My Favorite Christian Resources for My Kids
While I could have sworn I was just in the weeds of the postpartum days, somehow, I am now firmly in the preschool/elementary season. While this season has its own challenges (whoever coined the term ‘terrible-twos’ had not yet encountered a three-year-old) this season has been, well, fun!
I have loved seeing my daughter grow firmly into her childhood with her wide-eyed wonder and overly-active imagination. I’ve loved watching my son’s personality develop and have spent more times than I could count doubled over in laughter at his antics.
But the part I love most about this season of life has been the conversations that we get to have. While my son is just starting to wrap his little mind around bigger things, my daughter is a factory of questions who asks big and challenging things as she tries to make sense of the world around her. In our homeschool days, there are countless quiet moments that spark sweet conversations about how she can be brave when she tries something new and scary, how cool it is that God never changes, and the wonderful news that God doesn’t sleep, which means he’s with us in the middle of the night when we wake up from a nightmare.
While, by God’s grace, I do my best to foster these questions and point my babies to God in every moment, I’m always looking for resources to help. Over the last couple of years, I’ve found some that I absolutely love and want to share. I should preface this by saying we are a very audio-heavy family. Meaning, we are always listening to music, podcasts, or audiobooks. So, a lot of the resources I love fall into that vein. It may not be your jam, but it certainly is ours!
Here are some of our favorites:
The Tiny Theologians Podcast and Shop
This podcast is my daughter’s favorite. As of writing this, they are currently releasing new episodes every Monday. My daughter knows this and counts down the days until she gets a new episode. The podcast follows a brother and sister, T.J. and Tori, who go on an adventure every episode that leads them to learn about a new characteristic of God. Each episode follows the alphabet, so you’ll see titles like “A is for All-Knowing” and “M is for Merciful.” They are short and engaging episodes that help evoke awe of our God from our kids!
Not only do they have this wonderful podcast, but they also have INCREDIBLE resources for kids. We will soon be adding their Tiny Apologetics workbook to our homeschool curriculum and are planning to use their Advent cards for the upcoming Advent season! Seriously, this ministry is a huge blessing for parents who are looking to inspire love and awe of God in their kids as well as prepare them for the world they will face.
This is one of my favorites! This podcast retells different Bible stories in very engaging ways. You’ll join host Sherilyn Grant as she walks listeners through the Old and New Testaments. What I love about this podcast is that it has not only touched my kid’s hearts, but it’s also touched mine. There have been many episodes we’ve listened to that have made me tear up as the beauty of the gospel is displayed.
We also use this to enhance our homeschool curriculum. We are currently reading through the Bible each morning and will listen to the corresponding episode to, Lord willing, really get the stories to settle deep in our kid’s hearts. My son, in particular, has loved listening to the retellings of some of the key battles in Israel’s history and loves to shout, “God wins!!” after each one. Oh, that my heart would store up these sweet memories.
Our home is rarely quiet these days. Part of that is because of our very loud and wild children, but the other part is that I always have some kind of music playing in our home. No matter what kind of music is playing, my kids will inevitably have the melody and some of the words stuck in their heads. The first time I noticed this was when I realized my daughter was very sweetly singing some of Taylor Swift’s saucier lyrics. We adjusted our course quickly.
Verses Music is one of my favorites to play in our home. Not only is beautiful music, but the lyrics are straight from Scripture. Let me tell you, it is much more rewarding to hear my kid’s singing phrases like “But the word of the Lord will stand forever” and “Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God!” than anything that’s on popular radio stations.
In the same vein as Verses, Sovereign Grace Music is a go-to for me. Their music is so rich with deep doctrine and big thoughts made accessible. This music is a delight for both me and my kids. For me, it is the best reminder of some wonderfully profound gospel truths that reorient my mind to settle at the feet of the Lord. For my kids, it’s a great opportunity to start planting the seeds of those deep truths in their hearts, with the prayer that those seeds will grow deep roots.
The Biggest Story Bible Storybook
For the longest time, most of our family worship time has been around the dinner table. After we ate, we would pull out whichever storybook Bible we were reading and get right into it. This was wonderful for a long time, but recently, our ever-increasingly energetic kids have found this as more of a burden than a blessing. Sitting in their seats long enough to eat dinner was already a huge ask and they certainly didn’t want to sit still any longer. Their minds were preoccupied with playtime and they wanted to finish quickly so they could get back to it.
So, we switched things up. We’ve moved our family worship time to right before bed. After getting all of their post-dinnertime sillies out, the kids get their pajamas on and run to the couch. They snuggle up with blankets and either Mom or Dad and settle in for our time reading Scripture. I HIGHLY recommend this approach if it works for your family! This version of our family worship is filled with snuggles, warmth, and anticipation, which I pray cultivates of love of the stories of our faith.
We’re currently going through The Biggest Story Bible Storybook, and we’ve LOVED it. Not only are the illustrations absolutely stunning, but this particular storybook Bible does such a beautiful job of showing kids how every story points to Jesus. The chapters are short and engaging and usually leave our kids wanting more.
The Secret of the Hidden Scrolls
We also do many readalouds in our home, and The Secret of the Hidden Scrolls series is a huge staple. Think Magic Treehouse books but about Bible stories. The series follows a brother and sister, Peter and Mary, and their dog Hank as they travel back in time to Bible stories like the creation account, Noah’s ark, and the birth of Jesus. In each story, they have a scroll with them, and they have to figure out the hidden message of the scroll in order to get back home. They usually complete this task with the help of Gabriel, the archangel, while also trying to dodge the evil deceptions of Satan as he tries to thwart God’s plan. They are very engaging books that bring people like Noah and David to life. Such a great series!
This is by no means an exhaustive list. By God’s grace, we live in a day and age where there are so many great resources for parents to use with their kids. As we continue to walk in this new season of early elementary, I look forward to finding more ways to teach our kids about our God and the riches of his word. I don’t know about you, but I’m excited!
I’d love to hear from you what some of your favorite resources are! Drop a comment below or head to social and comment there!
