If Jesus is the most important thing to you, you will naturally want to teach your kids about Him. You are not alone if you’ve ever been unsure on how to spiritually feed young souls. Be inspired by this list of ideas that I've gathered from other people on the same journey of putting little ones at the feet of Jesus. I've thrown in a couple ideas of my own as well. Those little eyes are attached to sponges, soaking up whatever they experience. It’s never too early or too late to start.
Breath Jesus in with all your senses. These ideas are loosely categorized by our senses. If you don't know where to start, pick one that seems interesting to you or your kids. I'm trying to figure out how to spiritually feed my kids well so this list helped me with new ideas too. Some things are for you to do, some for you to do with your kids.
I pray you pick up the manna God is providing for you and then share it with your kids. If your kids are older I pray they pick up the manna for themselves. Remember, it is only God who can change hearts. It is just our job to put them at the feet of our Creator as much as possible.
Note: Age recommendations are not provided so check it for yourself if it's a good resource for where your kids are at. Also, I’ve linked to some of the resources just to make it easier to find them. I am not affiliated with anything I’ve linked to.
See: Fill their minds and worlds with good things.
Our favorite Bible Story book when our kids were young was Kenneth Taylor’s The Bible in Pictures for Little Eyes. It had a short story with a picture that kept the kids occupied for the 5 minutes it took to read it. Starting young is a great idea.
I recommend Indescribable: 100 Devotions About God and Science by Louie Giglio
Names of Jesus Advent Calendar by Sweet Honeycomb (This has Bible verses to look up with each name. My girls accepted Christ as their Savior after reading about how Jesus is our Shepard. I realized how much power there is in opening up my actual big people Bible with my kids. I don’t do that often enough.)
Not consumed Bible study on obedience (we’re just beginning this so I can’t speak to how it turns out but it looks promising. I’ve spotted a couple of things that I will reword or qualify when I read it to my kids. It has scripture to look up in rather than a verse embedded in the daily devotion. )
Eight Great Smarts - I read this book and it changed the way I talk to my kids. It gave me the vocabulary and perspective to talk about their bents via the gifts that God gave them. It provides a roadmap to build kids up and identify and protect the gifts God gave them.
Our family is sponsoring a child the same age as our child and we’ll be praying for her. We’ll post her picture and learn about the country she lives in.
My husband and I are reading through the Bible in a year and we watched The Chosen TV series to be filled so we can fill our young kids
My son watches Veggie Tales, What's in the Bible, Bible Adventures, or Donut Man on Sundays and other special days. Check out your library or Rightnowmedia.org for resources too.
We try to do things like prayer, Bible study, Bible memory, Bible reading, and discussing big Biblical topics in front of our young kids sometimes so they can see how important it is to us. They often love to join in when they can.
We display the verse we're currently memorizing as a family on the table. We use a stand but you could use a chalkboard. It's helpful in remembering to work on memorizing it at meals.
Hear: Hear and speak the Truth in love. Whisper those Truths in their ears. The world may shout but even the whispers of God are Powerful.
I pray for, in front of, and with my son as often as I can
My daughter loves playing princesses. Her favorite is Cinderella and she often asks me to play the cruel step-sister. I’d rather not pretend to be mean so I can use that as a chance to talk about kindness and why it’s important.
My son and I have been talking about the different color of skin of all of his various dinosaurs and how Jesus created them all and loves them all
We just started doing scripture memory with our son. We use the awana curriculum. I’m amazed at how much and how quickly he remembers the verses. They memorize 1 verse or part of 1 verse a week. They don’t do references because that doesn’t mean much to him right now. https://awanamidamerica.org/cubbies_resources There’s lots more we could do. If you look at the lesson plans but for now we are just doing the appleseed memory verses. I like the foundational truths he is learning through the verses they selected.
Listening to Steve Green’s Hide ‘Em In Your Heart Volume 1 & 2 (I love how much scripture my kids and I memorize by listening to these. My kids request them during bedtime now because they say they have fewer nightmares when they listen to this before sleep. Makes sense as God’s word brings peace.)
Reading the Jesus StoryBook Bible And listening to the audiobook
Adventures in Odyssey (recommended for ages 8 and up but my 6 year old loves them)
Free to Parent by Ellen Schuknect! She runs Family Ministries at Veritas Academy and her wisdom is just unending. Also, the author of 8 Great Smarts has been on the Focus on the Family podcast more than once.
Fill the house or your car with music about God. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CoIfH4V2PQE
Model, model, model. And Narrate. Let them hear your thought processes, reasons for the actions, Biblical truths that inspire the action, and even feelings--both positive and negative. Like I narrate sometimes that "I feel so angry that I could ---, but I'm choosing to take a breath and regulate my emotions so I can respond in a more appropriate way."
Taste: Use what you eat as inspiration to point to Jesus.
Pray together before every meal. It can be a different prayer each time relating to what's going on (giving thanks for things including the food and asking for things) or memorize a simple prayer to use at each meal. Here's some examples.
When they are having water, grape juice, bread, figs, pomegranate seeds, lamb, fish, and more relate it back to a Bible story or what the Bible says about those things. Here's examples of what you could do with snacks.
Make rainbow fruit jars and read Noah's story. Discuss how God always keeps His promises and how the rainbow helps us remember that.
Have your kids draw a rainbow. Then cut up fruit for them to layer in the order of a rainbow in jars or just have fun! You can make multiple jars and keep them in the fridge for snacks throughout the week! We need 10-12 servings of fruits and veggies a day! Let’s make getting them fun! Having fun with food can be an activity, sensory and enjoyable experience! They might even find they like a new fruit or veggie. My daughter discovered peaches! While making the jars you can ask:
What fruit is this?
What color is it?
How does the fruit feel?
How does it taste?
Where does this fruit grow?
Touch/feel: Get to know Jesus through the work and play you do with your hands.
Daddy had church with our son yesterday morning and the dinosaurs were the congregation and our hedgehog stuffed animal was the pastor.
My daughter helped me sweep this morning and I explained what being a good steward meant--taking care of the good things God has given us like our home, and toys, and pets, and one another
During a women’s Bible study someone shared the idea to keep a prayer journal for your family so your kids can look back and see God’s faithfulness over their life. I’ve started one of these on behalf of each of my kiddos with their individual prayer requests in their own books. I also like to ask my kiddos how I can pray for them and what they’ve been talking to God about lately. Even though they’re little I think it communicates that I take their relationship with God seriously and so does He.
I got a bunch of free toys that my son would love. I'm using them as rewards, but I'm going to give him one "free" to demonstrate Grace.
Smell: Be the sweet aroma of Jesus to those around you.
We smell the flowers on our walk and talk about God's creation.
We pray for our neighbors, ones we do and do not know, on our walks.
On drives we point to a random car and pray for the person inside.
We try to think of how we can bless everyone we see.
Lord,
May we not be overwhelmed but instead deeply motivated and inspired to just take the first step or the next step in teaching our kids about You. May Your love and joy spread and spread and spread.
Amen.