Creative Ways to Incorporate Biblical Lessons into Play

God’s Word is applicable to every day living. I love that our Heavenly Father is interested in the tiniest details of our lives. He loves us THAT much!

Our daughter is in second grade, but we also have two little boys who are still home with me (ages 5 and 2). Any mother of boys knows how busy they can be! Girls can sometimes be like this too, but typically boys need more creative ways to learn because they are so rambunctious.

Here are some creative ways for teaching little ones core Biblical lessons and the basics of faith using God’s Word during playtime:

1. Bouncing a Ball. Have your children bounce a ball back and forth to one another, then share one thing that they are thankful for before bouncing the ball to you or their sibling.

Bible verse to memorize: Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever! – 1 Chronicles 16:34 (NIV)

2. Racing Cars. Have your little ones get out their stash of toy cars or trucks. Grab a big poster board and place it on the floor. With a marker, start by drawing a road down the middle. Talk about different places you travel in your car (school, library, church, the store, the park, etc.) and draw pictures of those places around the edges. Leave some room to draw a few parking spaces where your children can park their cars after driving on the pretend road. Sing a song to a familiar tune and replace the words with these:

Wherever we a go, wherever we a go, wherever we a go, Jesus is by our side. Bible verse that older children can memorize: Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage. Do not be afraid; do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go. – Joshua 1:9 (NKJV)

3. The ABC’s. On a chalk board or doodle pad, play school with your little ones and practice reviewing the very basics of the alphabet by drawing things that start with that letter that God has made. You can use this exercise to talk about how God has made us creative in His image. Just like our Creator, we can create by writing, drawing, painting, coloring, and more!

Bible verse to memorize: In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. – Genesis 1:1

4. Outdoor Playtime and Watching Nature. Sit in front of a big window together, or if it’s nice out, go for a walk outside. Look around and name everything that God has made. Talk about how creative our God is and how He takes care of the animals, and how if He takes care of the animals, He thinks about us and takes care of us too!

Bible passage to read to your kids, Matthew 6:25-33 (NIV): I tell you, do not worry. Don’t worry about your life and what you will eat or drink. And don’t worry about your body and what you will wear. Isn’t there more to life than eating? Aren’t there more important things for the body than clothes? Look at the birds of the air. They don’t plant or gather crops. They don’t put away crops in storerooms. But your Father who is in heaven feeds them. Aren’t you worth much more than they are? Can you add even one hour to your life by worrying? And why do you worry about clothes? See how the wild flowers grow. They don’t work or make clothing. But here is what I tell you. Not even Solomon in all of his glory was dressed like one of those flowers. If that is how God dresses the wild grass, won’t he dress you even better? After all, the grass is here only today. Tomorrow it is thrown into the fire. Your faith is so small! So don’t worry. Don’t say, ‘What will we eat?’ Or, ‘What will we drink?’ Or, ‘What will we wear?’ People who are ungodly run after all of those things. Your Father who is in heaven knows that you need them. But put God’s kingdom first. Do what he wants you to do. Then all of those things will also be given to you.

5. Counting. My boys love the Really Woolly DVDs and we just recently received the Really Woolly 12 Little Blessings book in the mail. It starts with 12 and works its way down to 1, talking about the different blessings we have. There is a verse and prayer that goes with each number. For my older son, numbers come much more easily to him than letters do (maybe it’s a boy thing)? He especially loves this book and thinks it’s fun shouting out the next number! This padded board book is perfect for my boys who tend to be rough on things.

Bible verse to memorize: In everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. – 1 Thessalonians 5:18 (NKJV)

6. Helping Clean Up. Finally, during playtime clean up, you can teach your children to pitch in and help with this simple lesson. Talk about how God gives us the ability to take care of the things that He has blessed us with. This is what it means to be a good steward of what He has given us.

Bible verse to memorize: Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms. – 1 Peter 4:10 (NIV)

No matter where you are or what you are doing with your children, God always provides a way for us to creatively teach our kids Biblical lessons through His Word.

Your Turn

What do you do to show your children that God should be a part of our every day life? How do you incorporate God’s Word and Biblical lessons into the basics of learning and growing? We’d love to hear from you in the comments below.