Review

The Ice Age

• How many of you have seen movies about the ice age? Show of hands.

  Some movies about the ice age are really silly, aren’t they? They show animals that talk and act like people.

• Do you think the animals could really talk? No!
• Do animals really act like people? No.

  Of course not! You know some of the things in the movies about the ice age are not true. Someone just made them up. They don’t tell the whole truth about the ice age.

  But God’s Word helps us understand that there was only ONE real ice age that happened after the worldwide flood.

The Earth Was Changed

So let’s start with the Bible, and see what it tells us about how the flood changed the world and caused the ice age.

Refer to the Lesson Flip Chart Picture #1. First, the Bible says that when the flood started, the fountains of the great deep BURST forth! These “fountains” came from deep down in the earth through giant cracks. Water spewed out from the oceans and below the oceans and covered the earth like giant fountains. Let’s do a motion for these fountains to help us remember. Hold up three fingers like a W (for "water") by your chin and bring down in front of you. Bring fists together then open hands and move upward like a fountain spraying up and out. “Bloosh! Bloosh!” Do the motion together.

• Okay. Who has the Bible? Please bring it up. Make this a special time as the student brings the Bible and opens it to where the sticky note is. Show the students where the book is in your Bible. Let them look at it. Carry it around your circle.

  Now listen to something else that happened at the same time. Read Genesis 7:12.

• • Reread the verses as necessary so the students can hear the answers straight from God’s Word!
  Refer to the Lesson Flip Chart Picture #2. The Bible says something very wet fell from the sky. What was that? Rain.

  Yes. It rained for 40 days and 40 nights! That’s a long time for it to rain. Let’s do a motion for rain. Lift hands above your head and wiggle fingers as you pull your arms down. “Plop, plop, plop!” Do the motion together.

  Refer to Lesson Flip Chart. So, water was exploding up from below (do fountain motion), and water was pouring down from above (do rain motion). Water was everywhere! After a long time, the water dried up, and Noah and his family and the animals finally got to come out of the ark. The flood was over.

  Refer to Lesson Flip Chart Picture #3. But things were different on the earth now. When the fountains of the deep burst out, the land started to move and break up! And that made something else happen—volcanoes! Let’s do a motion for a volcano. Start with hands open, palms down in front of you at shoulder height. Spread hands apart and down then back up like showing a mountain shape. Next bring one hand up in front of you and move the other hand up through the thumb and forefinger of the first hand. Spread your fingers as they go up and through, like lava exploding. “Kaboom!” Do the motion together

• Show pictures you brought of volcanoes. Here are some pictures of volcanoes. What happens when a volcano erupts, or explodes? Do you know? Allow discussion.

  When volcanoes explode, they can shoot out super-hot melted rock and tons of ash.

  So after the flood ended, volcanoes exploded all around the world, shooting ash into the sky. The ash blocked the sunshine and made the air very cold. We can all do a motion for that. Hold arms up close in front of you and bent at the elbows. Make fists. Shake fists quickly as if shivering. "Brrrr!" Do the motion together.

  Refer to the Flip Chart Picture #4. When the air outside gets really cold and there’s no sunshine, what might start falling from the clouds that’s soft and white? Snow.

• Show pictures you brought of snow. That’s right. It starts to snow! Look at these pictures of snow. Do you like snow? Allow discussion.

  Well, way back after the flood when all these things were happening, it started to snow—A LOT! It snowed and snowed and snowed, year after year.

  Refer to the Flip Chart Picture #5. It stayed so cold that the snow didn’t get a chance to melt. So a large part of the world was covered in snow and ice. We call this the ice age. And that’s why there was one ice age after the worldwide flood.

Animals of the Ice Age

Something that’s fun to think about when we’re talking about the ice age is all the different animals that we know were alive then. It was very cold, but some of the animals were fat and furry and that helped keep them warm.

• • Point out each animal on the Flip Chart as you continue.
  Refer to the Flip Chart. Have you ever heard of the woolly mammoth? What does it look like? An elephant.

  It looks a lot like an elephant, but the woolly mammoth was hairy and huge! It had thick, warm fur and long tusks! It stood about nine feet tall and could weigh as much as five tons! That’s big—as big as a pickup truck!

• Do you know the name of this big cat? Saber-toothed tiger, or cat.

  The saber-toothed tiger could grow to weigh up to 600 pounds (that’s heavier than a lion!), and it had two long teeth that stuck out of its mouth.

  Another amazing animal from the ice age is called the Glyptodon. This animal was kind of like the armadillo, but a lot bigger! He could grow to be as big as a small car and weigh 2,000 pounds!

  There were many other really big and really different animals all around the world during the ice age. The Bible doesn’t tell us why they were so big or what happened to them. But we do know that many of them have gone extinct—that means they have all died. We also know from God’s Word that they did NOT live millions of years ago! It makes much more sense to say they lived during the one great ice age that happened after the flood, just about 4,000 years ago.

  So, the ice age was real! These animals were real. That’s fun to think about, isn’t it? The Bible helps us understand that there really was one ice age because of what happened during the flood.

Review

The Ice Age

• How many of you have seen movies about the ice age? Show of hands.

  Some movies about the ice age are really silly, aren’t they? They show animals that talk and act like people.

• Do you think the animals could really talk? No!
• Do animals really act like people? No.

  Of course not! You know some of the things in the movies about the ice age are not true. Someone just made them up. They don’t tell the whole truth about the ice age.

