Best Toddler Bible/ Christian Learning Resources

[TeachingMyToddlers]

Today I "officially" started our hodge podge bible curriculum. I was shocked how much is sank in and how quickly (I just can't resist sharing here). We did a coloring page about the creation story and read a page or two about the creation story out of a random toddler bible we have laying around the house (we have many random kids bible/christian books but no entire curriculum). We talked about everything in the pictures and and did a memory verse that I taped to the window and we'll come back to it some more over the next couple of days. I wrote it out on a sentence strip and every time she went over to it to have me read it, I gave her a sticker to add to it. I know she is capable of reading it, but for some reason she was shy about it so I didn't force her.

When we were reading her toddler bible, we looked at the pictures together and I said God made the trees, God made the grass, God made the rabbits, God made Adam, etc etc etc. and she repeated after me. And then it went something like this. I asked her...

Me: What about the clouds?

Her: "God made clouds." (She "got it" if He made all that other stuff, He must have made the clouds too)

Me: "What about the flowers?"

Her: "God made flowers."

Me: "What about Mommy?"

Her: "God made Mommy!" (big jump there!)

Me: "What about Lily?"

Her: "God made Lily!....God made Oh-Oh's!??"(her nickname for her brother)

It was so sweet. She figured out so quickly, she was like,  God made the trees, plants, animals, mommy, and me, then surely he must have made brother too, right mommy?? He did, right?


And then I put on the first two stories of the "Read and Share" bible dvd (about 3 minutes per story). She listened to the narrator describe the creation story as he explained that God separated the light from the dark, etc etc and she signed "where" and said "Where's God? Where's God?" three or four times looking at me expectantly because the narrator kept referring to him. Kind of caught me off guard.

When we got to the Garden of Eden scene, I explained that Eve was going to be naughty and disobey God...No, Eve, don't do it, uh-oh. I could see the look on my daughters face when they said God was sad. She was uncomfortable that they disobeyed, she actually understood the storyline and came across the room and sat in my lap to be near me. She "got it." I have been really intimidated about starting this and although we are starting small, it went a lot better than I thought it was going to. We pray once or twice a day together but have never really attempted anything beyond that. So, I just wanted to share here to get some ideas from other Christians on things I can do as well as encourage anyone else who might feel intimidated about starting this part of your child's education. 

Here's what I have or have just ordered this week

An assortment of Christian board boards and board bibles
Read and Share Bible DVD boxed set (has coloring pages too)
Read and Share Toddler Bible (just ordered this, I think she will be able to read some/most of this with minimal help)
Read and Share Bible (Older kidsversion, just ordered this, for me to read aloud to her, more detailed but still concise)

I am going to use that series for the core of the curriculum I think and work our way through. I like that all of the illustrations "match" and she can see the continuity. She responds well to sets of things.  I thought about ordering the actual preschool sunday-school kit, but it seemed geared for a class and you don't get that much more so, we'll just have to look up our own crafts and activities.

I just ordered Feed My Lambs for Scripture Memorization (audio) with a song book based on the reccomendation of a forum member here

A good friend of mine likes the "GT & the Halo Express" series for musical scripture memorization too, she says it's straight NIV (which I have heard FML might not be exact, but I am that concerned at the moment). So I am thinking about getting that.

Anyone else have some great websites, dvds, toys, cd's, crafts, etc, etc to share to help me teach my daughter about Christ?

[Skylark]

If you’re looking for Christian life and faith and character-building principles for children presented through captivating texts and audio and visual presentations, then be sure to visit My Wonder Studio. http://www.mywonderstudio.com/ This site is designed specifically to provide parents and teachers with spiritual feeding materials, and is updated several times a week. I started using it a little while ago and would recommend it for some ideas and great visuals, there are also free downloadables of coloring pages, flannegraphs etc that correspond the stories, which I find is great to have to reinforce the Bible stories 


There are three sections in My Wonder Studio with content created for children, as represented by some of the tabs at the top of our site: 0–5, Level 1, Level 2. And two sections—Parents and Teachers and Scope and Sequence—with content directed at parents, teachers, and Christian educators.

Here is just a little overview:

"0–5" contains simple Christian and character-building materials for toddlers and preschoolers.
"Level "1 targets beginner concepts on Christian life and faith and character building.
"Level 2" focuses on intermediate concepts on Christian life and faith and character building. I would imagine some would use those for older children or you can also use some of these materials for  younger ones if they undestand the principles already..
"Parents and Teachers" is where you can find posts with ideas on how to use the content on My Wonder Studio with your children.
"Scope and Sequence" provides parents and teachers with a list of learning objectives for topics under Christian life and faith and character-building principles.


Hope this helps, our girl likes these! We also using FML, and at 21 months she already knows a number of verses, but we also building activities based on them, illustrations are really good. Another thing we are using the Beginners Bible and set of Bible cards that comes with it, each card has short information on different Bible events, people, Bible animals, etc. We just starting that.

And of course, reading variety Children Bible books, she loves reading... Also we do some visual activities, like Noahs Ark with little animals...

Hope this helps    Thank you for starting the topic, I will be looking forward for more suggestions as well!

[TeachingMyToddlers]

Thank you for sharing, I am going to go  check out that site! (Just did- Wow that's good stuff! Took a little navigating to figure out what I was doing (there isn't one sole place for downloads or coloring pages like I assumed, you have to scroll through the 0-5 section) but it looks like it's going to be a great resource for us. A good friend and I are setting up "preschool" dates with our kids once or twice a week and those flannel boards will come in really handy for some bible lessons without spending a ton of money on props, etc (although some are fun, you can't buy for every single story, it's just not possible!).


