Welcome to Part II (out of II) of my listings for suggested books for “devotional” type of read alouds for little ones. We are specifically looking at the upper end of ages three to six today (yesterday we looked at the lower end of that age group). Some of the ones listed below, however, I still use with my eleven year old (and, in the case of Character Sketches, I still use with my seventeen and fifteen year olds!!!).
If you are not currently doing any type of devotional reading with your little ones, just pick a book or two from today or yesterday’s list—and do it! You can get these at the library, from the links below, or from your local Christian bookstore. At this age, you only need five to ten minutes a day to start instilling faith-building, potentially-life-long habits in your children—and help them start learning God’s Word and God’s ways early.
1. Story Bibles and story Bible sets
a. “The Picture Bible” by David C Cook—after the “Me Too” Bible stories, “The Early Reader’s Bible,” “The Bible in Pictures for Little Eyes,” and “My Bible Friends,” we used this wonderful, comic-book-style Bible. Ray read this whole Bible aloud to each child when he or she was around age four. (Actually, Ray found this in a Christian bookstore thirty years ago just after we were born again as young adults. He got it and read it through himself as he said it helped him know “Bible talk” better when he knew very little about the Bible and many Bible stories. So we’ve had copies of this Bible for thirty years in our home!) https://www.amazon.com/Picture-Bible-Story-Book-Ed/dp/1555139906
b. Family Bible Library—I reviewed this book earlier in the year. This is a wonderful complete ten volume set of Bible stories. Read the review in full at the link below. If you have children eight and under, I highly recommend you find this set used, buy it, and use it every day. (That’s what we did! I read it to te kids when they turned four (sort of after Ray did “The Picture Bible”), then when each child became a fluent reader, between nine and eleven or so, he or she read the entire set to himself (or aloud to a little sibling). https://positiveparenting3-6-5.blogspot.com/2010/02/day-fifty-nine-think-of-yourself-as.html
2. “Catechism” Type of Books—I love using the books listed below with my young children as they answer those questions that kids those ages often ask, “How can there be three in one?” “Where is heaven?” “Why did Jesus die?” “What is sin?” etc. You are never too young to start learning basic Bible doctrine!
a.”Big Truths for Little Kids: Teaching Your Kids to Live for God” by Susan Hunt: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1581341067/ref=pd_lpo_k2_dp_sr_2?pf_rd_p=486539851&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe-1&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=0802840353&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=14KZJYBNXBQPPMWNYZ5Q
b. “My ABC Bible Verses: Hiding God’s Word in Little Hearts” by Susan Hunt and Evette Banek– https://www.amazon.com/My-ABC-Bible-Verses-Hiding/dp/1581340052/ref=pd_sim_b_4#reader_1581340052
c. “Leading Little Ones to God” by Margaret Schoolland—help your little one think rightly about God from the beginning—“catechism for preschoolers”: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0802851207/ref=pd_lpo_k2_dp_sr_1?pf_rd_p=486539851&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe-1&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=0802840353&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=14KZJYBNXBQPPMWNYZ5Q
3. Picture books by Christian authors have character, Bible, and faith messages—I love using picture books to teach many things to my children—faith and Bible, counting, alphabet, science, history/geography, relationships, character, and more. I will list a few picture books below, but most Christian bookstores have at least a small selection of picture books that teach faith, character, biblical principles, etc. Stories, of course, are outstanding teaching vehicles, as evidenced by the fact that Jesus taught so much using stories.
a. “A Hat for Ivan” by Max Lucado: https://www.christianbook.com/a-hat-for-ivan-board-book/max-lucado/9781581346565/pd/46565/1071101320?item_code=WW&netp_id=348434&event=ESRCN&view=details#curr
b. “Tale of Three Trees” by Angela Hunt https://www.christianbook.com/the-tale-of-three-trees/angela-hunt/9780745917436/pd/19014/1069491512?item_code=WW&netp_id=155456&event=ESRCN&view=details
c. “In Case You Ever Wonder”: https://www.christianbook.com/just-case-ever-wonder-board-book/max-lucado/9780849975097/pd/75093?item_code=WW&netp_id=196760&event=ESRCN&view=details#curr
d. See other Max Lucado picture books: https://www.christianbook.com/a-hat-for-ivan-board-book/max-lucado/9781581346565/pd/46565/1071101320?item_code=WW&netp_id=348434&event=ESRCN&view=details#curr
e. “My Heart, Christ’s Home Retold for Children” by Robert Boyd Munger—one of my personal favorites!!! https://www.ivpress.com/cgi-ivpress/book.pl/code=3395
4. Creation science materials—If I had $500 to spend on everything I could use to train my preschoolers in faith, I would purchase the “Family Bible Library” and many, many picture books from Answers in Genesis. Children are inundated from earliest ages with the falsehoods of “millions of years,” etc.—we must counteract that information found in movies (even some of our favorite animated ones have references to it!), music, cartoons, museums, zoos, etc. with the truth. Picture books from Answers in Genesis can help you do that: https://www.answersingenesis.org/PublicStore/catalog/57-Years-Old,184.aspx
(Btw, if I had a little over $1,000, I would do the above, then get NEST dvd’s and Your Story Hour audios. )
We’ll move on to seven to ten year olds’ resources tomorrow! Happy shopping…and reading. Just do it!!
