After that, we tried a few books, but found they were too old for the girls. My favorite this year has been The Jesus Book and the Read and Share Bible. But, I really like the book we are using right now. It is Big Thoughts for Little People by Kenneth Taylor. It has new pictures (instead of the original ones from the 70s). It is perfect for Sami at 4 yrs old. She was just a little young for The Jesus Book. But, we will soon be done with Big Thoughts, so I'm always on the lookout for a new book for our devotional. I think we will likely go back and read through the whole Read and Share Bible. It is perfect for both girls right now and great for 4-6s.
But, on another note, I did receive another devotional from Tyndale (a complimentary copy) recently that I want to review. It is one that I will hold onto--but I will definitely hold onto it, because I do like it--a lot! It is called "Did You Know? Devotions 2" by Nancy S. Hill It has 365 devotions, so it will take you through a whole year (you really get your money's worth =) ) and includes a verse, an interesting question and the answer and then a related thought about God for children to think about. I read several to my daughters yesterday and realized very quickly that they are too young right now for this book. It is listed as being for ages 6-10. I would usually recommend it for children 7-10 unless the child is a very curious or gifted 6 year old. I was surprised by how much I like this book and I do definitely look forward to reading it to my children when they are older. It would be a great devotional for a mixed group of children--both girls and boys. I think it's often harder to find good devotionals that will engage both boys and girls because they often have a lot of different interests (at leasts my daughters and son do).
It reminds of something that a friend shared with me about why young boys are slower to become good readers. There has been some research done that has shown that typically men and boys read nonfiction and don't prefer to read fiction. Women, on the other hand, tend to read mostly fiction. In the past, most of the books for written for younger children and beginning readers has been fiction. Now, publishers are coming out with beginning readers that are nonfiction. It's wonderful--because that's what boys want to read!
I think the same might be said of this devotional. The topics that Nancy Hill has chosen for her daily devotionals are things that would be interesting to both boys and girls--they are nonfictional, informational types of questions, but there's a lot of variety to them.
What a great devotional book to share with our children!
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