Sometimes we overcomplicate, overthink, over-stress this mom-thing.

Can you relate?

“I want to teach my kids about the Bible, but I need the right devotional.”

“I need to know my Bible better before I start.”

“I need all of the kids in the same room. There needs to be no fighting at all.”

“I need a craft to go along with it. I’ll search Pinterest…”

Friend, I mean this in the most loving way–NO.

No you do not need all of the things to teach your child the eternal, foundational truths of the Bible.

Here is what you do need: attention, yours and theirs. A Bible.

Here are some optional tools that can help you retain your sanity while you teach them: plain white paper, any coloring or writing tools, a snack or meal.

Here are four methods we use to teach our kids the Bible:

1. Memorize a proverb.

If you have five minutes and your kids’ attention, you can do this. Grab a proverb that you think your kids will understand, and that you can explain. I enjoy marking up my Bible and underlining verses that stick out to me. Some mornings I will flip through and pull out one of the proverbs I’ve previously underlined. I’ll explain it to the kids in very tangible terms, using a real-life example from their daily life. Then we repeat the verse several times and make up hand motions for it. I tell the kids that is a skill I use all the time when I turn into a crab apple: I pull up my mental rolodex of verses to walk myself back from the cliff.

Here are some proverbs I’ve taught to and memorized with my kids, when they were tiny up through 11 years old.

“Good sense makes one slow to anger,
and it is his glory to overlook an offense.”
Proverbs 19:11 ESV

“He who is slow to anger is better than the mighty,
And he who rules his spirit, than he who captures a city.”
Proverbs 16:32 NASB

“He who walks with wise men will be wise,
But the companion of fools will suffer harm.”
Proverbs 13:20 NASB

“Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge,
But he who hates reproof is stupid.”
Proverbs 12:1 NASB

(Watch your kids eyes turn into saucers when they hear you say “stupid” and let them say it, too.)

There are one zillion possibilities in the Proverbs. Just grab one and go with it. If your NASB or ESV translation is too complicated for your tinies, try NIV or NIRV. (The reading level is lower.)

2. Read the Bible aloud with your kids, one chapter at a time.

My husband David and our three big kids started at Genesis 1 a year or so ago, and they read a chapter consecutively a few times per week. Some days the reading is hard to understand. Some days it’s illuminating beyond measure. Is every session full of perfect moments? No. But we are long-gaming this thing. Already my kids have reminded me of various Bible stories that I’d long forgotten. As they grow older, we continue to encourage each other with truth that we are storing up.

3. While teaching through a verse, hand the kids a blank paper and any writing tool.

Explain how that one verse corresponds to the larger story of the Bible. (No salad bar Bible reading here, picking what we like and leaving out what we don’t.)

Tell your kids to either write the verse, or draw a picture of something that comes to their mind that reminds them of the verse.

For example, we recently memorized this verse:

“From childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.” 2 Timothy 3:15

This sentence is packed with theological truth and practicality. Also it reminded my kids that the pastor Timothy began learning truth and scripture as a kid, just like them.

Ask your kids:

What does the Bible give us? (wisdom.)

Why is wisdom important? What does it lead to? (salvation.)

Where does salvation come from? (faith in Jesus.)

Your kids might choose to draw: praise hands, Jesus on the cross, a Bible, a happy face, a sky, whatever. Let them explain their picture to you when they are done. The basic idea can be used with any verse or Bible story you are going through together.

4. Provide context for whatever you’re teaching.

For each of these simple methods, we like to remind our kids the big-picture truth, and then bring it back down to the verse we are studying. A simple way to paint that big picture for them:

• The Bible is one story, told in 66 books, over a 1500 year time span, by 40 different authors, from three separate continents:
• God made man.
• Man rebelled against God, choosing sin instead of obedience to and relationship with a holy and perfect God.
• God loved people so much that he rescued man through the sacrifice of His son Jesus on the cross.
• Our debt has been paid! Now we have access to this holy God through His son Jesus.
• What does that mean for our lives today?

What are your favorite ways to teach your kids about the Bible in your home?