All posts tagged Parents

Toddler Bible Review

By | February 29, 2012 | Parents, Resources | 3 Comments
toodler

As a new-ish mom, I’m checking out Bible resources for little ones with serious fervor.  That’s why I was thrilled to receive The Toddler’s Bible from David C. Cook.  We’ve been using the Read and Share Bible for our now 2-year old daughter, but I thought this new Bible might be a better fit.  Here’s the scoop:

The Good

  • The Table of Contents: I like the Scripture references next to the stories.  It would have been nice if those were on the actual pages as well.
  • Questions throughout the book.  This is a great way to keep little ones engaged.  Likewise, the little things like “Look at the walls” and “See the golden chest” are great for opening up conversations.
  • Good pacing:  I was glad to see a Bible that didn’t spend 5 pages on Creation and 5 more on the Plagues and then completely skip the New Testament.  This Bible seemed to give a good spread of Old Testament and New Testament stories.
  • Not too many details.  With a book as big as the Bible, it’s tough to condense all the stories down without losing the main things.  The Toddler Bible seemed to capture the main points without drowning a little one in too many details.
  • New Testament: It’s a pet peeve of mine when picture Bibles spend 300 pages on the Old Testament and then completely skip over the New Testament, ending the Bible right after the gospels.  This seems to do a good job of illustrating key points of Paul’s life and the early church.
  • The index of stories in the back.  This is a great way to teach kids about Cool Bible Tools early on.

The Bad

  • I liked the “Sight”, “Sound”, “Touch” suggestions on page 9, but I didn’t get the reference for “Life Issue” or “Spiritual Building Block”, and I don’t think most parents will either.
  • Transitions: Some of the openings of the stories seemed very abrupt and disconnected to the story before it.  For example page 62-63 ends with “Someday Jacob and Rachel will get married” and the next set of pages opens with “Oh no! No one would sell their own brother!”.  There’s a lot that happened between Jacob and Joseph!  I know you can’t include everything, but it seems like there could have been a smoother flow.

What I’d Change

  • The book is a bulky for little hands.  I might make the pages a little bigger and the book less thick.  I know parents will usually be reading the book to the child, but wouldn’t it be great if it were easy for them to pick it up on their own and read?
  • The Illustrations: While the illustrations were very good, I think they could have been a little more attention grabbing.  Although for ages 1-3 (which is who the Bible is designed for), they may be just right.  I know the books our 2-year old daughter really loves have bold colors, but clearly (based on my reading experiments), this doesn’t seem to be a major obstacle.    Also, the angels are a little girly for my taste.

Other Notes

  • I was reading this Bible today with a two-year old girl and it wasn’t until page 180 that she started to get fidgety.  I decided to close the book and take a break and she instantly asked for more. Good sign!

Get Yours Today!

You can pick up a copy either at David C. Cook’s website or on Amazon.

Truth in Tinsel E-book: Great Resource!

By | November 25, 2011 | Christmas, Holidays and Events, Parents, Resources | 2 Comments
Truth in Tinsel

I’ve been following a blog called Impress Your Kids for some time now, and have admired the creative ways the author Amanda uses to teach her kids about God and Scripture.  When she announced she had written an e-book called Truth and Tinsel, and was looking for bloggers to review it, I nearly lunged out of my chair in an attempt to send her an email.   I just finished browsing through the book, and I can tell you, I am not disappointed.  Not one bit.

In her introduction, she shares the history of the book, which goes like this:

When my daughter was just a year old, I bought her an Advent Calendar book. Each day, she’d open a tiny flap in the back and then we’d read the corresponding page in the book. The first day the book instructed us to make a Christmas ornament to go along with the story. We did (I think it was made out of construction paper and had some stickers slapped on it) and my daughter was in love! Every single day of December she wanted to make an ornament. However, the book didn’t continue with ornaments each day, so we made some up ourselves! They were mainly made from paper, glue, markers and maybe a ribbon if I could scrounge one up.

We had so much fun making a little craft together during that Christmas season. What was even more fun is that my little bitty girl started understanding the Christmas story. She’d talk (or babble) about Mary, Joseph, and Jesus.

Amanda goes on to tell how she tried a few new things over the next few years, but she and her daughter always returned to the Christmas ornaments, because of their story value.  My daughter is just about to turn two, so I am especially interested in ways to make Christmas meaningful for her this year.

Won’t Break the Bank!

As I opened up Truth in Tinsel, I was so impressed with all the super cute and easy ideas.  I especially love that most people will already have most of the supplies on hand already.  Even if you had to go out and buy things, the cost for making everything in this book would probably be under $10 and you would have some truly wonderful memories.

Up for a Challenge?

