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Toddlers and preschoolers love to learn about the Bible and using some hands-on activities is a great way to make it tangible to them. In my Teaching the Bible: a Toddler and Preschooler Bible Curriculum, your child will get tons of hands-on activities to bring the Bible concepts to life. Here are some of my favorite ways to make Bible stories come to life:
Watching the Bible story
One way, we make the story come to life is by watching Bible stories. My kids love watching the animated characters telling the story. I think this makes it more real to them instead of just reading it. Here are a few of our favorite videos to find stories:
Memory Verses
Memory verses are very important for little ones to remember what the Bible says. We learn that the Bible is the true Word of God and that we need to memorize verses so we can always have them with us. When we learn Bible Verses, we use hand motions (a lot of ASL signs) to learn the words easier.
Bible Sensory Activities for Preschoolers and Toddlers
A very easy way to help a child understand an abstract concept is to make it concrete in a sensory bin. This allows a child to have free play to explore different parts of a concept or story. For example, in my Easter Unit, I use an Easter Sensory Bin. In this bin, there are different elements of the Easter story. As a child is playing, you can ask open ended questions to see what they understood from the story as well as questions they have about the story.
Another way to expand on the story is to have characters in the bin to act out the story. This is just a fun way for your child to “play” the different roles in the story. We do this in my Elijah Lesson, children reenact the story in a sand and water sensory bin. This is a great to see if they were paying attention during the story or not!
Bible Games for Toddlers and Preschoolers
Another great way for children to fully understand a Bible story is through a game. These can be as easy as Follow the Leader to Tic Tac Toe or a memory game. These games can be a simple setup but can lead to some great conversations and questions to help your child dive deeper into a concept. One of my favorite games to play is Pin the Bottle on the Baby in the Samuel lesson.
Art Bible Activities for Toddlers and Preschoolers
Art is one of the easiest ways to teach littles about the Bible. There are so many different art projects that can be done for Bible stories. One of my favorite types of art are process art projects. These are open-ended projects. One idea that is in the Bible curriculum is painting with baby bottles. This is a fun activity for little ones to create on their own. They can make it look how they want to make it look. They also get to practice some good fine motor skills as they try to manipulate the baby bottle to make the paint come out. PS squeeze type bottles work the best for this!!
Snack Bible Activities for Toddlers and Preschoolers
Who doesn’t love to eat a creative snack!! I love using food as a Bible story activity because children can just have fun with them. From making Leprosy Cookiemen to using colored fish crackers to do math to making a mat out of crackers and spread! As your children create a snack, they can talk about different parts of the story. I always ask my children the main points of the story along with having them explain abstract concepts from the story while they eat. Do they know they are learning? Absolutely not! They are just talking and eating!
There are a ton of great hands-on activities for little ones to learn the Bible without having to use worksheets. I do use a few worksheets, but I make sure there is a lot of movement or activity to go along with the story. This also provides a variety so that my kids never get bored of Bible!
