Today I’m wrapping up my gift guide series and sharing my favorite faith-based kids’ resources that I think would make excellent gifts for kids ages 4 to 8! Our family uses and loves each item- they come highly recommended (with the exception of one which is a gift this year- shh! don’t tell 🙂 )
Let’s get right to it! I’ll start first with books. Sally Lloyd Jones’ The Jesus Storybook Bible is a classic, and for good reason. We’ve read this storybook bible cover to cover several times. My favorite thing? It explains how the Bible is one big story that points to Jesus, the One who makes all the sad things come untrue. It’s beautifully illustrated and even comes in a Gift Edition here! It is a great introduction to the biblical story in a way that kids can understand.
Next up, the Tales That Tell the Truth Series. These books are so beautiful! From the colorful and whimsical illustrations to the themes they touch on, like the Church, the meta-narrative of the Bible, typology (people in the Bible who point to Christ), monotheism and more. The illustrations are so clever too, I can’t say enough good things about this book series ❤
I’ve enjoyed using flash card type items with my boys to introduce them to basic biblical ideas too. My favorite have to be this ABCs of God’s Attributes card set from Tiny Theologians! Each letter of the alphabet corresponds to an attribute or characteristic about God. On the back of each card is a definition of that attribute and Bible verse.
My older son and I used these when he was doing school at home earlier this year. Every morning I would have him select a card at random, then together we would read the back which includes a definition of that attribute and coordinating scripture. I distilled the explanation of each attribute into a short phrase to help us memorize them. Each time we drew a new card we reviewed the previous day’s attribute, too. He really liked them so we’ve gone through the alphabet a few times. This is a wonderful resource to help introduce littler ones to the awesome character of the one, true God.
And while we’re on cards, allow me to share these fun Bible-based games from Bible Games Central. (side bar: they have a robust library of free activities and games for kids!) I received these games to share with you, and my family has so enjoyed playing with them.
First up is the Bible Memory Game which includes two cards for each of the sixty-six books of the Bible- so you can match them! I also like how they’ve included an illustration of each book on the face of the card, indicated which testament it’s found in as well as the biblical genre. Those were great conversation starters when I played with my six year old and a great intro to the books of the Bible. Come to think of it, these would be fun to help kiddos memorize the order of the books too!
Next up, the Parable Parade Card Game. This game is so FUN and it teaches little ones twelve of the parables Jesus taught, including the lost coin, the unmerciful servant, the good samaritan, and the sower, to name a few. The point of the game is to collect all of the cards in sequence to complete the parables. This video quickly walks through the game 🙂 “Collect the card. Complete the story. Capture the point.” How clever is that?!
Ok, so this next one is more of a gift for me than my boys, haha! I plan to give these Beginner Creature Character Cards from September & Co. to them this Christmas. This particular set (there are different formats) includes twelve 5×7 cards each with a character trait we’d like to see develop in our kids. Some of them are helpfulness, diligence, and respect. The thing I like most about these is they take each abstract trait and put practical language to it.
For instance, on the back of each card it explains simply what the trait means and some “I can” statements. Like for helpfulness it lists, “I can look around me for needs, ask what needs to be done”, etc. There is also a Bible verse included with each one too, which helps us explain this is an example of how to follow Jesus.
And finally, my oldest and I have enjoyed using Jessica Robyn’s Kids Cut Outs from the Illustrated Faith Print & Pray Shop to work through different Bible stories. In each digital printable set Jessica includes illustrations of different people in the Bible and other bits relevant to their story. The best part about these is that they’re digital, so that means instant access. And they can be printed over and over as many times as you’d like! We’ve used them as we read through a particular story; I cut out each piece and gave my guy a sheet of paper and a glue stick to keep his hands busy as he listens 🙂
And that’s it! If you’d prefer to see each item “in person” I shared a video walk through here. We’ve so enjoyed using these games and books and tools to make discipling our little ones FUN and I think you will too 🙂
❤ Jillian
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