4 Helpful Ways to Teach Toddlers and Preschoolers Scripture
Is it worth it to try to teach your toddlers and preschoolers scripture?
After practicing daily family worship time for several years with my young kiddos and serving on the preschool team in our church, I’ve got some tips and tricks to share for how to have a productive family worship time with little ones.
I even made a free printable for you with 3 verses you can memorize with your kiddos and discussion questions to go with them. We just went through these as a family as we were trying to focus on being gentle in our words and actions. Click here to get it!
Your Calling As A Parent to Teach Your Toddlers and Preschoolers Scripture
I am not an expert, but I’m in the thick of it with you and want to share anything I can that may be helpful! The most important thing I want to say is this: Your young kiddos understand much more than you realize. It’s true! I heard someone say that most of walking with Jesus is “caught, not taught.” This seems to be especially true in the toddler and preschool age ranges.
I am so passionate about parents being the primary people who teach their kids to walk with Jesus. You don’t have to be perfect to fulfill this role. In fact, acknowledging that you make mistakes and asking for forgiveness is one of the most helpful things that you can offer your children! Embrace the role and responsibility that you play in this process. You are the person/people who are with your child the most. If you take your children to church, this short time each week will not be enough to show them what it truly means to have a personal relationship with Jesus and live a life surrendered to Him.
You Can’t Do This Alone
I say that while also understanding the immense gift of people within our church family who can also be teachers for our kids. We cannot do this alone! Other believers’ testimonies and the way they love our kiddos can be even more important than some of the conceptual work they are doing each week. There’s no replacement for an intentional Christian community for you or your kiddos. Living a faithful Christian life is hard, but it’s easier when we do it together. It is immensely valuable for your children to know that it isn’t just within your household that people read the Bible, pray, confess sin, and put aside their personal desires to follow Jesus. We need other people to come alongside us as we teach our toddlers and preschoolers scripture.
Your life will be the best example of the gospel your kids ever receive. No matter how knowledgeable or eloquently someone can articulate what Christ has done and what it means to live a life surrendered to Jesus, there is nothing like having a front-row seat to all of the beauty and messiness that trying to follow Jesus entails.
You, Will, Mess Things Up
You will let your kids down. Mistakes will be made and you will be a hypocrite on your best days. And even still the Lord has chosen you as a parent to show and teach your children the hope of the gospel. It is only by the power of the Holy Spirit and the support of other believers that we can have any measure of success in raising our kids to love the Lord. If it was all up to us, we would fail miserably. Instead, we partner with what God is already doing in their hearts and try our best to be faithful in what He has asked us to do.
This is a whole other blog post, but make sure to confess your failures, faults, and sins to your kids. Confess when you sin. Ask for forgiveness. Feel the pain and disappointment your sin brings when it affects your children. Be honest when you’re struggling. Teach them how to call on Jesus for help amid life’s hardest moments. Those are the real and raw moments that will draw them to Him.
There is nothing that turns people off of Christianity more than a Christian who says one thing and does another. Do your best not to be that person in your parenting (or any of your relationships, for that matter).
Start With Yourself First
One of the most important aspects of leading your children towards Christ is having a thriving relationship with him yourself. I didn’t say perfect, and when I say thriving, I mean that your relationship is dynamic and alive! Kids are some of the most intuitive people that you will ever meet. They will watch your every move and it is obvious to them when you’re faking it. If you don’t have a true relationship with Jesus yourself, start there. If your relationship with Him has become a box to check off or a habit that has no depth, start there.
There should be evidence of a living and active relationship with Jesus. For one thing, the fruits of the spirit (Galatians 5) should be evidence in your life. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. You should be able to hear from God through His Word and the Holy Spirit moving in your life. You should have a love for brothers and sisters in Christ.
Here are a few things I’ve learned to help us make the most out of our Bible study time with our toddler and preschooler:
1. Know Where Your Kids Are Spiritually:
I have one kiddo who has been spiritually interested since they were two and a half, while another kiddo just started being more spiritually interested around age 3. This doesn’t mean that even if your kids seem disinterested when you are reading the Bible, praying, or singing with them that you press pause and come back when they are more interested. It just means that it is ok if their attention and excitement aren’t what you would like them to be.
