For me, sharing the story of Jesus is the most important thing I can do for my children. I want to share several resources that have been helpful to solidify Biblical truths for my children. I am happy to share our Bible resources for preschool Bible and Devotion time with you today!
We use various Bibles, my Betty Lukens felt set, a simple Bible movie, some character building devotionals, and singing and dancing like David. :)
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1. In general, we read one of his four Bibles every night. I don’t read a certain one or a certain story, we sometimes read only one story, or sometimes 10! And sometimes he wants to read David & Goliath 5 times. Right now, I want him to be familiar with the stories as we talk about God’s great love and power as well as our need to obey God and our parents.
**Update: We bought the My First Hands On Bible as a suggestion from Michelle at Delightful Learning. This is truly the best preschool Bible I have encountered. I think I am going to write a whole blog post devoted to how much I love it, but here are my quick reasons: it has actual scripture (New Living Translation), it has “hands on” (read: easy) activities to do with parent and child as you go, prayers and Jesus connection are included at the end of each lesson. If you can only buy one, buy this one. Excellent. Here is our review and our Bible Notebook that we use with the My First Hands on Bible.
We leave his Beginner’s Bible out for my son to read any time. I like the quantity of stories and the simple writing of the stories themselves, but I’m not crazy about the cartoon people.
He also has the New Bible in Pictures for Little Eyes by Kenneth Taylor which I love. My grandmother gave him this one at his birth, so I know its Biblically sound ;) There are simple question prompts and easy to understand passages. This is the Bible I would recommend if you can only invest in one!
We also have the Jesus Storybook Bible by Sally Lloyd Jones. This is beautifully written, but is really not for children younger than 8 or so. This Bible is even for adults! I look forward to reading it with my children a little later on.
I plan on purchasing the Read and Learn Bible when I begin the wonderful Preschool program, God’s Little Explorers. I want to have many Bibles available for my children, because after all, it s the most important book they will ever read!
I just discovered Sarah Young’s wonderful Jesus Calling Bible Storybook. This is similar to the Jesus Storybook Bible, in that, all stories are tied to theJesus’ coming and saving us from our sins from dying and being resurrected. I love that each story has a small devotion at the end and I actually prefer these illustrations to the Jesus Storybook. I hope to get this one too. (Can a family have too many Bibles?)
The Big Picture Story Bible is another beautiful illustrated text that goes with the God’s Little Explorers Preschool curriculum we love.
2. When I first introduce a story, my son may be familiar with it from Bible reading or watching, but I try to include all of the important details with my Bible Felt Set from Betty Lukens. I wrote about my Betty Lukens set here (with a free felt organizing printable!). We focus on one story about every week, so it doesn’t overwhelm me :) I also take the story we are learning to our play group with a small and simple craft.
He often asks for the story of Jesus on the cross, so we do this one a lot :) Here he is with his little palm branch! His cow and hippo are always watching too!
3. We watch these sweet movies from Read and Share Bible. They are slow moving, simple, and Biblically sound. This is the only movie we have so far, so if you have any other great suggestions, I’d love to hear them!
The Read and Share Bible also made an 80 minute movie based on the life of Jesus. A wonderful introduction to the gospel! The Jesus Movie.
While I don’t have this set of movies — they are geared towards 5 or so and up — there are Volumes 1 through 13, including a new Jesus Film, a Sing through the Bible! movie, and a Christmas movie too. I want to get all of these! What’s in the Bible? Series.
I watched the Greatest Adventure Series when I was a kid. They now have four of the episodes in one collection: The Miracles of Jesus, Moses, David & Goliath, and Noah’s Ark. You can also buy the Easter Story separately — I wish a few more were available, but that’s all I see right now. They are a bit “old school” but I still love them, and they are biblically sound.
4. Kenneth Taylor also wrote Big Thoughts for Little People. He writes, from A to Z, about a certain character-building subject. R is for Rejoicing, S is for Singing, T is for Thankful. We make to read out letter’s page, but my son likes to read through a lot of pages at once and we talk about the pictures and I ask the character building questions. This book has been wonderful to help him focus on appropriate behaviors in certain circumstances.
Another wonderful devotional is the Little Blessings One Year Devotions for Preschoolers. A couple of my friends love this and read a page a day at breakfast!
Another wonderful devotional book is the Jesus Calling Devotions for Kids. We were given this wonderful devotional for Christmas — another book of 365 devotions. It is in the “voice,” or first person, of Jesus — some like that, and some don’t — but you could easily change the pronouns if it bothers you (I will most likely change them). This is geared towards the slightly older child — 5 and up or so — we won’t use this until next year, most likely.
We also have our eyes on the Five-Minute Devotions for Children: Celebrating God’s World is a set of devotions looking at God’s creation and creatures, each one ends with questions and a Bible Verse — lovely.
5. And of course we sing Bible songs. I made free printables for the album Play a Little — a lovely set of 15 Bible songs — check out that post here!
We also made free printable posters for the Sing the Word album — A to Z Bible Verses!
Free printable posters are also available for the Songs for Saplings: 123 album! You can find our Bible Verses from 1 to 10 here!
You can also find our free recitation cards too — Prayers for Children and Bible Verses for Children.
What do you use with your child during Bible time?
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I love these suggestions! My mom had that same flannel graph set when I was young, and I loved playing with it. Thank you for sharing your heart as you strive to faithfully teach your children God’s Word.