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Reading the Bible With Children

When I was a child my parents consistently read Bible stories to me each night at bedtime. My mom tells me of how they began doing this at age 1 with a beautiful book (which I still have) called The Bible in Pictures for Little Eyes, by Kenneth Taylor.
Each page has a short story of the Bible with a few simple questions at the end to ask the child along with one of those old fashioned Sunday School card-style pictures. Many of those illustrations are what come to mind for me still to this day when I read or hear certain passages of Scripture. When we would get to the end, we would start over at the beginning reading it through numerous times.
When I was around 4 years of age, my parents invested in The Bible Story set of 10 books (which was a huge investment for them). These are wonderful books with gorgeous illustrations.

We read through these many times as I grew older. My parents were wonderful to read to me even after I learned to read for myself. They were very intentional about teaching me God's Word.

Vince and I desire to do the same for our children. We began very early, even while they were still in the womb, reading Bible stories to them. By the time they were each 1 year of age we made this a nightly habit for them. We got the updated version of Kenneth Taylor's book and have read through it several times already.

We plan to start reading through The Bible Story books with them soon, as my parents have passed them on to us.

Most recently we have been reading through some devotionals they received for Christmas (Thank you again, Papa Wayne and Mama Jane!). They are by Sheila Walsh and there is one for girls and one for boys.

They are really great. Each devotional has a story and then a recap page that includes questions for the child and a prayer at the end. Our children have loved them!

Do you have a special Bible story book that you remember from childhood or that your children have loved? Please tell me about them in the comments!

Today I'm linking up with Heidi at Mt. Hope Chronicles on Living Lovely With Family. Heidi has a beautiful blog, full of inspiring posts and gorgeous photography. If you haven't already *met* Heidi, I know you would enjoy a visit there.

Comments

Heidi said…
Oh my goodness, Lora! We had that exact same children's Bible growing up. I think it was my younger sister's. She absolutely loved it!! Family friends of ours purchased an updated version (with the beautiful illustrations) for my first son when he was born. We enjoyed reading through it several times, but it hasn't really survived three boys well.

I'll have to check out your other recommendations. Thanks for participating!!
Michelle M. said…
We have a lot of the same books, but we mostly stick to the Bible in Pictures.
Ruth said…
I had the The Bible in Pictures for Little Eyes when I was growing up as well! My parents still have their copy. We have a copy my parents gave us when our oldest was born. Now we are using The Children's Bible in 365 Stories. It's on a good level for most of the kids. Those devotional books look interesting. We will have to give them a try.
Betsy Brock said…
Taylor loved reading from The Children's Bible! :)
Kayren said…
I've been trying to remember the names all day of the Bibles we used when the kids were smaller. I think we had one called The Preschoolers Bible that Caboose carried to church with him, because we thought even children should be in the habit of taking a Bible to church. But there was one with a little longer stories called The Toddlers Bible or The Childrens Bible that had pictures and some of the familiar Bible stories in it. It was not the complete Bible, and it was more like a Bible story book.

As they got older we read from the DK Children's Bible or the DK Family Bible, which are both Bibles that we bought as part of our Tapestry of Grace curriculum. Then we also use some different devotionals, and we'll do more than one a day a lot of times. We might do one out of each book or several out of one...it just depends. They are what I'll call 'situational' type devotionals with 'what would you do' and Bible verses to go along with it. Then we have one for fun that talks about unusual or amazing things and relates them to God.

I remember seeing those blue Bible story books in my church library growing up and they might have been the ones that were always in the doctor and dentist offices. I never had them though.
Crystal said…
I will have to check out the Books by Sheila Walsh! We love Gigi, God's little princess. THanks for sharing!!! Blessings to you~
I have lovely memories of my father reading a big white Pearl Buck Children's Story Bible to us every night. You are creating a lovely life for them!
Y'all, I've really enjoyed reading what Bible story books that you're using with your children. It gives me some good ideas~thanks for sharing!
Kelli said…
We have the first and second Bible and love them both. The first is my favorite though. :0)
~Kelli

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