacob in a dream and reassured him that the promises of land and descendants given to Abraham and Issac would be fulfilled through his line
• Counting - count the angel beads
• Directions - up, down, left, right - flip the angels so they are ascending or descending the ladder, and move the angels left or right across the ribbon
• Gematria - the meaning of the number eight in scripture. See the devotional section below
• Angels - there are different types of angels - archangels, seraphim, cherubim, guardian, etc
• Fine Motor Skills - all quiet books encourage fine motor skill development
• Hand-eye Co-ordination - all quiet books encourage hand-eye co-ordination

Read the Chapter

Genesis 28

Devotional

In the previous chapter of Genesis, Jacob has just stolen his brother's blessing, not to be confused with his brother's birthright which he willingly sold to Jacob in Genesis 25. He now has to run for fear of his life. His father sends him to his mother's family in search of a Godly wife, and on the way, Jacob has this dream. I assume Jacob was feeling rather guilty and unworthy of the blessing he has just stolen, and God takes pity on him and reassures him that he is the one who will fulfill His purposes.

I have a feeling that Jacob desired to be chosen by God so badly that he was willing to steal to get it. I can relate to this because I wanted to be baptized so badly that I was willing to lie in order to have it happen. I do not fully agree with all the tenets of my denomination, but I said I did in order to get baptized. Looking back, I can see many ways to get around this issue, and indeed, you no longer need to pledge all these things prior to baptism. But I can definitely relate to Jacob's situation here, and I guess it is encouraging to see God's response!

I chose to have eight rungs on the ladder. The number eight in scripture has to do with new beginnings, and I suppose that is just what Jacob is getting here. Also, the gematria of Jesus is 888. I am not talking about numerology, but numbers in scripture can deepen your understanding of the plain text. Of course, it can be taken too far... You can read about the relationship of Hebrew and Greek letters and words to their numeric values (similar to Roman numerals) in this brief article on gematria by Matt Slick on the Christian Apologetics and Research Ministry website.

As I mentioned earlier, the ladder represents Jesus (John 1:50-51), and I will refer you to this very short but very good explanation by LaVista Church of Christ.

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Have you met Jesus in your dreams?

Genesis 15 - Abraham can you count the stars? Quiet Book Page

In Genesis chapter 15, God promises Abraham that his decedents will be like the stars in number - uncountable!  I tried to make the stars on this quiet book page uncountable too.

Memory verse: "He took him outside and said, “Look up at the sky and count the stars—if indeed you can count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.”Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness." Genesis 15:5,6.

Materials needed to create the Abraham can you count the stars? quiet book page:

• A4 felt background sheet in a dark colour. I used black.
• star die-cut felt sheet in blue - available from Spotlight stores or Arbee online.
• multi-coloured star buttons in mixed colours - as many as you can get your hands on
• sewing thread
• a star template - I used this star template from smallpersonalbiz.com

Choose a few star sizes and shapes from the template. Make sure to include the six-pointed star of David, because both David and our Messiah, Jesus, were Abraham's descendents. Cut them out of the star die-cut felt and arrange them on the page. Sew them down.

Arrange the star buttons on the page. I used pins through the holes in the buttons to anchor them where I wanted them. Sew them on. I set my sewing machine to a stitch length of zero and put it on the zig zag setting. Then I adjusted the stitch width until it was the right size to fit my buttons. I found it much quicker to sew them on like this rather than by hand, which would have taken ages. For newer sewing machines, you can buy a button foot especially for this purpose.

Finished!

Difficulty Level = Easy

This page is rather easy, and although it may seem fairly non-interactive, it is! 

Key Learning Areas and Skills

• Genesis 15 - This page is supposed to illustrate the difficulty in counting the stars, just as God wanted to assure Abraham that it would be that difficult to count his promised future offspring. Also, believing God is counted as righteousness!
• Counting - Younger children can count the star buttons. The die-cut stars make the page more difficult as the child grows. And because some of the die-cut stars get cut in half when cutting the felt into star shapes, it makes it really hard to count the number of stars accurately. Also, many of them are hidden behind the star buttons. 
• Star shapes - stars shapes can have different numbers of points
• Colours and star colours - make sure you use different coloured star buttons for this learning area. Stars are also classified by colour, which is related to their temperature. Find a chart and some other star classification activities for the older child here on hmxearthscience.com.
• Fine Motor Skills - all quiet books encourage fine motor skill development
• Hand-eye Co-ordination - all quiet books encourage hand-eye co-ordination

Read the Chapter

Genesis 15

Devotional

The covenant ceremony described in this chapter that takes place between God and Abraham was a very common ceremony used in the middle east back then to "cut" a covenant. Both parties were supposed to walk in the blood between the animals.  However, God did not ask Abraham to walk, and instead walked twice Himself. If you can't guess, this is a foreshadow of the cross and how Jesus would pay the price in His own blood for our side of the covenant that we couldn't keep.  For an excellent and brief explanation, read my fellow bloggers post Walking the Bloodpath by Marty Solomon from Covered In His Dust.

Also in this chapter, God predicts that Abraham's decedents would be so-journers and slaves for four hundred years in a foreign county (Egypt) after which time, they would be given the land God promised to Abraham. Genesis 15 helps set the scene for the next book in the Bible, Exodus.

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Which star represents you?