Bible Reading for Kids: How to Make It Fun and Engaging
Encouraging Bible reading in your youngsters introduces them to God. The children’s Bible informs them about God's character and communicates His tremendous love for them. Knowing God fosters trust and intimacy with Him. God's trust leads to a life of following and obeying Him.
9 out of every 10 households have a Bible. However, only a few families truly do daily Bible reading. It is safe to assume that if the parents in the home are not reading the Bible, the children are not either. This is bad because the world is striving hard to win our children's hearts.
Importance of Teaching Kids to Read the Bible
Children aged 8 to 12 spend 4-6 hours per day watching screens. Don't get me wrong. Screen time is enjoyable, but persistent exposure to undesirable habits, ideologies, and influences has a deleterious impact on youngsters.
Here are seven reasons why you and your child should spend time for Bible reading every day:
List of Services
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Bible reading will help your kid know who the one true God is.List Item 1
Reading the Bible gives children the opportunity to know God's character and appreciate His tremendous love for them. By knowing God, they develop trust and a relationship with Him. God's trust leads to a life of obedience.
“Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.” John 1:3
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God's word in the daily scripture is true.List Item 2
We live in an age of social media and fake news. Even for grownups, determining what is true can be difficult. The kids' Bible or Jesus storybook Bible is reliable and timely. It is a beacon of hope for children navigating this dark and terrible world.
“Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.” John 17:17
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Bible reading helps them remember what is truly important.List Item 3
We have a habit of forgetting things. Remember when Moses traveled to Mount Sinai to talk with God? God's people gathered their resources five minutes after Moses left on his journey to create a golden calf idol
We are prone to forgetting our calling as God's people if we do not keep God's truth before us regularly. People would easily and effortlessly move away from God if left to their own devices. The deliberate practice of Bible reading connects us to our identity in Christ.
According to a Lifeway Research Study, Bible reading as a child is the best predictor of spiritual wellness in young adulthood. Allowing your children to read the daily scripture, kids' Bible or Jesus storybook Bible will keep them on the right path.
“However, I consider my life worth nothing to me; my only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the good news of God’s grace.” Acts 20:24.
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Spending time in God's word fosters thankfulness and calms the heart.List Item 4
We often have so much to be thankful for, yet we are often too preoccupied with our agendas to realize. The daily scripture acts as a magnifying glass that enlarges God's goodness.
Our days can become hazy if we do not have the perspective of God's word through Bible reading plans. It's difficult to recognize the good things. Children today are experiencing unprecedented amounts of anxiety. Aiding kids in seeing God's kindness through time spent in the Bible is a step toward putting Christ's peace in their hearts.
“And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” Colossians 3:17.
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Reading the Bible to youngsters helps them become aware of sin in their life.
Sin frequently lives in the blind area of our hearts. We are unable to view it. Even David didn't realize he had sinned with Bathsheba until Nathan confronted him with a story about a greedy rich man. The stories in the Bible assist in recognizing where people fall short of the goodness of God goodness and miss the point.
“Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye.” Matthew 7:5
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The word of God is an effective weapon against the enemy.
We have a genuine adversary lurking around our homes, eager to devour our children. Parents are continually on defense against the enemy's lies and temptations - technology, identity difficulties, body image, pornography, bullying, drugs, alcohol, sex, self-harm, despair, and anxiety are just a few of the challenges that parents are confronted with today when raising children. The daily Scripture provides parents with an offensive approach to combat the enemy's aim to capture our children's hearts.
“In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.” Ephesians 6:16-18.
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Reading the Bible influences what a child enjoys.
Children will eventually worship what they enjoy. We want them to fall in love with God and truly accept the tale of God's love for them. Alternatively, we want children to reject the bad things and the lies that the world would make them believe. Time spent in daily Bible reading teaches youngsters to value what is true, good, and lovely.
The Bible is, without a doubt, the most popular among all books ever published, with more than 100 million copies sold each year. Just think of what would happen if the Bible became the most frequently read book in nine out of 10 homes.
Why Bible Reading Should Be Engaging for Children
Parents encounter significant challenges in encouraging their children to read the Bible. To begin with, relatively few children read at all. There are so many distracting (and ostensibly more fun) alternatives to reading quietly. The pressures of school and sports, and social activities make it difficult to find peaceful time to read.
Furthermore, Bible reading is not an easy habit to develop - especially for children. There are some well-known passages that many children are familiar with from Sunday school and Vacation Bible School (VBS), and even from their Jesus Storybook Bible, but the vast majority of it is new to them. It's not a multimedia extravaganza; it's just black words on white sheets.
Most youngsters are unfamiliar with this world. That said, the culture, history, and geography of the daily Scripture appear to be a million miles and years away from the children of today.
Simply read it
There are numerous helpful Bible reading plans available. When faced with a challenging endeavor, it is beneficial to have a path and a plan. But there are times when we are overwhelmed by options, and not all plans are appropriate for our specific circumstances.
Don't feel obligated to read a lot of daily Scripture. Don't feel obligated to do something simply because it works for others. Try the Goldilocks method. Read only enough for your family and your children's specific attention span and context.
Once you've established some patterns, you can always ramp up, adding more and expanding them later. But simply get started. Perhaps even read less than you believe they can handle. Wouldn't it be wonderful if your family Bible reading time ended with your children requesting more?
Spend some time with a book or chapter
Choose a book of the Bible and commit to it for a month—or perhaps two. For one week, read a chapter a day together. Read the entire book in one sitting if it's a short enough book and you're not taxing your kids’ attention spans too much.
The following week, concentrate on a few crucial verses. Remember one of them. Read the book, reread it, and then read it again. Mastering biblical literature one at a time can be a lifelong enjoyable undertaking.
Try using arts and crafts
Try letting them read their Jesus storybook Bible in a whole different way. Print out a complete children’s bible. You can find online tools to help you do it. Tape the pages together to make a running document. Roll it up to make a scroll. The Old Testament was read in this manner. It was how Jesus would have come into contact with the Bible.
Listen to Bible reading together
Copies of the New Testament Epistles would have been extremely uncommon when they were initially penned. When believers met for church, they heard the word of God read aloud. This was Jesus' synagogue experience as a child.
Hearing the Bible can be an effective way to introduce younger children to substantial chunks of the text. Hearing the daily Scripture can provide new insights into the text. Hearing the Bible read aloud as a family can bring people closer together.
Prepare them to be taught the Bible in church
The church may have different meanings to different people. According to the New Testament, the church is a location where we go to hear God's word preached. We go to be taught God's word. Maybe you can look up the Sunday passage ahead of time and read it as a family on Saturday night. After the sermon, read the text out again to your children. Think about what the text means together, and talk about how you and your children can use it in your lives.
Talk about the Bible's beauty
The four characteristics of the daily Scripture are frequently mentioned by theologians: clarity, necessity, sufficiency, and authority. They help us understand Scripture's historic, orthodox theology, and beauty. The Bible is a work of art. It includes a masterfully designed tale, succinct poetry, fanciful prophecy, and apocalyptic literature.
The Bible is the most beautiful book that has ever been written. Hence, Bible reading should be enjoyed, even savored. By assisting children in seeing the beauty of Scripture, you are not only assisting them in reading it, but you are also teaching them to love it.
