In preparation for this activity, collect pairs of stuffed animals, scatter the animals throughout the classroom and set out a throw rug -- this will become the ark. After telling the children the story of Noah, set a timer for two minutes. Tell the children they must find all of the animals, round them up and place them in the ark before the timer goes off and the rain starts to fall. After the activity, gather the children and talk about what it felt like to be tasked with the responsibility of gathering the animals.
One of the best ways to measure retention is to have the children retell the story of Noah and the Ark themselves. Using the stuffed animals, have the children put on a puppet show and reenact the story. Listening to the retelling will help you understand which parts of the story resonate with the children. This is a great springboard for discussion.
Have each child select a stuffed animal. Then have the children write or tell the story of how their animals met Noah from a first person point of view. Help the children begin by giving them open-ended questions to ask their animal, such as, "How did you feel when Noah told you to get on the ark?" In addition to reinforcing the Bible story, this activity is a great creativity and literacy-skills builder.
When your students create a scale model of the ark, they are learning solid mathematical concepts. A cubit is an ancient measurement equal to the length of a forearm, about 17-22 inches long. Have your students calculate the dimensions of the ark and build a cardboard model to scale, based on the size of the stuffed animals. When the students are done building the ark, have them fill it with the animals, take it to a class of younger children and retell the story using their model as a prop.