BIBLE RESOURCES FOR KIDS

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In our home, we’ve found that the best place to fit Bible time into our schedule is in our morning basket. Here, I will share some of our very favorite Bible resources for kids that we’ve used in the past, are currently using or plan to use in the future. The contents of our morning basket change almost seasonally as our schedules and activities change. It’s hard to determine why I do this. I think it boils down to the fact that I like change. It feels like a fresh start. By keeping this time anchored in our days consistently and allowing myself to rotate what I use here, I accomplish the comfort of routine and the excitement of something new.

WHAT IS A MORNING BASKET?

Well, a morning basket can be approached in different ways by different families. In a nutshell, it is a basket that contains a few resources you cycle through on a daily or weekly basis. It’s a way that many families like to gather on the couch or at the table to read through or study some group subjects together. I know many families that use this space to work poetry, art study, hymns and many other things into their family time. I’ve learned that I have to keep this pretty short and sweet, or I lose every iota of interest from my kids.

MORNING BASKET IN OUR HOME

Usually, in our home all the contents in our morning basket are resources used for Bible study with kids. We tend to pull these out while the kids eat breakfast and end up having some of the best conversations sitting around the table. I always have a children’s Bible in our basket and have changed these out over time. In the past, I’ve included scripture memory work, books on church history, character virtue cards, devotionals and Bible studies made especially for children.

BIBLES WE USE

For reference, my children are 4, 6 and 7 years old. We began with The Complete Illustrated Children’s Bible. We liked this one because the illustrations were engaging, and the stories were pretty short making it ideal for very young ages. Last year we progressed to the Jesus Storybook Bible. This one was also very engaging, but the stories were a bit longer. It was a great resource to teach them to sit still just a hair longer and still enjoy the process. The only downfall to this one was that we finished it by October. 

I decided for this current calendar year I wanted to cultivate the habit of daily Bible reading and not just reserve that for school days. It’s something I’m still trying to cultivate as an adult and I’m hoping to equip the kids to know the importance of this and learn to prioritize it. For this reason, I decided to go with this one for 2024.

It’s called The One Year Bible for Children, and the kids LOVE it. The stories are back to being shorter but contain a little more detail. At the end of each day, the book has a section that helps you remember significant pieces of the story. Then it asks good questions to help apply the lesson learned to your own life. I love that the kids are being taught to engage with scripture in this way. It’s also a huge bonus that it’s laid out to have a reading every day of the year.

BIBLE RESOURCES WE HAVE USED IN THE PAST

In the past, I’ve used a bible study for children from Not Consumed on obedience. It was a great fit for our family and we will return to them again. They have several others I know we will love to go through. I also have a book for each child to help with scripture memory. I found it very cheap on Amazon and LOVE it. It has a verse, a picture to color that correlates to the verse and a place to practice writing it. The kids have so much fun with this one and we usually work on one verse per week. 

I’ve also used character virtue cards I found on Etsy to talk about different character traits. These were helpful when we needed to work on specific traits at various times. They were perfect for the younger ages last year. When I rotate this topic back into the basket, however, I plan to use Our 24 Family Ways by Clay Clarkson. It is a gem, my friends. I’ve owned it before and hadn’t started using it yet because my kids were too young for the discussions. I ended up giving it to momma I knew could use it. We will purchase it again for sure. 

I’ve also included a book on a person from church history in the past and we actually loved it too. We read a brief chapter on Augustine of Hippo each day. Even at their young ages my children and I had so many great conversations about his life, choices and story. We will go back to this too at some point. The author of the book I linked has a whole series on people from church history and they have a reputation for being pretty great. Although, the one linked is the only one I’ve personally read.

BIBLE RESOURCES WE ARE USING NOW

Alright, this is the section I’ve been giddy to share with you! I’ve mentioned the daily bible we are using already and that we love it. In addition to that, we are reading from an old book called More Little Visits with God. This was recommended to me by a dear friend, and it is wonderful. It takes a piece of daily life and applies scripture to it. For example, unwholesome talk is one of the days that is covered. It’s brief and told in a story format. The kids connect really well with it so far.

I do feel the need to hand you the same disclaimer my friend gave me. She simply informed me that some of the language is older and might not be how she would approach saying it to her children, so she leaves those parts out or alters them. We haven’t run into a need for this yet, so it doesn’t occur frequently from what I can tell. 

Once we’ve read from each of those daily, we cycle through a few books. I read a bit from one of them each day and alternate them. The first we use is called The Ology. This is a thorough resource with brief excerpts for each day that discusses the theology of Christianity but for kids. It’s been GREAT to have this tool to help discuss what we believe and why we believe it with them. Since this book is a bit longer, we visit it at the beginning and the end of the week so we can read it twice.

MORE RESOURCES WE ARE LOVING

On one of the other days, I read from Brave Heroes and Bold Defenders by Shirley Raye Redmond. Then on the next day I read from Courageous World Changers also by Shirley Raye Redmond. These include 50 stories each of bold men and women of God who changed the world with their faith. I LOVE these stories because they show my kids that people of all different backgrounds and gifts have a part to play in the story of the world. My kids get to learn about their bravery and commitment to their faith and see that what we read applies to them! They are getting to see examples of living it out more than just hearing my husband and I disciple them through it. I will treasure these books forever.

CREATING YOUR OWN MORNING BASKET FOR YOUR FAMILY

I hope that you’re feeling a little bit inspired to grab your kids and gather in this way. It really is so special and is a time that yields so much good for them not just here and now, but in the future too. If you are looking for a way to work this into your own homeschool schedule, go here to read up on how I work through structuring ours. In that space you will find some free planning printables that are so helpful with letting your brain dump your ideas and get it all on paper. Why is that the only way to turn my chaos into a wonderful plan? If I skip writing it out, it feels so overwhelming. I hope those bless you!

Thanks for stopping by to visit today! Let us know in the comments if you have any resources your family absolutely loves for Bible time with your kids.