BEC resources

4.         THE HUMAN KINGDOM

Preparation.  Collect books and pictures on people for the display table.  Items used by people in work e.g. drawing implements, cooking utensils, pictures of inventions, Inventors, art work and scientific pictures.  For the creative work; Glue, brushes, scissors and a paper for each child as in Diagram 4.  Old mail order catalogues and magazines.

Prayers.

Song. Suggestions.  'I'm Very Glad of God', from The Nursery Song Book.

News Time and Birthdays.

Revision of the previous lesson using the Kingdom chart.  Restate the common features of the mineral, vegetable and animal kingdoms;
a) minerals don't move and have no feelings,
b) vegetables grow,
c) animals have senses.
Ask the children which kingdom do they think comes next.

  Introduction.  Human beings are like animals in some ways, they have to eat, sleep, build shelters and have children.  We also have senses, eyes, ears, nose and senses that respond to touch.  Some people say that human beings are just animals, but we have something that makes us different from them.

  Humans like to investigate things to see how they work, and then how they can be used to help people.  People are interested in sciences, arts, inventions and discoveries, animals are not.  People do many types of work, animals do not.  Using the displayed items talk to the children about sciences, arts and inventions.  Show them some pictures and ask if they can tell whether it is one of the above groups or perhaps could be put in more than one of the groups.

  Animals, vegetables and minerals have to obey the laws of nature; fish cannot decide, one day, to go for a walk on the land  or flowers decide to fly.  Human beings find out how things work and then try to control them.  Humans don't have wings but by discovering things about air and how to make planes, we can fly.

  Some animal senses are more powerful than man's.  We could take a bird from one country to another far away place and let it free.  It would be able to fly home without getting lost because it remembered the way.  If a man did this he would get lost very quickly.

  Because man is different he can control things that seem more powerful than himself.  An elephant is much bigger and stronger than a man but the Indians train and control them so that they become obedient and work for man.

Story.  Any story about the life of a scientist, artist, inventor or discoverer.  The local children's library should be able to provide many suitable books that can be adapted.

  Reading.  Page 219  Some Answered Questions.  "Praise be to God to higher sphere than that in which he is."  Type or write out this verse for the children to stick in their books.  Explain the passage.

  Creative work.  Diagram 4 has five headings.  For each heading the child will need to find a suitable picture from the magazines to stick under the appropriate heading for example:

Trade.  Pictures of people at work, shops, offices.

Arts.   Pictures of paintings, pottery, crafts.

Discoveries.  Pictures associated with electricity, fire and other types of discoveries.  Perhaps Explorers could be put into this category.

Inventions.   Magazines and catalogues should be full of things invented by man.

Sciences.     Pictures of aeroplanes, cars etc. which are based on scientific knowledge.

  Try not to assist the children too much but get them to use their imaginations to work out for themselves which pictures are suitable. It does not matter if the picture seems wrong to you, try to discover why the children thought it should go under that heading.

 Diagram 4.

 Last modified: May 22, 2001

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