10 Fun Family Devotion Ideas

How Do You Start A Family Devotion?

For us, it starts at the kitchen with the youngest in my lap and every else seated around the table. In the center of the table are my Bible and a kid’s Bible (view our favorite kid’s Bibles here).

I’ll announce the theme or chapter for the family devotions for today and we’ll get started. What I appreciate about family Bible Study books is their layout; the layout acts as a training ground for all the Bible discussions to come. After a week or two, you’ll know how to write and facilitate your own studies at home. Most family devotions follow this simple format:

1. Ask a question.
2. Read the selected Bible Passages.
3. Talk about it (we love using these Bible Study cards to help guide the conversation).
4. Speak to God (Pray).

This is what Clay Clarkson, author of Our 24 Family Ways Family Devotion Guide, refers to as the ARTS Method in . I love that we live in an age where we have so many Bible Study resources available to us. Yet, at some point, we have to start having these conversations on our own. We can’t always wait for the book. ARTS is a great way to build a healthy dependence on God’s words in the Bible.

How long should the family devotion last? Our typical family Bible study lasts about 10-20 minutes. It doesn’t have to be super lengthy. You’ll have plenty of real-life opportunities to reinforce the family devotional lessons and there are plenty of devotional activities you can use to make the lessons stick.

 

Devotional Activities That Make Learning Fun

What are devotional activities? I’ve talked to many moms who just aren’t sure about doing Bible lessons at home. They worry that they might not cover all the bases or that the lessons might not stick. If that’s you I want to encourage you to give it a try anyway, despite your doubts. The mind of a child is incredible. They are able to soak up more information than we give them credit for. But even if they don’t pick it all up now – they are picking up bits and pieces; little seeds of truth are being planted in their little souls. That’s the first step! From that point on, all you need to do is nurture the seeds. Here are a few activities and family devotion ideas we use to “nurture the seed”.

Conversation. We talk about the lesson often. Maybe not bullet point to bullet point, but if a situation presents an opportunity for us to tie the lesson to real life, we take it.

Storytelling. A good story will stick with kids much longer than a lecture will. We try to find stories that reinforce the character traits we are learning. They can be Bible stories but they don’t have to be. Using other stories helps kids understand how the Bible applies to them at school, in friendships, at home, and in life in general. If you want to stick to just Bible stories The Jesus Storybook Bible is perfect for that! Fun, simple, and engaging for kids.

Scripture Writing. This is part of our scripture memory routine. A few mornings a week we sit down together and write out our memory verse for the week. We love the Write the Word for Kids Scripture Journals for this. Writing is great because it reinforces the scripture in four different ways; engaging the eyes, ears, mouth, and hands. Write the Word, see the Word, speak the Word, and hear the Word.

Scripture Coloring. Coloring pages are the perfect addition to fun family devotions. Sally Clarkson has an Our 24 Family Ways Coloring book that corresponds with the lessons in her family devotional. One of the coolest coloring books I’ve comes across is the My Keepsake Bible Coloring Book. It’s designed for kids ages 6-10 and it walks them through crucial passages of the Bible (like creation and the Armor of God) on a kid-friendly level highlighting key scripture verses along the way.

Try a family devotional app! Our Daily Bread and Daily Family Devotions are both apps that provide devotions for families to do together. As I’m writing this, Daily Family Devotions has rated the best family devotion app in the google store.

Download our Bible Activities Bucket List! Consider this your official free guide to family devotions pdf. It’s a collection of 30+ resources and methods for family Bible study.

Family devotional online resources can be found through Little Pilgrims Theology. You’ll get monthly family devotion lessons pdf style. You can try one of their free family devotions here.

The BEST Books for Family Bible Study

Below are some of the popular devotions we have looked into as a family. Some of them we have used and loved and some come highly recommended by friends of ours. They’re all great family devotional studies! Feel free to reach out if you have questions about any of them!

Our 24 Family Ways by Clay Clarkson is a family resource that beautifully combines devotion-style interaction with discipleship instruction. In addition to nurturing a relationship with the Lord, your kids will learn solid Bible truth and principles as well as Christian character and values.

Faith Forward by Patrick and Ruth Schwenk is designed to help parents gracefully pass on their faith to their children. Each devotion features a Bible passage, application lesson, key ideas about God’s character, discussion questions, and prompts to lead you in family prayer.

Grace for the Moment Family Devotional by Max Lucado – This book is so uniquely crafted it’s amazing. It’s 100 days of children’s devotions alongside 100 days of corresponding parent devotions. So you and your child can each read your devotion (together or separately) and then come together to talk about it and pray it through. Love this idea!

Our Daily Bread for Kids – an entire year of short and engaging devotionals, fun illustrations, Bible verses, and trivia facts to help your children learn about God.

For More Family Devotion Ideas print our Bible Study Bucket list here!

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