God Made Everything! Color Book

EDITED March 1, 2014:  A printable version is now available at The Activity Mom!  Be sure to check it out!

I have been brainstorming a while for some creative ideas to teach Bible truths to Sophie, even at such a young age.  I wanted to make sure that I was speaking truths about God as often as I was telling her that something was red, blue, yellow, or green.  I knew that in order for me to be consistent with it I was going to have to be intentional and have a plan.

For several weeks I've been using "God Made Everything" as a Bible theme to talk about with Sophie.  I figure this is a pretty concrete idea for her considering we see all the things that God made all around us every day!

As a way to have activities for this theme and tie it to our weekly(ish) colors, I decided we were going to make a God Made Everything color book.  For each color we explore, I'll pick something that God created to help her remember that color.  So far, we have red ladybugs, blue water, yellow sun, and green trees.   I am trying to choose things that we might encounter pretty regularly (although as we get into more challenging colors we'll have to branch out more).

The pages are simple.  I am SO not an artist.  I got my inspiration from online coloring pages (links below) and made images as simply as I could.  The words are repetitive and simple.  For example, "God made red ladybugs.  God made everything!" Then, during our day when we need a crafty distraction, Sophie will decorate the pages, either with her do-a-dot paints, crayons, or finger paint.  I laminated the pages, had Sophie help me make a cover, and tied it all together with ribbon for now.  Eventually I may spiral bind it, but we have many more colors to explore and add first!

I also made a piece for her flannel board for each of these objects.  These stay on her board all week and we talk about all the things God made.  I ask her if she can find certain items and she enjoys putting them on and off the board.

Most importantly, we talk about these things and look for them during our day.  When we go outside and see the green trees, I talk to Sophie about how God made the green trees.  We go touch leaves and tree trunks and count trees in our neighbors yard.  I try to bring everything back to the idea that God made everything.  It has been really good for me to have a focus to share with her.

Check out one way we use the book during Tot School during Orange Week.

It would be easy to do a similar book for shapes, animals, alphabet, or numbers.

Feel free to use my cover to make your own version of the book!
(After I made mine I decided vertical stripes would be cuter - so the printable has vertical stripes instead of horizontal!)

Here's a close up of the pages, flannel board pieces, and links to the coloring pages I used for inspiration and templates.

Red Ladybug

Blue Water 

(I didn't really have a pattern for this one...I just made some waves!)

Yellow Sun

Green Trees

Orange Fish (added 8/10/13)

Purple Flower (Added 8/17/13)

Rainbow (Added 9/8/13)
(PS. Drawing a rainbow is harder than it looks - don't judge!  Never claimed to be an artist! ;))

Pink Pig (Added 9/20/13)

Brown Bear (Added 10/4/13)

I'm excited to read this with Sophie as we continue to add pages!

For tons more ideas be sure to visit these sites I'm linking to this week!
Theology Thursdays at My Teacher's Name is Mama

Tot School Gathering Place at 1+1+1=1 

Tot School Tuesday at See Vanessa Craft
Tuesday Tots at Rainy Day Mum
Link and Learn at No Time for Flashcards
Show and Share Saturday Link Up at I Can Teach My Child

Titus 2sday at Time Warp Wife

Trivium Tuesday at Living and Learning at Home

Tender Moments with Toddlers and Preschoolers at The Chaos and the Clutter 
Sunday Showcase at Learn Play Imagine