Creation Myths

For this lesson, I read the girls a few stories from Marduk the Mighty, a great book of international creation stories by Andrew Matthews. I asked them a few questions: What was here before the universe? How did this world come to be? What about plants, animals, and people? They answered these questions in their own creation myths using dreams, things they'd heard in school or church, and things they just made up:

In Africa the world was dark and there was nothing, not even shoes. There were no cities or cars or people. Then out of the darkness, a voice came saying, "Wake up!" And the deserts woke up and the jungles woke up and the water woke up.
-Asho

In the beginning there were plants and trees. There was a sky filled with clouds, moon, and sun. The sun was making the plants grow and turn the world into a desert. The moon was making darkness. The plants grew to be a cactus. The sun also made trees grow so they could grow fruit for the apes to eat. Later in the year the apes learned everything that humans know so they became human. The darkness made rain, which made a river. The humans dug a big circle and turned it into an ocean. There were fishes, dolphins, whales, octopus, and jellyfish living in the ocean. Then one of these animals in the ocean created a bunch of shells so they'd have a house. Also there were birds and the birds came from nature. There were cats, dogs, horses, cows, skunks, raccoons, and squirrels. God created them.
-Melisa and Safia

In the beginning there was the sun and the sun grew and made a tree. Aliens were coming. They lived in the world and left and then the animals came. And the rain started raining and made oceans and rivers and sharks. Animals started going into the rivers. Apes started being people and people came from apes.
-Adout