We’re really into crafting right now (I have another girl that comes to my house for child care).  I’m always browsing around on Pinterest trying to gather up ideas.  With Amanda’s book, I now have 24 simple crafts that all tie into the Christmas story and I couldn’t be more excited about it!  She also issued a challenge to “give” December to your kids by participating in the crafts and Scripture every day.  I’ll take the challenge!  Stay tuned for more posts and pictures of all the fun.  Check out the list of days at the bottom of this post!

Good for Kidmin Too!

Another great way to use this book is in your Children’s Ministry during the down time of the Christmas play practice.  If you’re in kidmin, you know this problem all too well.  What do you do with the kids who aren’t actively practicing?  Or with guests for that matter?  You want something that’s going to be engaging, but isn’t going to suck up too much man-power, or require a ton of set-up or clean-up. Truth in Tinsel is a perfect solution!  kids will be engaging in the Christmas story, but will also be readily available to practice when their part comes up.  Fabulous.

My Favorite Parts

Okay, want to hear my favorite parts about the book?  I’ll tell you a few, but I don’t want to give it all away!  Of course, I love the fact that each craft has a corresponding Scripture passage or story.  I also love the “do more together” feature.  This is perfect if you’ve a few extra minutes one day and want to make a really good memory with your kids.  I also love that the crafts are designed for the younger set, and there are parts of each ornament that even a toddler can participate in.

Some of my favorite crafts?

  • Mary and Elizabeth who have pop-dots for their pregnant bellies!
  • The city of Bethlehem made out of an egg carton.
  • The temple made out of an old Christmas card
  • The scented ornament made out of homemade dough.

Does it all seem like too much?

Don’t think you have enough time to do it all?  Amanda has a “just the basics” schedule with only 6 of the most important ornaments!

Get Yours Today!

So what are you waiting for?  Head on over to Impress Your Kids. and snag your copy today!  They are currently $4.99 and will be on sale for $2.99 on Black Friday! You’ll be glad you did!

Got Questions:

Check out the FAQ page or contact Amanda through her blog.

Our Adventure

Parenting Seminar: Get Your Kids to Listen

By | October 18, 2011 | Parents | Comments Off
Flickr by PodcastTools

If you saw my post a week or so again ago about a free parenting seminar entitled “Get Your Kids to Listen without Whining, Yelling, or Nagging” but weren’t able to watch during the scheduled times, I’ve got good news for you!  There is a free replay of the seminar available for you to watch whenever you want.  I caught most of the original seminar (missed a few parts while chasing down some crazy kids!), and it is certainly worth your time.  Check out the details here, and happy listening.

Parenting Resource Round-Up

By | October 13, 2011 | Parents | Comments Off
Flickr by fairfaxcounty
  1. What Kind of a Leader Are You?: Amanda, from Impress Your Kids, shares some great devotional books to help you get into God’s Word. 
  2. Why Family Dinner is So Important:There’s something kids can learn at every age while around the dinner table
  3. Pasta Thursday: Speaking of family dinner, here’s some pasta ideas from Wegmans! 
  4. Who’s Watching You?: One of my favorite hip-hop artist LaCrae raps about the importance of male role models
  5. Veggie Tales Games: Now that looks like fun!
  6. Christmas Planning free e-book: Focus on what’s really important this year!
  7. Courageous Parenting: A Call to Action!
  8. Talking to Your Kid About Online Safety: How to spot a creeper and more
  9. Making a Parenting Manifesto: What do you want your kids to remember?  What do you want them to become?
  10. It’s Playtime: Ideas with Apples!

My Awesome God Bible: Review and Giveaway!

By | July 8, 2011 | Bible Study, Elementary Age, Parents, Preschoolers, Resources, Reviews | 16 Comments
bible

I had the privilege of reviewing “My Awesome God Bible Storybook” by DiscipleLand recently, and here’s what I thought:

What’s Good:

  • The illustrations were lively and interesting.  They were very modern and could easily keep a reader engaged.
  • In many instances, these pictures really brought the story to life. For instance, Abraham and Sarah look seriously old (p32) when Isaac was born (which they were!).  It’s nice to have a storybook illustration finally portray this.
  • This Bible included some lesser known, but important stories from the Bible, such as Rahab, Achan, Saul’s wrongful offering to the Lord, and passages from Nehemiah and Ezra. Even the mention of Cain and Abel is missing in many Bible storybooks, but it was included here.
  • I also liked the fact that My Awesome God Bible included some of the Psalms and almost the whole book of Acts. And THANK YOU for including Paul’s letters — it was a perfect approach for a storybook Bible, including the main points of the letters in an actual letter form.  It’s so hard when we turn to one of these passages in a “real Bible” during lesson time and our preschoolers with storybook Bible don’t have anything to turn to because the book isn’t even represented.  I’m really glad to see this isn’t the case in this version.
  • For some of the more common stories, page after page wasn’t devoted to the details.  For example, I’ve never understood why every day in creation and every single plague needed their own page while some very important books of the Bible or stories got completely skipped.  This storybook Bible condenses these typically drawn out stories to only a few pages, without skimping on important facts.
  • Some commonly misrepresented stories were correct in this Bible.  For example, Adam and Eve ate some unidentifiable fruit instead of an apple (finally!) and the wise men gave gifts to a walking toddler, not a baby in the manger.