  Some people even say there were many ice ages over millions of years! But we know from God’s Word that couldn’t be true. God’s Word helps us understand that there was ONE real ice age after the worldwide flood, and it was only about 4,000 years ago.

The Earth Was Changed

We’ll go back to the time when the flood first started. Listen carefully! Read Genesis 7:11 emphasizing “fountains of the great deep burst forth.”

• • Reread the verses as necessary so the students can hear the answers straight from God’s Word!
  What happened to the fountains of the great deep? They burst forth!

  Refer to the Lesson Flip Chart Picture #1. Wow! When the flood started, the fountains of the great deep BURST! These “fountains” came from deep down in the earth through giant cracks. Water spewed out from the oceans and below the oceans to cover the earth like giant fountains. Let’s do a motion for these fountains. Hold up three fingers like a W (for "water") by your chin and bring down in front of you. Bring fists together then open hands and move upward like a fountain spraying up and out. “Bloosh! Bloosh!” Do the motion together.

Okay . Now listen to something else that happened at the same time. Read Genesis 7:12.

• Refer to the Lesson Flip Chart Picture #2. The Bible says the windows of heaven were opened and something very wet fell from the sky. What was that? Rain.

  Yes. Let’s do a motion for rain. Lift hands above your head with palms down and fingers spread. Keep arms still but move hands up and down three times like rain falling down. “Plop! Plop! Plop!” Do the motion together.

• How long did it rain? 40 days and 40 nights.

  It rained for 40 days and 40 nights! That’s a long time for it to rain. So water was exploding up from below (do fountain motion), and water was pouring down from above (do rain motion). Water was everywhere!

• But where was Noah while all this was happening? Safe on the ark.

  After a long time, the water dried up. The whole flood lasted over a year! Noah and his family and the animals finally got to come out of the ark. The flood was over.

  Refer to Lesson Flip Chart Picture #3. But things were different on the earth. When the fountains of the deep burst out, the land on the earth moved—it began to shift and break up! And that made something else happen—volcanoes! Let’s do a motion for a volcano. Start with hands open, palms down in front of you at shoulder height. Spread hands apart and down then back up like showing a mountain shape. Next bring one hand up in front of you and move the other hand up through the thumb and forefinger of the first hand. Spread your fingers as they go up and through, like lava exploding. “Kaboom!” Do the motion together.

• Show pictures you brought of volcanoes. Here are some pictures of volcanoes. What happens when a volcano erupts, or explodes? Do you know? Allow discussion.

  When volcanoes explode, they can shoot out super-hot magma (that’s another word for hot, melted rock) and tons of ash.

  So after the flood ended, volcanoes exploded all around the world. Some were under the ocean pouring hot melted rock into the water. And some were on the land—shooting ash into the sky.

• If there was a lot of hot, melted rock in the ocean, what would happen to the water? Would it get warmer or colder? It would get warmer.
• And if there was a lot of ash in the air, blocking out the sun, would the air get hot or cold? It would get cold.

  Right. The sun helps keep the earth warm, but if it gets blocked, the air turns cold. We can all do a motion for that. Hold arms up close in front of you and bent at the elbows. Make fists. Shake fists quickly as if shivering. "Brrrr!" Do the motion together.

• Refer to the Flip Chart Picture #4. When the air outside gets really cold and there is no sunshine, what might start falling from the clouds that’s soft and white? Snow.
• Show pictures you brought of snow. That’s right. It starts to snow! Look at these pictures of snow. Do you like snow? Allow discussion.

  After the flood when the water was warm and the volcanoes were exploding and the sunlight was blocked, it started to snow—A LOT! It snowed and snowed and snowed, year after year.

  Refer to the Flip Chart Picture #5. It stayed so cold that the snow kept piling up because it didn’t get a chance to melt. So a large part of the world was covered in snow and ice. We call this the ice age. And that’s why there was one ice age after the worldwide flood.

Animals of the Ice Age

Something that’s fun to think about when we’re talking about the ice age is all the different animals that we know were alive then. The freezing weather of the ice age made it very hard for animals to live. But some of them were fat and furry, and that helped keep them warm against the cold. Let’s talk about some of these animals.

• • Point out each animal on the Flip Chart as you continue.
  Refer to the Flip Chart. Have you ever heard of the woolly mammoth? What does it look like? An elephant.

  It looks a lot like an elephant. The woolly mammoth was woolly, or hairy, and it was mammoth, which means it was huge! It had thick, warm fur and long tusks! It stood about nine feet tall and could weigh as much as five tons! That’s big—as big as a pickup truck!

• Do you know the name of this big cat? Saber-toothed tiger, or cat.

  The saber-toothed tiger could grow to weigh up to 600 pounds (that’s heavier than a lion!), and it had two long teeth that stuck out of its mouth.

  Another amazing animal from the ice age is something called the Glyptodon. This animal was kind of like the armadillo, but a lot bigger! He could grow to be as big as a small car and weigh 2,000 pounds!

  Wow! These animals were really huge weren’t they? People have found fossils of the bones from these animals, so we know they were real. There were many other really big and really different animals all around the world during the ice age.

  The Bible doesn’t tell us why they were so big or what happened to them. But we do know that many of them have gone extinct—that means they have all died. We also know from God’s Word that they did NOT live millions of years ago! It makes much more sense to say they lived during the one great ice age that happened after the flood, just about 4,000 years ago.

  So, the ice age was real! These animals were real. That’s fun to think about, isn’t it? The Bible helps us understand that there really was an ice age because of what happened during the flood.