Using The Beginner’s Bible To Teach Your Toddler
As a parent, it is up to us to teach and help our children grow in their faith. One of the best ways to start this young is to get them a biblically based bible. This helps them connect with God, learn about the word, and start to connect with the stories of the Bible.
I didn’t grow up in a Christian home. Yes, we celebrated Christmas and went to church on a handful of occasions but I would not say that my childhood was rooted in Christ and any sort of faith.
Now, as an adult who is a born again Christian, I wonder all the time how different my story would have been if I had the chance to connect with God at a younger age. And while I know that His plan was for my life to come together this way the whole time, as a parent, I plan to do my best to be a good influence and encourage my children to walk with Christ.
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Using a Toddler Bible to Teach about God
Since I do still consider myself “young in my walk”, I wasn’t sure where to start when it came to teaching my children about God and the Bible. There are so many stories I personally still don’t know, so much that I am still learning, and so much that I still ask and learn about each day.
I knew that in order to really help my children, I wanted to make sure that we were using a biblically-based toddler bible. I was so thrilled when I got the chance to review the Beginner’s Bible with my 3 and 1-year-old.
I had been eyeing this bible up for a while and was immediately drawn to the bright colors and vivid images and I knew my children would be too. The excitement was high when they got to open the box and see the new bible just for them.
If you’re looking to incorporate the bible and start teaching your children about God and Christianity, I think this bible is the perfect one to start with. The pictures draw their attention, the stories connect with them, and the length of each chapter is long enough to tell a story while short enough to have them keep still and listen.
Creating a Bible and Devotional Routine with Toddlers
When you’re aiming to start a good bible and devotional reading with your kids, consistency is key.
Start by determining what time of day you want to read as a family. For some families, reading over dinner while reflecting and talking about your day works. For us, it’s always at breakfast. We’ve been doing this routine since she turned 18 months and now, it’s become a habit for all of us.
Before we eat breakfast, one of the kids will get the bible for us (and yes, since we do it daily even my 1 year old knows where to go and get the bible). While they sit and eat, I either choose a story or let them pick. I try to mix it up otherwise my daughter will always ask to hear David and Goliath or Jonah and the Fish!
We read two stories each morning and then I let the 3-year-old page through the book, look at pictures, and talk about the message.
When it comes to toddlers, you want to keep this part simple. Having them understand and know the stories can really help later on when you’re trying to teach a lesson, use it as a reference when disciplining, or praising them for doing something similar to a story we’ve read in the bible.
I recommend to keeping your reading to 2 stories at a time to help them understand it and really pay attention. A toddler’s attention span is pretty short and if I try to read for too long, I know I’ve lost them and it becomes more of a chore for all of us. That is honestly my favorite thing about this bible. I’ve tried to use other toddler bibles before and the stories were just way too long. After just 1 page (with very small text), my kids were ready to play blocks or move on with their day.
This bible has the perfect size print for each page! Each story is around 3-4 pages long and the picture grabs their attention. The other thing that is good about using a toddler bible with larger print is, when you’re ready to teach reading to them, you can use this as one of the books. When the print is too small, they struggle more to see the letters clearly than to really read the words.
I know that our bible reading routine is really making a difference because my daughter talks about her bible at school all the time! She goes to a Christian preschool and her teacher said she was the only one in class who knew what a bible was when they showed it. And the day the Beginner’s Bible came in the mail, she had to bring it to school to show her friends! Her enthusiasm and love of God is beginning already and I’m so thankful to have a tool to help her love and know God more!
Using the Beginner’s Bible for Advent and Christmas
One thing that we’re doing this year, is using The Beginner’s Bible for our advent and countdown to Christmas. This will not only help us read a variety of stories but, talk about the birth of our savior and point to stories in the Bible that show His miracles and love!
I love that this bible has a ton of Old and New Testament stories that we can pick from. So many of the other toddler bibles we have don’t have as many stories about the Old Testament. When we were reading there were even stories I wasn’t familiar with!
When I created our advent plan, I made sure to include stories that started in the Old Testament to talk about sin, God’s love and forgiveness as well as the birth of Jesus and all of his miracles of the New Testament.
Below I’ve listed what we’re reading (along with the corresponding page numbers for the Beginner’s Bible). If you want a printable version, just drop your email below and I’ll send it to you!
Day 1: The Beginning – Page 7
Day 2: The Sneaky Snake – Page 18
Day 3: – Ten Commandments – Page 120
Day 4: The Lord is my Shepherd – Page 190
Day 5: Daniel and the Lions – Page 251
Day 6: Jonah and the Big Fish – Page 257
Day 7: An Angel Visits Mary – Page 266
Day 8:Baby Jesus is Born – Page – 271
Day 9: Shepherds Visit – Page 277
Day 10: Simeon and Anna Meet Baby Jesus – Page 282
Day 11: The Bright Star and the Three Visitors – Page 286
Day 12: Jesus’ First Miracle – Page 314
Day 13: The Lord’s Prayer – Page 323
Day 14: Jesus Feeds Thousands – Page 357
Day 15: Jesus and the Children – Page 408
Day 16: The Last Supper – Page 442
Day 17: Jesus is Arrested and Crucified – Page 446
Day 18: Jesus is Risen – Page 453
Day 19: Jesus Return – Page 459
Day 20: Jesus Goes to Heaven – Page 466
Day 21: The Holy Spirit Comes – Page 473
Day 22: The First Church – Page 480
Day 23: A Changed Man – page 488
Day 24: Jesus is Coming – page 504
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