However, my current toddler totally latched onto it being “his” Bible and he loves it. And, I’ve learned to appreciate it too. It’s a classic for a reason and it does have some really good things going for it. My top two are that the stories are kept short and simple and I love that it has SO MANY stories to choose from that other toddler Bibles skip. In fact, Scripture remains deeply relevant and helpful in answering these questions as we navigate our own children through today’s world. We find children in the Bible who elucidate God’s nature so that we can gain a richer understanding of what God wants for them and what God asks of us as parents and carers. In particular, we can discover five important biblical themes about God’s relationship with children. We find that God calls children, saves children, commissions them, heals them and blesses them. How does God call children? W Brueggemann, ‘Vulnerable Children, Divine Passion and Human Obligation’, in M Bunge, The Child in the Bible (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2008), pp. 399–422. We see divine vocation in Luke’s Gospel with the wonderful story of Mary’s visit to Elizabeth. 2 Both women have parallel stories: neither expects to be pregnant and each stands in the presence of a miracle. Elizabeth says that her own unborn baby responded immediately with joy to the presence of the other; it is an unborn child who is the first to recognise and respond to Jesus and who causes Elizabeth to give joyful thanks and praise. We all know that children can blurt out awkward truths at the wrong moment. We are also often guilty of trying to reinterpret and reframe their faith when they talk about God in ways that don’t ‘fit’ with what we like to hear. Yet God’s Spirit emerges in the lives of children in all kinds of ways and we need to discern it.

All of my kids have loved reading these volumes over and over again. The pictures are a little different and keep the kids’ attention, and all of the stories emphasize God as the hero. The Big Picture Story Bible – For ages: 2-7 We live in a technological age when we can see unborn babies on an ultrasound scan and penetrate into the hitherto unknown world of the foetus. We know that babies and small children are intensely physical beings, exploring their own bodies and using those bodies to explore the world through the senses. Yet we don’t usuallyconnect this physicality with responding directly to a call from God, but perhaps we should.Here’s where the rubber meets the road! Does your selected toddler Bible actually engage said toddler? This classic story Bible includes 200 retellings of Bible stories in language kids can understand but that also stays true to Scripture. This is a Bible that has been used, loved, and recommended for over 80 years! Over and over again, the Bible tells the true story of a holy God who did everything to rescue us from ourselves, to save us from our sin that we might have a relationship with Him and live our lives for His glory.

This board-book baby Bible, much like The Pajama Bible, is written in beautiful poetry. There are only 10 stories included and they are relatively short (around 2 paragraphs each–perfect for a baby’s short attention span). The Bible itself is large enough to hug and the entire book is covered with a snuggly, sheep-like fabric (which you can’t see from the picture)! The emphasis of every story is on God’s love for us. This is now my go-to baby Bible for baby showers and baby gifts! Some readers have described this book as Crazy Love for Kids. Herbert only does things halfway: his homework, cleaning his room, and eating his dinner. He gets caught telling a half-truth and his dad teaches him that if he’s going to live pleasing to Jesus, he’s going to have to put his whole heart into it.The entire Baby Bible series are really great for toddlers. There are about 7 books in the series as and I will link to all of them below.

Yes, we own every single one of these children’s Bibles I’ve mentioned below… and these are just the ones that I like and recommend! You might wonder: Why do I need to have more than one children’s Bible? Well, I’m not sure that you “need” multiple Bibles, but I have found that not a single children’s bible includes all of the stories in the Bible (or all the stories I want to teach my children). Too often churches overlook children age 1-3 and don’t provide a program of spiritual formation. That’s why we’re excited about this new Toddler Bible Curriculum from Bethany Darwin and the Sunday School Store. This material will give even the youngest children a solid foundation for their relationship with God. This is another great kids Bible that points to our need for a Savior. The illustrations are very lifelike and the bible itself is rather large, making the title even more relevant. This bible is appropriate for slightly older children because it is not really “fluffed” like many other children’s bibles. The Old Testament section of this Bible talks a lot about punishment and God’s anger, but then again…that is a lot of what we read about in the Old Testament. Overall, it paints a very realistic picture of the stories in the Bible.

We believe that God is the loving Father of all kids. It is HIS divine will that young people come to faith in Jesus Christ and find salvation through the Gospel and the work of the Holy Spirit to bring them to faith. This preschoolers Bible is brand-new to us. I actually bought it for Big Brother for Christmas this year, so he hasn’t gotten to read it yet. I have read several of the stories and I absolutely love the illustrations. At the end of every story, it has a “Jesus Calling” section with a scripture reference that emphasizes Jesus’ presence as well as how we can apply the story to our lives (“I was there when Adam and Eve left the Garden forever”; “Sometimes in this world, you will have to suffer for doing the right thing”). My only complaint is that not all the stories are similar in length, which could be a good thing for using it with younger children and siblings.