I love reading to my kids. Buying books for them is my one vice. I so want them to love to read and to turn to books for entertainment before anything else! As trite as it sounds the book I want them to love the most is the Bible. As a child the Bible can be a daunting and overwhelming book. I want to introduce the Bible to them early so they will always love it!
Here’s a few of my Bible-reading-and-loving tips for kids:
1. Start them early
The church I interned at in college did a lesson in the BABY class at church. It consisted of songs like The B-I-B-L-E while passing a Bible around to let the kids slobber on it. They encouraged the kids to hug the Bible. It sounds weird but it was showing the kids that the Bible is a special book worthy of our love!
{See more about this here: Teach Your Children To Love The Bible and Baby Bedtime Routine}
2. Use Storybooks
I usually dislike Bible storybooks. They never tell the whole story, they have terrible illustrations and gloss over important themes. But when your kids are super little, you just can’t read them the full account of Joseph from Genesis! It’s confusing and honestly, a little boring! You need storybooks! You just need to make sure they are books that teach the Bible and not just tell a story. Here are some of my favorites:
The Jesus Storybook Bible is by far THE best storybook for kids. If you don’t own this book, you really need to buy it. I have written about it many many times (and even interviewed the author, Sally Lloyd Jones!) because it has really helped me grow in my understanding of the Lord! It’s full of great illustrations and even better–stories that lift up Jesus’ name and glory.
I’m also really interested in The Story for Little Ones and The Story for Children. Anyone read them yet? Finally got ’em! Here’s my review (and story) of The Story for Children!
3. Get them a Real Bible
My daughter is in kindergarten and her Christmas present this year is going to be a “real” Bible. The full blown version with her name printed on it! We have a few other Bibles around the house she considers her own (The Adventure Bible
When buying a “real” Bible, consider two things:
First, decide on the version. Translations of the Bible are (sadly) highly-controversial. But my main goal is to get my kids to know, love, memorize and understand the Bible. So, I like the NIRV because it’s on a 3rd grade reading level, as opposed to the NIV which is a 7th grade reading level or the NASB which is on an 11th grade reading level! (See more reading levels.)
Second, consider the layout. Kids Bibles love to add all sorts of fun and exciting charts, pictures and sidebars. But as beginning readers, especially, books need to be laid out simply. Don’t buy a Bible with columns (which MOST Bibles are!) which can be confusing to read. Instead find one that fills the whole page, just like a real book.
Once you get a Bible, whether it be a huggable one, a storybook or one with all 66 books, the most important thing to do is read it! Keep them within reach–by the bed, next to the couch or on the kitchen table. Make it easy (and normal) to reach for the Bible and read!
I will second the Storybook Bible. All of us love that one!
I’m not a mom yet, but wanted to say a quick word about the NIRV. I love it.
When I was a new Christian, my Sunday School teacher (hold on–let me clarify really quickly–I was an adult in an adult Sunday School class–ok) sometimes used an NIRV. It was his daughter’s. So, I loved it and got my hands on one. It REALLY helped me there for a few months. (I’m about to go ‘full testimony’ here!) I grew up in a family that attended church regularly, and my dad had tried to help me learn a few passages of scripture as a young girl (an African gentleman from our church had given me some assignments, and my dad was helping me…nobody in my family remembers his name, but I think it’s awesome that this man cared about me memorizing scripture–I didn’t do it fully, but anyway…moving on). So, I had a super hard time memorizing scripture. I never really got into the habit of daily Bible reading, and never really developed a love for God’s Word through my teenage years. Then, as a young adult, God suddenly got a hold of me (through many different circumstances, etc), and I asked my parents to get me to a Christian bookstore and get me a Bible. They did. I got a Bible (can’t remember what version, though I do remember the theme of the notes throughout), started reading it, and saw that I could actually understand it (b/c of the power of the Holy Spirit, I know now). (Now we’re caught up.) So, I got an NIRV and used it for a while, once I had seen that I could read and understand the Bible, and I used it to kind of catch up–reading large chunks at a time. Then I switched back to the NIV and have since used other versions, as well. All that to say, the NIRV was really helpful for me for a time there when I really wanted to absorb as much of the Word as possible in as short an amount of time as possible. Easy, quick reading. I’ve also recommended it to a few internationals since then, but I don’t have a testimony about whether or not it was especially helpful to them. I just wanted to share my experience with it in case one of your readers is in the same place I was in. (And also because it has been one of the versions that was controversial.)
My wife always have this small bibles that she actually received from her grandmother. She keeps it next to our bed all the time!
We have the Story for Little Ones. I looked at the Story for Children but decided to wait a bit since mine is still a little one. Right now we are reading a Children’s Bible that we really like but I can’t remember the full name. It has great illustrations and incorporates actual scripture into many of the stories (I think it has about 100 stories). When I get a chance I will pass on more info 🙂
I know this is several years old, but since our oldest is 3, we’re doing these 31 days now =) I just wanted to add, that while I do like the Jesus Storybook Bible – our new favorite (by a rather large landslide) is The Big Picture Interactive Bible Storybook (not the Big Picture Bible Storybook, we have that too) it’s from The Gospel Project. I feel like it tells waaaay more of the “stories” and has way less prose (more lines that read like scripture). Plus it has a “Christ Connection” for every story, and a comprehension question. My 3 yr old begs for more and more.
Yes! We have this one, too! I do like that it has more Bible stories in it! Altho’ we haven’t read straight thru this one yet for that very reason. 🙂
(I wrote a post about it here: http://ohamanda.com/2013/10/31/big-picture-interactive-bible-storybook-review/)
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Excellent review of it. It’s definitely taking us longer than most to read through it. And yes, there are totally stories where I”m like “I barely remember those details myself” – mama learns too! I agree the Parent Connection idea sounds super cool. I think we may do it next year as part of homeschool for our 3 (who will then be 4) year old. This year, since she can read a Bible storybook but all the text on a page of a “real” Bible is still a bit overwhelming for her to look at (she kinda maxes out on easy chapter books with 12-14 pt font, like Charlotte’s Web), part of our homeschool curric will be mommy reads straight from the Bible one day, she reads the Beginner’s Bible version one day and we read from this storybook Bible another day – so she can kinda start to listen/read scripture more confidently and not be intimidated by it as we transition away form storybooks over the next 2 years. I might try printing out some NIrV for her – just the passage that we’re reading that day – so she can try that now and then too.
I love your point about single column format – I’m a Bible aesthetics nerd… really the time that went into my last Bible purchase is probably cra-zy… She’s been asking for a Bible she can write in like mommy, so I’ll be sure to make sure we get her one that is single column (this was a must have for me too, but I hadn’t even thought about it for her).
Anywho we just adore your blog. Keep up the great work. The Christmas and Easter stuff was so instrumental to us leading her to Christ. It’s been fun to spend the summer reading through these 31 days and be the one in “school” for July while she takes a break =)