Not only does our 3-step approach allow God time to minister to my heart and my husband's heart when we were otherwise skipping over family devotional time, but it lays a foundation for our daughter to know God's love for her.
Family Devotions at Home with a Toddler
There's not much to it. The best part? It takes 5-10 minutes and can be achieved in three easy steps:
- Sing a song of praise
- Read a bible verse out loud
- Say a prayer
Sing a song of praise
We are lucky that my husband plays guitar. In fact, his talent for music is, what I believe, a blessing from God, but he has gone years without playing it. The act of doing this with our daughter has brought his guitar out of its case on a daily basis.Matt and I will pick a song for the week and sing it every day with Anna. Sometimes, it's a favorite hymn. Sometimes, it's as simple as Jesus Loves Me.
The point is that we are worshiping together, and God loves that, no matter how simple the song.
If you don't play an instrument, play a recording of the song and sing along!
I recommend doing this step first as most toddlers can't resist a good song and opportunity to get the wiggles out.
Pick a verse for the week
My husband and I are severely lacking in knowing Bible verses. This little 10 minute family worship session has helped us with that.Sometimes, the verse is really short and simple. Sometimes, it's a bit more wordy. Sometimes, we get it memorized. Sometimes, we don't.
We don't force Anna to do anything during this time. We usually just explain what we are about to do: "Ok, it's time to read our Bible verse."
Then we read it. Super easy.
We pick one verse and one song to do every day for a week. It may sound boring to us adults, but for a young toddler it is building on their ability to recognize words and phrases, to slowly understand, to anticipate, and to feel like they are a part of something.
Anna now grabs her bible during this time and enjoys touching the pages as we read the verse, even if we have it memorized. We teach her that the Bible is God's word and show her how to handle it gently.
Say a prayer for your family
We then tell Anna it's time to pray. If Anna isn't near us, Matt and I go to her and we sit on the floor with her. We bow are heads and fold our hands. Matt usually says the prayer and he keeps it pretty short: asking God to protect our family, to remind us of His love for us throughout the day, and for help in being good and loving to each other and to those we interact with.That's it. We follow with an "Amen" to which Anna now joins us in saying.
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Supplemental and Optional Resources:
I really want this post to show how easy it is to create a ritual of family worship at home with a toddler at no cost, but I understand that there are families out there that may have a little more time to expand on what I've shared.Here's what we've added to our short 10 minute family worship time at home:
- Explore the Holy Bible
- Read and "discuss" a story from the Bible
- Do an Activity
Exploring the Bible with a Toddler
After Matt leaves, Anna and I will flip through a small, inexpensive Bible that I purchased for her to specifically explore at an early age. I talk to her about how it is God's word, and I show her how to be gentle with the pages. I placed stickers throughout it that reflect God's creation (nature and animals). This has helped her feel as though she is "reading" the Bible.Reading and Discussing the Bible with a Toddler
I also read a short Bible story from her Jesus Calling: My First Storybook Bible and I will put together a really light hands-on activity to go with the story. We'll usually read the same story for a week.Do a Bible Activity with a Toddler
Currently, I've been using David C Cook's Bible in Life Lesson Plan for Toddlers + 2's to accompany the storybook Bible. Each lesson is supposed to be for one Sunday, but I actually stretch it for a week. There's usually multiple activities or "centers" in the lesson plan that make the perfect short activity to do with a toddler daily.Get Started Today:
Need some help? I put together this little Family Worship Guide with a month of songs, verses, and activities to get started with. This is for the parents out there that don't know where to start and just need SOMETHING. All of the activities can be achieved with items you may have around the house. The point of this guide is to bring the family together, to have scripture spoken out loud in the home.
The Bible verses are NOT intended for the child to memorize and recite as this guide is for families with toddlers who are not forming complete sentences yet. Think of them as words to draw from throughout your week as you engage with your child.
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