Children’s Books

I use the word “reading” fairly loosely

Psalm 150:1-6

Reference: Praise him with the sounding of the trumpet,
praise him with the harp and lyre, (Psalm 150:3 NIV)

Explore: Our six year old foster child has just started school. I was so relieved when he was showing interest in writing letters and reading books. Well, I use the word “reading” fairly loosely.

Each day he brings home a reader in his school bag. We sit down and I read through the book aloud and then he reads through the book himself.

In the early stages of reading, the books are very repetitive. In fact most of the words on the page are the same.

For example, the book ‘Little Brother’ goes something like this:

Page 1- My little brother likes to sleep
Page 2- My little brother likes to laugh
Page 3- My little brother likes to eat
Page 4- My little brother likes to play
Page 5- My little brother likes me

Ok, so it’s not rocket science, but the repetition really helps children starting to read. They begin to recognise the words and build their confidence in reading.

Application: When I was a child, our family would always read a Bible passage together after our evening meal. If it was my turn to read, I would always choose Psalm 150.

Not only is the book of Psalms the easiest to find – right in the middle of the Bible – but number 150 was quite repetitive so it was easier to read. I knew that there would not be any big words or hard-to-pronounce names that would stump me as I read out loud to the rest of the family.

While now I have the confidence to dip into any book of the Bible, it is great that there are areas of the Bible that even young children can read and learn from. It’s such a big book that it can seem quite daunting to the best of readers, however, we must find ways to make it accessible to the younger ones as well.

We have a brilliantly illustrated children’s Bible that our boys like to read, there are magazine Bibles for Tweens, and Christian DVDs that bring powerful messages. Let’s not leave delving into the Bible just for the adults, but let’s add these important words to their learning while they are still young.

Prayer: Lord, thank You for all the incredibly dedicated people who put together great resources for children. May we all look for ways to bring the Bible into children’s words, minds and actions. Amen.

What is a way we can teach our children more about God?

Bible, children, family, learning, Psalm, reading