God made me

Here are some ideas for each page of the book:

1. I have two hands. God made my hands.

• As this is the first book in the series, we start with ‘God made me’. And on this first page, we begin with “God made my hands”. We are being very specific and talking of the body part they probably see the most. Over the coming pages we will introduce different body parts.
• Lots of babies discover their hands, and learn to use their hands before other body parts (eg. sucking fingers, holding a rattle, touching, picking things up etc).
• Have fun looking at hands and counting hands. Maybe even tickling the palms of their hands.

2. I can clap with my hands. Thank you God that I can do lots of things with my hands.

• With really young children you can hold their hands and help them clap.
• At some time during the day you could play some music or sing a song and your child can clap with you to the music.
• Throughout the day bring attention to what your child is doing with their hands and comment (eg. “Look how you can… pick up the blocks, hold your sandwich, hold your cup… with your hands”).
• Here we introduce ‘Thank you God’. You could say a simple prayer thanking God for what one or two things they can do with their hands.

3. God made all my fingers too. I have ten fingers!

• This is a photo for a laugh. It’s also a celebration of fun and creativity!
• Count your child’s fingers, touching each one as you count them.
• I know paints are messy, but if you think you can cope (and your child is not too little) it’s great if you can give your child ‘easily washable paints’ (and don’t dress them in good clothes while they paint).
• Or alternatively, crayons or pencils for your child to draw (‘scribble’ for the really young ones). Whichever you choose, it’s wonderful to give your child an opportunity to be creative.
• Point to their hands and fingers when they first hold the brush/crayon/pencil saying that God made their hands and their fingers.

4. I have two feet and God made them.

• Talk to your child about what they can do with their feet.
• If your child is a really little one, when they are lying down touch their feet, count their feet, tickle their feet etc.
• When putting socks and/or shoes on their feet, you can say something like “Where do socks go? Socks go on your feet. One sock on one foot and one sock on your other foot. God made this foot and God made that foot.”

5. I have two arms and two legs. God made them too.

• Stretch your arms up high. Can your child copy you?
• If your child is very young, you can hold their hands and lift their arms in the air. Then say something like “God made your arms. Your arms are up high.” Then their arms can be down low. They can go out to the side, in front of them, behind them.
• And their legs? Really little ones might just be standing and crawling. Bigger ones can try jumping, walking, marching, running, hopping, dancing etc
• You could play a game of “can you do what I’m doing?”.

6. God also made my elbows and my knees and my ankles.

• Now we get to the tricky ones (why include elbows and ankles? More challenging to touch them and, by learning what they are, it prepares them for an action rhyme coming up!).
• You don’t need to say these for the really little ones - instead, as your child’s concentration and vocabulary grows, you could just say something like “Look he’s crawling”, “There are his hands”, “There are his feet”, “God made his hands”, “God made his feet”, “There are his arms - God made his arms”, “There are his legs - God made his legs”.
• Then introduce your child to elbows, knees, and ankles, one at a time (over time) by pointing and naming them on your child (and you) and then the child in the photo. And eventually you can read the text on the page.
• With this photo, it’s quite fun to look at the child in the photo and point to the body parts that are on the floor. You can then point to (and name) your child’s body parts when they are crawling.
• You could also take a photo of your child crawling, show it to your child, talk about their body parts and use that as a way of learning/reinforcing elbows, knees and ankles, and the fact that God made them.
• For older children, you could play a game of “Can you touch your… ” (“elbows”, “knees” or “ankles”) and your child touches the appropriate part. It’s fun to go from standing with arms at their side to touching elbows (if they can), bending for knees and bending even lower for ankles. Or you could play it sitting down. At the end of such a game, sometimes you can say “God made your elbows, knees and ankles” or “We can thank God for making your elbows, your knees and your ankles”.

7. Thank you God for my hands, my feet, my arms, my legs, my elbows, my knees and my ankles! I can use them to walk and jump and dance.

• This page is a bit of a mouthful to read. For the really little ones, say as little of the text as you want to (or rather, should I say, as much of the text as they can handle).
• Although the first sentence is a long one to read to a very young child, you could say it while pointing to their own body parts—thus they engage in more active listening.
• It’s a fun page just to look at.
• You can play a game as you look at (and point to) the child in the book, like “Can you point to…” (walking, jumping, dancing). And if you put the book down, “Can you show me… walking, jumping, dancing?” (say whichever your child can do). If they are too young to do any, maybe you or a sibling can show walking, jumping and dancing.
• You and your child can have fun together - dance together, creep and crawl together and (if you are up to it) jump together etc.
• Pray thanking God.

