Choosing a Devotional Your Children Will Want to Read
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One way to encourage our children to have a personal relationship with the Lord is to encourage devotional readings coupled with reading their Bibles. Devotionals are impactful because they teach Biblical truths and help children apply God’s Word to their lives through stories, analogies, and discussion questions. Devotionals can also encourage children in their prayer life. There are many different kinds of devotionals we can use to encourage our children in their walk with the Lord, so sometimes it can be difficult to know where to start.
Here are three questions to consider when choosing a devotional that your kids will love and want to read each day!
1. Do you want the devotional to be read together as a family, as one-on-one discipleship between parent and child, or for your children to read during their personal time with God? Here is a brief description of each.
Family Devotions: Reading a devotional together as a family is a great way to help build a strong family relationship centered around God. This can be done in the morning before starting your day, at the dinner table, or before bed. When our kids were young we would go through a Bible devotional before bed once a week and my husband used a puppet we named Pete to ask the questions after reading the Bible story. Everyone would laugh, and it built great family memories and made family devotion time fun for everyone. As the kids have grown older and life has become busier, we do family devotions once to twice a week over dinner. It’s a great way for busy families to connect throughout the week. To find a list of some great family devotionals, click here.
One-on-one Discipleship: Our primary goal as parents is to disciple our kids, and a great way to do so is to have special one-on-one time with them and read and discuss a devotional together. This can be done as mother/son, mother/daughter, father/daughter, or father/son discipleship. If you have several kids, you can rotate this time once a week or every two weeks to make it feasible for your family. Having this one-on-one time with your children is so important because it gives you the opportunity to answer any spiritual questions they have and to encourage them in their walk with the Lord. You can go through any devotional for one-on-one discipleship, but a few we liked for this model include Sticky Situations 2, A Boy’s Guide to Making Really Good Choices, Boyhood and Beyond, Princess Stories: Real Stories of God’s Princesses, Between Us: A 52 -Week Keepsake Devotional for Moms and Daughters, Rooted in Love: A Mother and Daughter Devotional for Building a Strong Foundation
Personal Time with God: As our kids grow older and become independent readers, it is important to teach them how to have their own personal time with God using their Bible and/or Biblically focused devotional. Start off reading and discussing the devotional together to model for them what it can look like to spend time with God. Then help them find a time during the day that they can do their devotions on their own, so it becomes a daily habit. Ask them each day what God has taught them through their devotional time and praise them for spending time in God’s Word and in prayer.
2. What is the age and gender of your child?
In order to choose a devotional that your kids will find enjoyable and engaging, consider the age and gender of your children. Here are some examples of devotionals for different ages and genders.
Preschool Devotionals: Preschool devotionals are usually very simple with colorful, engaging pictures. Some of my favorites include The Beginner’s Bible Book of Devotions: My Time with God and The One Year Devotions for Preschoolers. Gotta Have God: Fun Devotionals for Boys is perfect for boys 2-5, and Very Veggie Devos is great for little ones who love VeggieTales®. To see my complete list of favorite toddler and preschool devotionals click here.
Elementary/Middle School Girls Devotionals: Young girls tend to love princesses, and there are some good ones to consider. God’s Little Princess Devotional Bible, perfect for ages 4-7, will help your little girl live out her identity as a true child of the King. Princess Stories: Real Bible Stories of God’s Princesses provides stories of amazing role models from women in the Bible who demonstrated godly character. A Girl After God’s Own Heart discusses topics related to later elementary/preteen girls and helps them understand what it looks like to love God with all their hearts. To see my complete list of favorite devotionals for elementary/middle school girls, click here.
Elementary/Middle School Boys Devotionals: God’s Mighty Warrior Devotional Bible helps young boys to understand they are mighty warriors who serve God (best for ages 4-7). A Boy After God’s Own Heart discusses topics related to later elementary/preteen boys and helps them understand what it looks like to love God with all their hearts. To see my complete list of favorite devotionals for elementary/middle school boys, click here.
Teen Girls Devotionals: Teen girls often struggle with their identity, so this scripture devotional, What God Says About Me , is a great choice to help them understand and prayerfully receive who they are in Christ. A Young Woman’s Guide to Making Choices: Your Life God’s Way is another great devotional by Elizabeth George to encourage our teen girls to follow God’s ways when it comes to issues like friendships, dating, and peer pressure. Teen Devotionals for Girls by Clair Bennett is great for older teens and encourages them through topics like finding purpose, inner beauty, and deepening their connection with God. To see my complete list of favorite devotionals for teen girls click here.
Teen Guys Devotionals: Teen to Teen: 365 Daily Devotions by Teen Guys for Teen Guys shares life lessons from other teens based on a related scripture and includes topics such as peer pressure, dating, and substance abuse. A Young Man’s Guide to Making Right Choices is another great devotion by Elizabeth George to encourage our teen guys to follow God’s ways when it comes to issues like choosing friends, dating, and peer pressure. Boyhood and Beyond works well as a devotional to read with your son and discuss the questions at the end of each chapter together. Topics include spending time with God, leadership, overcoming fears, and even preparing for a wife.
3. What are your child’s interests?
Considering the interests of your child can be very helpful when choosing a devotional that they will want to read. If your child is into science, consider the Indescribable: 100 Devotions for Kids About God and Science by Louie Giglio. The devotions are full of amazing facts about God’s World that help kids understand more about God’s character and attributes. If your kids play a sport, look for devotionals centered around sports. My son actually found a martial arts devotional through his martial arts school, and we found an amazing ballet devotional for my daughter who loves to dance. My son has also gone through devotionals related to topics of dogs and even Star Wars, which he has enjoyed! My daughter has read Cat Devotionals as well. It’s amazing what types of devotionals you can find to fit your kids’ interests. Just search a topic on Amazon or christianbook.com and look through the options, including the reviews, author description, and sample pages to determine if it’s a theologically accurate devotional and seems engaging for your child. Consider giving your child a devotional as a gift to help make his devotional time seem special rather than a chore.
If reading does not come easily for your child, consider reading with him, getting a lower reading-level devotional, or finding audible devotionals or podcasts that your child will find interesting.
Finding a devotional that’s right for your children can be a fun process when you know what you are looking for. Once you know who will be reading the devotion (your family, mother/daughter, father/son, or just your child), you can search different devotionals together to find one they like based on their age, gender, and interests. With so many options to choose from, you are sure to find one that each of your children will enjoy reading, and God can use to draw them closer to Him.
