Last night Lydia went to a night-time VBS at her grandfather’s church. So, it was just Asa and me for dinner. After we ate we opened up our new book, the Read and Share Devotional by Gwen Ellis. I was going to read about Noah because we’ve been studying Noah at church. But Asa? He requested Goliath! He loves Donut Man‘s Goliath song (there’s lots of stomping involved!) so we had to read the story to go with it!
The chapter begins with a little poem of a kite who’s too afraid to fly up high. (Of course, now Asa wants to fly a kite.) Then, there is a good retelling of David and Goliath that focuses on the courage God gave David. It ends with some questions (which Asa actually answered correctly!), some funny conversation starters and a prayer. It’s a cute book and an easy read. We’re going to start reading it at lunch since we finished our ABC Verses. (So, I’m sure I’ll be talking about it more soon!)
We still had a few minutes before bed so I thought it would be fun to act out the story of David and Goliath. Actually, I wanted a craft. So, I thought we could make some beanbags. To mimic the 5 smooth stones David brought to defeat Goliath. We grabbed some fabric and some beans. Then I tried to decide the quickest and easiest way to hem the edges.
Sewing? I don’t think so.
Staples? Fast, but not too secure.
Duct tape? YES! DUCT TAPE!
As we made our little beanbags we talked about David. We talked about what Goliath said to him (“Come and fight me!”) and how David responded (“I come to you in the name of God!”).
Then we got out the sword.
And here’s my little…er, I mean, BIG Goliath! He stomped around and yelled, “Come and fight me!”
Then I pretended to be David and said, “I come to you in the name of God!” I threw our new beanbag at him and…
He fell down flat!
Don’t worry, I didn’t make him be the bad guy the whole time. He loved throwing the beanbag, too. Especially when I did some stomping and yelled, “Come and fight me!”
He would laugh and yell back, “NAME OF GOD!” then throw it with all his little 2 year old might at me!
We played this so many times. He laughed and laughed. He screamed and yelled. He stomped and swung his sword. He fell on the ground. He threw his beanbag. HE LOVED IT.
Finally, we packed up our stuff and in the midst of all this, Asa found an honest to goodness smooth stone in the playroom. So, I took my favorite silver marker and wrote “Name of God” on it. To remind him (not that he can read it!) that David used God’s Name to defeat Goliath. And it was God’s Name that made him strong!
It was one of the most fun nights I’ve ever had with my little boy. And I loved seeing him play with such enthusiasm about God’s Name and His Word!
ps–I know you should never apologize because people may not have noticed in the first place so why draw their attention, but I have to say something about the odd color of my photos! Last night Asa was SO funny and so excited about playing David and Goliath that I could barely get a picture in. I took about 75 pictures but that was when I had a camera in one hand and a beanbag in the other. I was just snapping without even looking! These are the only ones I could actually use because the rest were of him as a big blur! Like I said, HE LOVED IT!
disclosure: I’m part of Tommy Nelson’s Tommy Mommy program. All opinions & ideas are mine.
This looks like a great devotional. I was already thinking about looking for it and then you mentioned a giveaway. How fun! Thanks!
I would love this devotional. I have been using ideas from you and other blogs for devotionals. I like the ones at 2teachingmommies.com
This is the sweetest story! How cute!
I’ve been looking for a new devotional to read to my 4 children before bed. We’ve been through a lot of books and was thinking of going back to Story Time with the Millers, but this is looking good. Would love to win!
Right now I am using the gospel for children at breakfast. My boys love it!
How fun! This devo looks great, too. We read from the Jesus Storybook Bible every night and I must admit I have been lacking greatly in the creativity portion of applying what we read… Thanks for the inspiration!
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Thanks for the chance to win!
We did lots of things for devotions as my kids grew up. AWANA, just going through the Bible,Peacemakers for Children was a hit, Our favorite was the Advent I wrote. All the kids asked for a copy when they had kids. This looks like something my 2nd daut could use for her wiggly preschoolers.
LOVED this entry. I think my daughter, surprisingly enough, would also love acting this out, and the bean bag creation is just genius! Our devotions are bedtime bible stories animated with as much gusto as I can muster. If the boat is in a storm (Jonah, Jesus, etc.), I’m agressively rocking her on my lap. If it’s raining, I’m tickling her head. If it’s more narrative, I’m asking her questions interspersed throughout the story. And sometimes, it’s just tangential as I try to honor her questions related to the pictures she sees in her children’s bible. Thanks for the additional inspiration!
