Dear God, Thank you for the lovely day we had today. Sorry for all the naughty things I did today and please God help me to have a great day tomorrow. Amen.”
This is our son’s prayer as he goes to bed each night, reflecting his simple faith in God. He understands much about God, yet there are still so many delights awaiting him in the Bible.
As a mother of young children, I know the importance of spending time each day with my children around God’s Word and praying to him. Christian parents everywhere struggle with trying to develop a devotional life for their children. Parents are looking for materials that provide opportunity to read the Bible and discuss what it says while still being helpful, fun and motivating. Some families choose to do a Bible reading together over a meal, while others have the children completing their own Bible time and then discussing it together later. Whatever your preference, some new resources for families are very practical and adaptable.
Table Talk – Bible Discovery For Families (available from Matthias Media)
Table Talk helps children and adults explore the Bible together. Each issue provides 65 daily family Bible times. These Bible times take about five minutes to complete and involve the family in sharing ideas, reading the Bible and praying. The sessions begin with a simple discussion starter that leads into a Bible reading. This is followed by a few questions. Each day has a ‘keypoint’ for parents to understand the focus of the Bible time. There is also opportunity for Table Talk to link in with individual devotional notes for children through a ‘Building Up’ section at the end of each day. This material would be helpful for children aged four to twelve, with some adaptation for the younger ones.
XTB – Explore The Bible (Matthias Media)
These are daily reading notes for children aged six to twelve. The Bible passages are the same each day for Table Talk and XTB so these two resources can be used together. XTB provides 65 days of readings with pictures, puzzles and activities. The full colour pages and free ‘Promise’ stickers add great interest. This is a fantastic resource to start children on a lifetime of delving into the treasures that are in the Bible.
Discover – Bible Notes For Young People (Matthias Media)
This material helps children to “discover the truth from the most amazing book in the world.” Discover provides 91 daily reading sessions for children aged eight upwards. The sessions explain the Bible clearly with helpful notes each day. These notes include asking more personal questions, describing how to put the Bible into action, summaries of what has been learnt, explanations of tricky words, and ideas for prayer.
Discover is full of puzzles, questions and activities. Issue one looks at Spreading the News (Acts), One Way Only (Romans), Going for God (Luke) and Counting on God (Numbers). An action-packed devotional book for children to enjoy the Bible.
Snap Shots (Scripture Union)
Snap Shots contains Bible reading notes for children aged seven to eleven. Each day there are a few Bible verses to read with extra activities for weekends.
Tiddlywinks: My Little Red Book – First Steps In Bible Reading (Scripture Union)
Tiddlywinks provides 50 days of activities for families with young children. Each page gives you a story and prayer idea to be used with children who cannot read yet. The Bible is discussed through the eyes of young children.
Hotshots (Scripture Union)
Hotshots contains 60 selected Bible readings for children eight and up. There are projects to do as part of a family or individually, and plenty of puzzles, pictures and questions.
Christian parents can be assured that there are great resources available for you as you strive to develop the devotional lives of your children. Each of these resources has given our family much joy and excitement as we have looked through them. Sometimes as adults we too can forget how much fun it can be to spend time in the Bible each day!
Dr Melissa Razey
Melissa Razey is the Small Groups Director at St Paul’s, Castle Hill and has a PhD in Education. She and her husband Rick have two children, Benjamin, 6, and Philippa, 4.
