Nursery: Fast and Slow, and “God Made Them I Know”

Fast and Slow is a life skill for a two or three year old.  What is fast?  What is slow?  (They often confuse the concept with high and low… high being fast, and low being slow.) Knowing this I will sometimes use the song “God Made Them I Know,” which sings about fast animals and slow animals that God Has made.  Here is the youtube URL:

Bringing in a picture of the different animals isn’t necessary for a while, but doing some physical actions with the song is necessary. We get the chance to show the animals through actions as we sing.  This is called Concrete Representations of words. We teach the children what a word means by actions. We teach a child the characteristics of a snail or a hummingbird by actions. This kind of teaching fits the age of a nursery child’s brain, and because of that, is very effective.

I might use this song with Lesson #7 of the Nursery Manual “Jesus Christ Created the World for Me” because it emphasizes that God made the animals.  Because music is the Primary carrier of language, and a great way to teach concepts, the message of the song will teach the child sometimes as much or more than speaking. Another song you might want to consider for that same lesson is “God Made the Earth.”