What’s Not So Good:

  • Sometimes inferences are made that are not directly from Scripture, such as a person’s thoughts, motives, or feelings. For example, how do the authors know that Mary, mother of Jesus, was a very good housekeeper (p217).
  • Transitions in this book were very shaky.  It was often difficult to tell where one story ended and other began.  The reader has to do a double take to realize they’ve moved onto another story or another time-frame. Many people in the Bible were mentioned without any introduction or background information.  For a kid reading, this could be confusing.   (This happens quite a few times in this book).
  • Almost everyone in this book was super attractive, well-built, muscular, and well-groomed.  Even Job didn’t look so bad in the midst of his struggles.  Neither did the the lame man who apparently was able to work out quite a bit in his condition.  Not only is this unrealistic, but don’t our kids get enough of the “perfect body” imagery from the media already?

Um… I’m not Sure About…

  • A few of the illustrations were clearly not biblical, like the umbrella on Noah’s ship,the man using a kiln in the middle of the desert (p67), or the king’s men eating pizza and hot dogs at a banquet (p187). Also, there were weird little animals like lizards, turtles and mice everywhere. These quirky additions were probably meant to bring some modern relevance to the story or a smile to the reading adult, but I’m just not so sure about it.  I know we have to be really careful about what  we present to children.  Often, they have difficultly discerning the difference between real and imaginary, and I would hate for their first exposure to God’s Word to be full of false pictures.

Final Take

Great, great, great additional to any Children’s Ministry leader’s library.  Also, great thing for parents to pick up for their kids.  All in all, it’s pretty accurate and gives a great overview of the Bible.  I’ve been a big fan of the Read and Share Bible for some time, but I have found myself switching back and forth frequently between that and My Awesome God Bible during “The Big Story” story time program we’ve been running on Wednesday nights.  If you haven’t picked up a storybook Bible for your preschooler yet, this would be  a great book to invest in.

Time to Win!

Thanks to DiscipleLand.com, I’ve got three copies to give away to readers!  Here’s how to enter (you get one entry for each comment):

  1. Leave a comment, telling me what your favorite Bible story is.
  2. Follow me (@lrwhitney) on twitter and then leave a comment letting me know you did so.
  3. Like Growing Kids Ministry on Facebook and then leave a comment letting me know.
  4. Like DiscipleLand on Facebook and then leave a comment letting me know.
  5. Send me a Starbucks card (this will count as 10 entries) .  :)
  6. Contest ends July 20th.

Interested in buying one for yourself or ministry?  Head on over to DiscipleLand and pick one up for $19.95.

WINNERS: Michelle, Rachel and Pam!  I’ll be contacting you soon!

What Your Daughter Isn’t Telling You: Book Review

By | July 1, 2011 | Parents, Resources, Reviews | Comments Off
Daughter

I found the book “What Your Son Isn’t Telling You” very insightful, so I decided to pick up the same type of book for the opposite gender.  A little while back I was running a pre-teen girl mentoring program and wanted a closer look at some of the typical issues girls this age were facing.  The book, “What Your Daughter Isn’t Telling You” by Susie Shellenberger and Kathy Gowler did a great job addressing this very thing.

Unlike the guy version of this book, “What Your Daughter…” didn’t focus mainly on sex and pornography.  Instead, it covered a wide range of topics and issues. A few examples include:

  • “Why Won’t She Talk To Me?”
  • Sex and Dating
  • Family Issues
  • “About Dad…”
  • Cutting and Eating Disorders
  • Drinking
  • Blending Families Situations

What’s Good About this Book:

  • Each chapter contains emails/letters from girls giving the reader a glimpse at a real-life situation
  • The authors suggest both proactive ways to prevent problems and ways to work on problems if they arise
  • Checklists and quizzes to help moms assess their relationship with their daughter
  • Simple activities a mom could do today to boost communication or bonding
  • Examples of tricky situations that could serve as great discussion starters between moms and daughters

What’s Not So Great:

  • This isn’t a super in-depth book.  Each topic is given a brief summary along with some suggestions to address the issues.  (Of course, this book doesn’t claim to be an in-depth analysis of teen problems either).

Overall, this is a great book for moms to pick up to become aware of some of the challenges teen (and preteen) girls face each day.  It strikes an excellent balance of being concerned and aware without becoming overprotective and suspicious of your teen.   I would definitely recommend it to moms of preteen girls or anyone who works with this age group.  Pick up your copy on Amazon or at Bethany House Publishers.

 

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