I did find some toys that are cute but a bit spendy going into the holiday season.

http://www.biblefriends.com/stories/story_daniel.asp

http://www.bibletoys.com/Figurine-Playsets-s/1.htm


Also, I just remembered, doesn't ABEKA make some great big Bible character flashcards with facts on the back too? Anyone use them? We don't typically use "real" oversized flashcards in my house (we tend to stick to digital for the most part) but I would consider it.

[mother of faith]

Wow thanks!
I like using www.hubbardscupboard.org and there are tons more that I use for my link homeschool as well. I also like www.bibleactivities.com it goes to 12 years old and be easily adapted for high schoolers, and I like using www.daniellesplace.com as well. I will share more when I get all of the links together. I also have created my own as well. I also like using Heavenly Helpers little books for PreK and K. I found them at my local Dollar General store.

This would make a great theme unit, Bible Characters?

[aangeles]

Wow! Thanks TmT, Skylark, and mother of faith for all these wonderful resources! I especially like the leveled content on My Wonder Studio.

We also liked the Heavenly Helpers activity books - I only wish they have it for higher grade levels.

Thanks for sharing! 

[mother of faith]

We also liked the Heavenly Helpers activity books - I only wish they have it for higher grade levels.

I wish they did to.

I am looking into the wonderstudio

[kizudo]

Thanks again, TMT!  I seriously wish we lived in the same city!  I would love to join your "preschool playdate"!  On your recommendation I'm buying the dvd set and Bible.  Thanks!  We had just talked about buying something like this for our son so this is very timely!

[kizudo]

By the way, if you go to the Wonders site and click on the left 0-5 Archive section, there's a category list:

...coloring book (3)
coloring page (6)
contentment (1)
creation (7)...

Thanks, Skylark, for the link!

[Skylark]

I am glad you liked it too. Also it is updated a few times a week with new materials every week, which I find is a great plus...

[TeachingMyToddlers]

Kizudo-

I was trying to figure out the differences between the toddler and the regular kids bible, aside from the length of the stories.

Some of the Toddler bibles come with the DVD's included, but I don't think it's the entire boxed set start to finish, I think it's just an abbreviated version from the selected stories included in the toddler version.

The boxed set DVD is two discs and 2.5 hours long total (I think?) broken up into 3 minute segments or so, and the regular Read and Share kids bible has 200 stories or so I think. So, for "matching" purposes between the dvd/bible the regular kids one will work better I think because it will include more stories. However, for DD practicing her reading, I think the Toddler one will be better but it's still a bit too long for her at this point, but she will grow into sooner.

Amazon has the "peek inside" option on both of them so you can check out the text yourself, I will try to post a link in a few. (although I bought mine from barnes and noble, I am semi-boycotting Amazon now when possible...don't get me started!) Mine should be here tomorrow or the day after so I can answer any questions you have before you buy if you like.

Okay- edited to add the links (lots of links!). After looking at all of these, I really need to call this company and figure out what comes with what, not that it really matters I guess because I already have mine coming in the mail but I can always return them, but I want the most complete set they offer and to make sure I purchased what is most appropriate for my daughters age bracket.

Here's a demo of the DVD- not the actual narration but a sample of the animation http://www.christianbook.com/read-and-share-bible-volume-4/9781400314539/pd/314539?item_code=WW&netp_id=586172&event=ESRCN&view=details

Bible Kids version http://www.amazon.com/Read-Share-Bible-Stories-Nelson/dp/1400308534

Bible Toddler Version http://www.amazon.com/Share-Toddler-Bible-Tommy-Nelson/dp/140031464X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1290040818&sr=1-1#reader_140031464X

Just found this kids (not toddler) version that is sold together with DVD volume 1 http://www.amazon.com/Read-Share-Ultimate-Bible-Storybook/dp/1400316138/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1290040908&sr=1-3

And this too, which apparently has devotionals http://www.amazon.com/Our-Together-time-Bible-Share-Nelson/dp/1400312795

Too many options! But so far with the DVDs I really like what I have seen, so I will figure it out!

[aangeles]

By the way, I forgot to mention that I also love the Read-a-long, Sing-a-long DVDs from this site: http://www.nestentertainment.com/search/search.aspx?keywords=read-a-long

There are two options for the story: "Read to me" or "Read by Myself." For the Sing-Along portion, the individual words in the lyrics are highlighted on-screen as they are sung. AND both the read along option and the sing a long activity can be shown in Spanish! 

[Ana3]

Hi, 

I happened to pick up a coloring book  at a garage sale, which as far as coloring books go I love because I feel it has great detail.  It's called: The Bible coloring book picutres from the old and new testments, by Creative Child Press.

I also picked up two dvds from Nest  entertainment ( which someone mention) via ebay to see if my kids like them, which they do. 

I have a Positive Action Bible Cirriculum, agian picked it up on ebay, what I like about it are the story they have made up to help children apply to every day life situations.

Enjoy,
Ana

[Ana3]

Hi Again

I was wondering if anyone is/was having trouble with the web site My Wonder Studio as post by Skylark?  I went to 0-5 and click on Nov 14, Bright Peddles,  I am getting: a security error loading document in the grey box .  Should I not be concerned with that?  Below that where the download is I can get that.

Thanks Ana

[kizudo]

Ana3 - sorry, I didn't have any issues with the Wonder site

All - We have a DVD that I would recommend - Baby Praise "Born to Worship" - while it wouldn't necessarily be classed as an "educational" dvd, it is fabulous.  It is basically praise music with pictures of children and other interesting pictures/video (animals, plants, toys, etc).  We play it when one of us is getting stressed out - it calms us both down immediately.  And the speaker in the parent section talks about early learning and how music can greatly assist with that.  AND, worship is a major part of teaching about Christian Education.

[kizudo]

Oh...and, I just saw on Nest that the Read & Share Toddler Bible with DVD is only $9.74

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