8. I also have two eyes, two ears, one mouth and one nose. God made them too!

• This page is for a laugh - can your child make a funny face like that? For a very young child, you can make the funny face.
• On a more serious note, children can point to (not in!) their eyes, ears, mouth and nose.
• If your child is old enough, you could play a little game saying, “God made your…” and the child finishes your sentence with “eyes, ears, mouth or nose” and points to the one that they say. Or they just point and you say what they pointed to.
• There are lots of conversations to be had (and “thank you God” prayers) about what your child can see, hear, taste/eat and smell. See the next pages…
• Helping children discover their senses is a fun thing to do together. And it can be done over and over again with different senses, different things, different tastes etc. You can sometimes say “Isn’t God clever to make your eyes (or ears, or mouth, or nose) so you can…”.

9. With my eyes I can see and with my ears I can hear.

• You can also say things like (here are a few examples, the possibilities are endless):
• “I can see a big tree. Can you see the tree? We can see it with our eyes.”
• “God made that bird. Can you hear the bird singing? We can hear it with our ears.”
• “With my eyes I can see a butterfly. Can you see the butterfly? God made that butterfly.”
• “God made my eyes. And with my eyes I can see you!”
• “God made your ears so you can hear. Can you hear someone singing?”

10. With my mouth I can eat and talk. And with my nose I can smell.

• Mouths aren’t just for eating and talking. When it’s appropriate for your child (in terms of their stage of learning) you can talk about other things our mouths can do and we can thank God for (laughing, smiling, singing, whistling, drinking, yawning, kissing, whispering, shouting, etc). My 8 month old friend Lily has just learnt to make a clicking sound with her mouth.
• Sometimes when reading this page, your child (if old enough) could think of one other thing we can do with our mouths.
• Or with a very young child, whenever reading this page, you could add one other thing our mouths can do (eg. “With my mouth I can eat and talk and sing ‘La, la, la’”).
• A great habit to start is to thank God for our food before we eat. With a really little one, just say something short like “Thank you God for our food. Amen.” When they learn the word, your child might be able to join you be saying “Ta”, and eventually, “Thank you God”. An older child could say thank you to God for the food themselves in their own words.
• A wonderful thing to do with your child is to explore the sense of smell (if they are old enough). When out walking, say something like, “God made this flower. Doesn’t it smell nice!”. You can help your child discover lots of other smells (oranges and other fruit, spices, herbs, freshly baked cakes, perfume etc).

11. God made my eyes. God made my nose. God made my fingers, my ankles and toes. God made my knees and my elbows. God made all of me!

This is an action rhyme. We start with one body part and moving to others, we lead to ‘God made all of me’. The actions are in italics below.

The action rhyme:

12. God’s book, the Bible, says God made all of me! And he loves me too.

• Help your child learn that the Bible is a very important book.
• The Bible says that God made us and he loves us. This isn’t made up. This is true. (See the notes about the idea that God loves me.)
• You can show an older child a Bible, turn to Genesis 1 and talk about how the beginning of the Bible tells us that God made lots of things and God made people (see the book ‘God made’ for other things that God made).

13. Psalm 139 verse 13. God made “every part of me”.

• ‘every part of me’ means what we’ve been learning in this book up till now. Every part means our hands, feet, eyes, ears, legs, toes etc.
• For a young child we need to move from specifics to generalities. When you read this, say something like, “God made your hands, your legs, your eyes…. God made every part of you. That means that God made all of you!”
• An older child can be given the challenge to see how many body parts they can think of.
• We know God made ‘every part’ of you because it says it in the Bible. It’s true. Not made up.

14. Thank you God for making all of me!

• Talk with your child about different body parts not mentioned in this book and that God made them too.
• Finish the book with a sense of thankfulness to God for making you and your child - ‘for making all of me’.
• Encourage your child to say (or you say) a simple prayer thanking God that he made them and loves them. It need only be a sentence. This might be after reading the book, or at another time in the day.

Making your own ‘God made’ book

It would be great to make your own ‘God made me’ book so that your child has a book which is about them specifically. In it you could include photos or drawings of your child doing things like clapping/waving/drawing with hands and arms, standing/kneeling/crawling/dancing/walking with feet and legs etc. It could also have photos of your child doing things (eg with their hands) throughout the day (for example digging in a sandpit, helping you stir a cake, stacking blocks, rolling a ball etc). You could put the photos in a mini album or a book with a caption for each photo (either on the facing page or below each photo), eg. “God made my feet. I can stand on my feet.”

Sadly I can’t write a book catering for every child and every possible physical difficulty or medical challenge. If you do have a child with a physical difficulty or medical challenge, I hope that you (or a friend) can make a special book for your child reminding them that they are special to God.

Making a picture to hang

Height chart

Make a height chart for your wall that has a caption like “God is helping me grow taller”.

Song

‘God made me’ from J is for Jesus

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