Preschool Devotional Review

I thought I would share my recent find of the best Devotionals that I could find for preschool aged children. Last week I took a trip to my local Christian Bookstore, in search of something that was bible teaching, and fun for my daughter to do. I found the most adorable series called “God and Me: Devotionals for Girls” and I must say I am very impressed.

It has over 100 “themed” devotionals that include:

Bible Verse

Story

Questions to answer about the story/people in the story

Activity

Prayer

Read an Exerpt from this book

It’s such a wonderful addition to our daily studies, we do this one, late at night right before bed. The topics are targeted to preschool ages, and the author does a wonderful job relating to Preschoolers hearts. My daughter looks forward to doing her “Bible Study” everynight! So far we’ve done, “Be Honest”, “Be Smart”, “Be Careful”, “Be Thoughtful”, “Be Sincere”, “Be Cooperative”, and “Be Responsible”. Tommerow is “Be Determined” I write down my daughters answers to the questions (in the space provided) so she might one day look back and see her growth. Sometimes the questions will ask “Can you remember a time when you weren’t _______ (honest, or whatever the topic is)” At first my daughter was a bit aprehensive about talking about those times, afraid that she would get into trouble. So, I went first, and told her of a time when I wasn’t honest, or when I wasn’t careful. Then she tells me of her time, and we talk about what we should have done…….Mainly about what Mommy should have done…..but we’re getting there! lol! Then we finish with the prayer, asking God to “help us be honest, and forgive us when we make mistakes”

I really like the fact that it provides many oppurtunities for you to talk with your child, and show them that parents can make mistakes too! We were once children learning the same lessons, and we still have lessons to learn! Asking God to forgive you in front of your child demonstrates everyones need for forgiveness, even Mommy and Daddy!

It’s a wonderful book that grows with you as well. There are more devotionals as your child ages, one for ages 6-9, and then another for 10-12! So I’m really excited to get started with something that can last through out my daughters life! I’d encourage you to check out a few exerpts from this book you can see them here

“Gotta Have God” Devotionals for Boys

There is also a series for boys as well, it’s called “Gotta Have God!” So I’ll be getting that one for my Son and Husband to do together in another year or so! (This is definitly a easy activity for Father’s to do with their children as well, takes about 15-30 minutes depending on how long you talk, and it’s the perfect wind-down activity for the night)
I do hope that you look in to this book! I am very impressed, and wish I would have found this a year ago! The topics are perfect because we deal with these same issues of “being honest, careful, thoughtful….ect” everyday!

God And Me 2: Fun Devotions for Girls Ages 2 to 5 By Lynn Marie-Ittner Klammer / Legacy Press The popular devotional series for kids is back with even more fun-packed stories and activities for you to share with your daughter! Based on the same format as the first edition, God and Me! 2 has over 100 devotionals to help you teach your preschooler about the Bible and God's plan for her life. Each devotional includes an age-appropriate memory verse, story, prayer and a creative activity to show your little girl that God is her friend and protector. Recommended for ages 2 to 5.

If you’ve been following along with my blog, you already know of my most favorite find for preschool devotionals. (Read my first post above). I just can stress enough how wonderful this book has been.

Lately, I’ve been dealing with focus issues with my daughter. She’s at the age now (4), where we’ve started to introduce small responsibilities, such as cleaning her room, wiping the tables, taking out the trash….ect. Just small ways to build a healthy amount of responsibility in her daily schedules.

She’s been doing these activities for a while without any problem, but lately, she’s been getting more and more distracted! After I ask her to clean her room, for example, I walk in after a few minutes and shes up on her bed jumping up and down with her brother!, or playing dollhouse, or counting her bank money……..

Now, I’m not a big “stickler” or anything, and I understand that it sure is hard to clean a room full of toys without playing with them….lol….but I started to wonder where this change in attention was coming from?

After some thought, and observation, I realized that it’s coming from my very house……….in the form of a 30 pound, blond haired little boy, with less then 10 teeth!

Boy My son, who is now 18 months old, is at the age where he is interested in what “Big Sissy” is doing, and wants to stick by her side in every move she makes. This however has become a distraction for my daughter! She’ll start cleaning the blocks, and he’ll start playing with them……..She’ll start picking up laundry, and he’ll crawl into the clothes hamper…..and so on and so forth.



I sympathize with her though, I mean who would want to spend their time picking up the toys only to have them dumped out again, and who would want to sort dirty clothes when jumping into the hamper was an available option?

Ahhhhh…….but God is listening to my heart, to my problems with this issue, and today when we go to open up her Preschool Devotional, what is the title of the days lesson? None other then “Be Attentive“! Wonderful, I silently think, as we read a story of a little girl who was told to clean her room, only to be distracted by her friend whoose playing with dolls. We go though the devotion questions and talk about what so and so was supposed to be doing, and why they didn’t. We role played being the distracted child, and the child doing the distracting. Then, we finished with examples of a time when we were distracted.

And guess what came from my little girls heart. Yup! “One time I was supposed to clean my room and I got ’stracted’ by playing with blocks.” She was able to apply the lesson to her life, to situations she had been in, to situations I was frustrated with…….and simply hearing her speak of her ’straction’ was ever so calming to my heart as well.This was the perfect little devotional for the day and we ended with the suggested prayer, “Dear God, help me to pay attention to what I should be doing. Amen.”

I am so happy with this book, and happy with the ideas that it provides for teaching and learning more about walking with God. There is even a bible verse, and activity for each lesson, so you can make an entire days learning from the devotion. Alot of the activities involve fun science experiments…..which I’m a big fan of….Today’s involves a spoon and running tap water….tommerow wax snowflakes!

If you’ve been looking for daily activities to do with your child, I think that this is a perfect fit! There are 100 different lessons and this one is specifically for girls ages 2-5. They have different ages and a series for boys as well.

You can go check out some of the sample lessons here ChristianBook has these onsale for 15% off!

In fact the stories are all true stories from the author’s experience with her own family. Be sure and read her introduction, here is a snipit…….

“The enclosed stories are all true, and repeatedly demonstrate the opportunity for spiritual learning in our everyday lives. When my daughter wanted a new pet, it was a chance to discuss how we care for God’s creation. When she was frightened by medical testes, we talked about how our faith can comfort and strengthen us. In every situation, there is an opportunity to discuss God’s teachings. It is my hope that throught my example, you will come to make these connections in your everyday life with children as well.”

-Lynn Marie-Ittner Klammer “God and Me 2″ Devotions for little girls, Introduction

I can’t wait to see what else is in store for us! It’s nice to have a devotional that deals with preschool aged issues so perfectly. I believe that this will be a series that we will grow with!