3-Steps to Teach Grandchildren How to Use the Bible
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“Grandma, how do you know so much about Jesus?”
This question from our five-year-old granddaughter made my heart soar. Her question thrilled me because somewhere along the way, in spite of my many faults and shortcomings, I conveyed to her the importance of knowing and loving Jesus.
“I learn about Jesus by reading the Bible and spending time with him every day,” I explained. “I also listen to what wise people, who also love Jesus, have learned about him.”
“And you go to church,” she added.
“That I do,” I said with a smile.
Our granddaughter is in preschool. Her reading skills are limited to simple, three-letter words like cat and dog. On the other hand, Her older sisters are excellent readers. As a result of this conversation, my husband and I decided to teach all three granddaughters to use their Bibles and look up Scripture references. Our fervent prayer is that they will fall in love with Jesus, hunger for God’s Word, and walk with him daily.
My husband and I began developing simple, 15-minute Bible activities with the following goals in mind: 1) teach them how to use the Bible; 2) talk about a particular character of God or topic such as prayer; and 3) create lasting memories. Rest assured, we didn’t spend copious amounts of time on these activities. Our motto was: “Keep it simple.”
With their parents’ blessing, we bought all three granddaughters pink, leather soft Bibles (NIV translation). We also purchased brightly-colored Bible tabs with whimsical designs.
Our first Bible activity involved putting the tabs on their Bibles. My husband and I began by telling our granddaughters that the Bible was written by God, and it contains everything we need to know about Jesus. He pointed out that the Bible is made of 66 different books: 39 books in the Old Testament and 27 in the New Testament. He explained that the things in the Old Testament happened before Jesus’ birth, and things in the New Testament happened around the time of Jesus’ birth and thereafter. We reminded our granddaughters that Jesus is the Incarnate God.
We all had a fabulous time putting book tabs on our granddaughters’ Bibles. Not only did the girls enjoy a healthy competition, racing to see who could finish first, they giggled as they tried to pronounce the individual books of the Bible. In fact, their attempts to say Habakkuk, Psalms, and Job reduced the five of us to fits of laughter.
During our second Bible activity, we demonstrated how to search for specific verses in the Bible. My husband once again reminded them that the Bible is made of 66 books, listed by page numbers in the Table of Contents. Each book is divided into chapters. The chapters are made of sentences, which are referred to as verses. After making sure our granddaughters knew how to use the Table of Contents, I printed Psalm 23:1 in bold letters on a piece of paper. I explained the first number listed (the one to the left of the colon) tells us the chapter number, and the second number tells us the verse. Together, we located Psalm 23:1 (NIV). We read the verse aloud, memorized it, and discussed the ways God shepherds us.
Our Bible activity closed with a mini-scavenger hunt. Prior to our granddaughters’ arrival home from school, my husband hid a toy shepherd in the vicinity of the kitchen. When we explained that the Bible verse was their only clue for the scavenger hunt, the girls correctly assumed they were looking for either a sheep or shepherd and went to work. With hints like “you’re getting warmer or colder,” they quickly located the toy – in the oven of all places!
Our third Bible activity took place prior to Holy Week. Instead of a single verse, we chose an entire passage: John’s account of Jesus’ crucifixion. We didn’t stop with John 19:16-30 (NIV), however, because our granddaughters insisted we tell the “whole story” including the empty tomb.
Once again, we ended the activity with a scavenger hunt. The only difference was that instead of a single item, my husband hid three wooden crosses, one for each of our granddaughters.
Our granddaughters continue to be excited about our adventures studying the Bible; in fact, whenever the older ones get off the school bus, they immediately ask if we have another activity that day.
Author’s Note:
Tragically, today’s youth tend to be illiterate when it comes to reading the Bible. As grandparents, we have the opportunity to make a difference by taking 15 minutes to teach our grandchildren how to read the Bible, starting with how to search for Scripture references.
(As we continue to create Bible activities, we’ll be sure to send them your way!)