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P.P.S.: “Liked” Tommy Nelson page (that’s going to be a fun resource, thanks!).
We read every night from a Bible Story book, but I love that the book you mentioned is much more interactive.
My daughter is two and I’m always wondering about age appropriate devotionals. I guess it’s time to start! We have a little Bible book that we read together and she knows Noah and Moses and parts of the stories. Would love to try this though on a more regular basis. Thanks!
SUPER cute!!! He looks like he is having a BLAST!
Right now, we are going through the One Year Devotion Book for Boys. Eh. Just started it a couple weeks ago and I’m not sold. We also do the JSBB, and I ask questions from the stories…
I would love to win this devotional.
I do our morning devotions after breakfast. I eat as quick as I can so I can read while my 5 are still eating. Right now we are reading out of a children’s Bible but we have done Peacemakers, Character Building for Children and 24 Family Ways. I tend to pick devos that are too hard, this looks great!
Thank you for the chance to win.
What fun! We used to read each from the Jesus Storybook Bible, but now we read from another Children’s Bible. This devotional looks awesome!
I would love to win! Right now we read a story out of the Jesus Storybook Bible.
I need something for devotions with my boys!!
I tweeted! I love this post! Your son is adorable!!!
I’m going to have to find a copy of this book… I’ve been looking for a good devotional book for the girls. love those pictures of Asa… he’s so adorable!
I would actually love to win this to use for the small children’s church class that I teach. I like to do hands on lessons and I tend to teach more things like salvation and lessons based off of single verses……but lately, the kids have been requesting more bible stories and I could use the help to apply the stories to their lives so they aren’t just stories. I recently used the idea that you posted ages ago about Jesus calming the storm and used the water activity to go along with it….the kids LOVED it and really got the bible point (peace) out of it.
We’ve done the Storybook Bible for the last several months {and I love, love, love their cds – perfect for car rides!}. But, last week I found a mint condition copy of Veggie Tales Bible for 50 cents. My girls can’t get enough. We just read the stories and talk about them as questions come up. Though, we’ve never play acted… we might have to do that, because both girls are super into David and Goliath right now.
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Your David and Goliath skit sounds like so much fun! Landon & I just read that story yesterday in his Bible & he too was excited to learn the story! So cool!
I tweeted about this giveaway
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I visited Tommy Nelson on Facebook. Will definitely be downloading the Noah lesson! Thanks Amanda! : )
Yeah, we don’t really do them. I try to tell them bible stories from time to time but it’s hard to get it in when they are so little. thanks for this idea. I have 2 boys (1 and 3), they wouldn’t even have to sit still for this!!
I read an age-appropriate devotion to each one of my boys in the morning after breakfast. I’m thinking something with some action like this would certainly be a fun addition (and good for all ages!).
We’re better at devotionals sometimes than others! It’s part of our schooltime, if we actually get to schoolwork; also we read Bible stories during bathtime. Bedtime involves prayer and Bible stories on tape.
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I just happened to stumble upon your blog today, and I LOVE IT! I have one year old and two year old boys, and we are constantly talking, singing, and watching stories from the Bible, but I didn’t know there were devotionals that could be used with toddlers – I’m behind the times. What a great giveaway!
We have a 22mo and right now our ‘devotional’ consists of reading a story or 2 out of his children’s Bible (we’ve read through it about 3-4 times since we gave it to him on Easter last year). Then we usually take a brief second to sum it up (how it can be applied to his life) and then we pray. I know he doesn’t understand it all now but I want to fill his little heart with as much of Gods love and His Word as I can. I believe our Bible time is his favorite part of the night because as soon as a sit on his chair in the nursery with him, he starts pointing and ‘talking’ at his Bible. Once we grab it he’ll lean back, drink his milk, relax and listen. And honestly, its one of my favorite parts of the day too 😉
I tweeted this! (:
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And I visited/liked Tommy Nelson on FB (account is under my husbands name, Kurt ;)) Thank you for the giveaway! I love reading your posts and getting great ideas!
We try and read a story from The Jesus Storybook Bible each night.
We haven’t really started with devotionals with our 2 year old yet but she does know how to pray real well :P.