When you find a great resource, you just have to share,
right?
Well, Five-Minute Devotions for Children: Celebrating God's World as a Family
is one
of those finds.
We first read the book about a year ago as a part of our Morning
Prayer Peg time and talked
about the otters in it at bedtimes. The
kids enjoyed the book then, but they really loved it over the past few weeks as we made our second annual
reading through it’s 21 rich stories.
Jack, at two, demanded to sit where he could see the playful
watercolor illustrations that accompany the text of each page. He giggled as he points to the different
creatures depicted throughout the book.
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| We love this book! |
Luke, at six, and Nina, at five, delighted in the details of
each story. They talked about the facts
they have learned and reminded one another of the faith and character principles
that each animal exemplifies throughout the book. They now try to be patient like penguins and hard
working like ants; to avoid being selfish like cuckoos; to remember their safe places
and strategies like geckos when afraid. They also enjoy teaching the new facts that they have learned to their Daddy as they re-tell the devotional's stories to him at
night sometimes.
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| Luke often asked to "read" the devotional to himself after we had read each day's stories. |
if we had raced through it. Since we
tended to review prior stories each day before moving forward, faith principles and Bible verses had more time to be written
strongly on the children’s hearts. A faster read-through might not have encouraged this.
Simple, engaging and rich, this book is now a perennial favorite on our home. Even after focusing on it for a second year's reading, the children have not tired of it. In fact, they have asked me if we can read it again. So, our intention it to read it annually until Jack reaches Luke's current age and, then, to maybe gift it forward...
In future years. I can absolutely see us using this devotional a base for a unit, lapbook or other exploration of animals with a faith-centered twist. It would lend itself effectively towards such explorations. This year, however, we simply enjoyed it as a faith-based read-aloud and conversation starter. Well, that, and the impetus to build nests in the year. But that is a story for another day...
In future years. I can absolutely see us using this devotional a base for a unit, lapbook or other exploration of animals with a faith-centered twist. It would lend itself effectively towards such explorations. This year, however, we simply enjoyed it as a faith-based read-aloud and conversation starter. Well, that, and the impetus to build nests in the year. But that is a story for another day...
What are some of your favorite children’s devotionals?
If you receive this post via email and cannot see the linky, be sure to actually click over to the blog to read browse the rich catalog of ideas there.
If you receive this post via email and cannot see the linky, be sure to actually click over to the blog to read browse the rich catalog of ideas there.
Training Happy Hearts:
A Call to Faith Formation for Young Children
You are invited link up anytime with posts -- old or new -- that share your ideas, wisdom, reflections, activities and practical tips and tales about training up young children so that they may have happy hearts, united with God. Henceforth, this link-up will be posted anew each Sunday, but will contain all linked ideas to date, creating, in effect, a library of ideas for sharing our faith with little ones. Enjoy browsing the links as well as adding new ones each week. Thank you and God bless!
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Please note: Links to Amazon within this post and others are affiliate ones. Should you choose to click through one to make an Amazon purchase, we may receive a small percentage of the sale. This does not cost you anything, but is a choice we thank you for making. Anything we make from links goes straight back into training up our children and to much of what we share with you here. Thank you!
1 comment:
Thank you for this post! We really enjoyed this book with my oldest child and are about to start reading it with my youngest. I really love the idea of reviewing the previous story before moving on, and we will definitely move through the book that way this time around. I included Five Minute Devotion in my list of blog post about our favorite Christian picture books for children here: http://turning-our-hearts.blogspot.com/2011/10/favorite-picture-books-for-children.html. It is a real treasure!
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