Beginning with God Alison Mitchell & Jo Boddam Whetham, The Good Book Company

Have you seen this resource? It’s an excellent way of introducing kids to Bible reading – I love how interractive it is.

It is designed to go along with The Beginners’ Bible. You have a short passage to read from the Bible and then some questions to talk through. There are big stickers for each session and a number of options so you can tailor it to your child’s ability and interests. There are also ideas for things to chat about while you’re out and about.

I really like how the writers have thought about getting kids involved and setting brilliant patterns that will be continued through their lives. For instance, prayer time is ‘hands up’ (for praising God) and ‘hands in’ (for saying sorry or asking God for something). An idea like this is fab – our children love getting involved in any way they can. It also teaches children what prayer is without them even realising!

We all hope that reading the Bible with our children will start a habit that sticks – this is a great way of getting started.

Book One covers Genesis in fourteen sessions and stories about Jesus in fifteen sessions. I am pretty certain each story is designed to last a week, but it’s not actually explicitly said in the booklet. That way, the resource lasts a good six or seven months, which is amazing value for money! There are extra stickers so that you can do it all again – a great idea. You can also download more stickers to print from the Good Book Company website.

I really like Beginning with God, it is one I would give away both to friends who are very familiar with reading the Bible with their kids and those who have never done it before but are keen to start.

If you use it with a different children’s Bible it’s worth checking the stories before, just in case your book misses one out or the notes are going to focus on something not particularly addressed in your version.

Although designed for young children, Beginning with God is really aimed at kids who have good language skills (the sessions are based on asking questions about the passage you’ve read together) and, like anything, it needs to tweaked for your individual child (there are good suggestions for how you could do this throughout the book).

Honestly, we’ve not sat down and used it with our lot, partly because were already doing our own thing and also because the wordiness is certainly beyond Mikey and probably Dan too. Having said that, I really think this is the best resource you can buy for your kids. I heartily recommend it.

Book two has just come out and there is a special Christmas one as well! I’ve not seen either of these, but if they’re anything like book one, they will be great! Click here for information on book one, including a sample of the book to download and see if it’s your kind of thing.

Maybe you have tried this with your family? What did you think?