Timing is Key
For me, I get the most attention and participation out of my kids at mealtimes or snack times. Everyone is sitting down and it’s easier than “herding cats” in an open room. Sometimes before naptime or bedtime is another time where snuggles can be accompanied by some good questions and conversations about God. Riding in the car is another favorite time to strike up conversations with my 5-year-old. Just do yourself a favor and don’t expect to have a seamless family worship time if everyone is tired and hungry. Be attuned to when you can spend extra time on singing, discussions, or prayer and when the best you can do is no more than five minutes of one of these. Take advantage of normal moments to make connections to God and the stories you’ve read in the Bible.
Ask Good Questions
There is nothing like getting kids (or adults) to engage more in conversation than asking good, age-appropriate questions. I am hoping to shoot some videos for YouTube as I ask my kiddos questions about the section of scripture we are studying. New City Catechism also has foundational questions and answers about the faith available as part of teaching your kiddos the basics of Christianity and the gospel.
Here are a few examples of common questions and conversations we discuss as we read a section of scripture:
- What does it mean when it says…?
- How do you think God feels about what just happened?
- Is it right to…?
- This tells us that God is…
- This tells us that we will…
- Does this remind you of any other stories in the Bible that we have read?
- Remind them of who the people are and the context of the scripture (what has happened, what is about to happen).
- Remind them of what Jesus did for them and how this part of scripture ties into the gospel.
Click here to get a free printable with scripture to teach your toddlers and preschoolers. There are even discussion questions to go with them!
Sing Your Way Through Scripture
My daughter especially LOVES any kind of music or singing. Take advantage of what your kids enjoy. There are plenty of ways to incorporate scripture memory into songs. Even just enthusiastically singing and worshipping with your kiddos is essential to model as you show them how to turn to God, speak to Him, and worship Him in daily life.
Don’t underestimate how singing can be a valuable tool for you to memorize scripture, too! I make up songs to go with our memory verses and it is amazing how your brain can memorize words to a song so easily. Don’t forget the hand motions! Adding movement to memorization is valuable for learning, too.
Keep Going and Don’t Give Up!
You would be AMAZED at how much your kiddos pick up on just from listening to you and watching you. My one child will often opt out of praying out loud in front of other people or saying their memory verse out loud when our family does it.
But you know what? I find them singing their memory verse as they play with their toys or telling me things like, “God is always with me” as we snuggle before bed each night. Your efforts are not lost on them! Each time spent teaching them scripture, singing songs, and praying with them is valuable and is building their faith little by little. Salvation is a long game most of the time. Sometimes people come radically to faith in Christ, but more often than not, there are years of discipleship that happen behind the scenes before someone gives their life to Jesus.
Reflect On Your Own Spiritual Journey
Who are the people who have helped you grow in your relationship with Jesus? Who was instrumental in bringing you into a relationship with Him? Think about the people who most influenced you as you began a relationship with Jesus or as you’ve walked with Him for years.
For me, simply spending time around people who truly love the Lord and walk with Him each day is what has catalyzed my relationship with Jesus and spurred me on to dig deeper in my Bible reading and prayer life. They haven’t been perfect people, but their love for God has been evident in the way they live their life. Not only in the ways they engage and talk about God, but in how they have treated me. It’s obvious when someone is walking with God and not just going through the motions of the Christian life.
I have heard people say that ages 0-10 are the most formative years in a person’s life. Take advantage of this formidable time with your kiddos. They absorb and understand so much more than we think. God is doing amazing things in their hearts, and we have the privilege to partner with the Lord as He softens their hearts and draws them to Him.
I know discipling your kiddos can be taxing, but most great things take time, effort, and consistency to produce the best fruit. I pray this can be a helpful resource as you do your best to teach your sweet toddlers and preschoolers scripture. Keep going, friends!
Check out our other article about how to have difficult conversations with your kids here.
Favorite Resources to Teach Toddlers and Preschoolers Scripture
- The Jesus Storybook Bible
- Bible Stories Every Child Should Know
- New City Catechism for Kids
- Slugs and Bugs for scripture put to song
- Bible Adventures on YouTube
Check out our favorite Kids Resources and Parenting Resources pages, too!
Let’s Connect!
