p. xii
" ...[Claus] Westermann claims that the creation accounts ...are a witness to God's ongoing creative working every present moment. These accounts are understood in terms of ritual actualization in which the word about creation is recited in worship and the Creator is praised as the source of a lively word for ongoing life (and not as a source for intellectual probing)."

p. xiii
"[H.H. Schmid]...strongly emphasizes creation (rather than, say, covenant) as a comprehensive theological . . .framework within which Israel's most basic theological themes are developed and its historical experiences articulated. . . Schmid shows that creation in Israel is understood in terms of both origination and continuing order."  

What I surmise from this:

Creation is something God did historically, it is also something He is always doing.

Israel's historical life took place in the context of all that God created.

Dr. Fretheim cites many theologians - footnotes and all that. I'll give you page # with a quote and person quoted and a couple of comments. You'll have to get your own copy of the book to read all the sources he cites.

pg xi  "Rolf Rendtorff makes an obvious but neglected point: 'The Hebrew Bible begins with creation. Old Testament Theologies usually do not...'"

My brain jumped to...how does the New Testament begin? Was God speaking creation into being? Was He creating something from nothing? Was He creating something by just speaking a word?  God's Son (Living Word) made flesh, made man.

I've started a book that I've been considering for five or six years now, and guess what! I'll blog as I read. It may be a total bomb or it may be worth our time. It doesn't specifically deal with children or children's ministry. It is about God and creation. I don't know about you but creation played a huge part in my childhood and my child-faith. I don't see how you can bring God and child together without involving all that God has created.

Do you include "outdoor stuff" as you teach about God and faith to the same degree that God originally immersed man in His creation? Man walked with God in the cool of the day - immersed in God's creation. As we open Genesis, God was working. To speak was to create. Man's work - to name the things God spoke into being, to rule over (there's probably a more accurate phrase)  and care for them.

God and the World in the Old Testament: A Relational Theology of Creation by Terence E. Fretheim. Abingdon Press, Nashville TN, 2005. I'm seven years behind! This came out about the time I started blogging.

One Thousand Gifts
by Ann Voskamp, a book worth reading! Her blog and website offer ways to cultivate thankfulness for all ages.

Google "quiet book" and find lots and lots of wonderful ideas!

Consider a weekly or monthly craft night for moms, teens, college students, grandmas. Make quiet books! Bring a page you've already made to show & tell or bring a page to work on. Figure eight pages. One page per week.

Give them as gifts. Make them available in the sanctuary during worship. Nice for car trips. Nice for nurseries or preschool rooms.

Sometimes the incentive of working in a group helps make it happen!