Summer Reading That Nourishes Your Kids’ Spiritual Development

It’s hard to believe that the dog days of summer are nearly upon us, but those of us with children are already counting down the days until the school year ends and summer vacation begins. After all, our calendars and family plans frequently revolve around the activities of our kids!

How will our children spend their days when school is no longer in session? Most kids envision summer as the time to hang out by the pool, catch up on the latest video games, and spend hour after hour texting their friends. However, for Christian parents, summer provides countless opportunities to minister to our children in ways that we simply don’t want to miss out on!

When I look back on my childhood, I am grateful for the diverse array of creative learning opportunities that my mother provided me. Each summer, she found ways for me to participate in activities that were fun and educational, yet also enhanced the quality of my spiritual life.

As parents, we want these things for our children as well. We want to ensure that during the summer season, we provide engaging experiences that stimulate our children’s curiosity about the world around them and deepen their love for the things of God.

Especially while our children are young and impressionable, we want to make the most of every opportunity life provides to teach our kids to be more like Jesus and develop a more Christ-like perspective on life.

Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable – if anything is excellent or praiseworthy – think about such things. – Philippians 4:8

That’s why our family may take a few exciting day trips and participate in some of the social activities at our church this summer, but the most important daily activity we are emphasizing for our youngsters is the Zonderkidz I Can Read Summer Reading Challenge.

Now, there are many wonderful summer reading programs that we could enroll our children in, but what makes the Zonderkidz I Can Read program so special is that it is one of the only summer reading program that focuses on helping parents develop our children’s reading skills while simultaneously nurturing our children’s spiritual development.

I also appreciate how flexible the Zonderkidz I Can Read program is! There are no complicated forms to fill out or long-term commitments we need to make in order for our children to participate. To get started, we simply select the I Can Read!™ books we think our children will like. We’re free to pick our children’s favorite books from within a specific series or we can mix and match books from different series, based on our children’s interests and reading levels!

The I Can Read!™ book series features a beloved cast of characters who were created by award-winning authors and illustrators. You may already have fond memories of some of these books and characters from your own childhood days!

Here’s a little more information about the I Can Read!™ series of books to help you select the stories and characters your children will like the most:

• The Princess Sisters Treasury Stories are an amazing collection of books that contain parables about Princesses Faith, Hope, Charity and Joy. These books chronicle the lessons the princesses are learning about what it means to be daughters of the King. Every young girl dreams of being a princess. The Princess Sisters Treasury stories contain engaging scriptural lessons on what being a princess really means!

• The Berenstain Bears Stories are considered by many to be among the most beloved children’s book characters of all time. This delightful collection of books features an entire family of charming bears who provide glimpses into their world and the lessons about God they are learning in their daily lives. One of the things that makes these books so popular with parents is that they are written at many different reading levels. This means that our emerging readers can continue to engage with The Berenstain Bears as their reading skills improve!

• Veggie Tales books are another popular children’s book series that parents love because they help instill Christian values like honesty, forgiveness, patience and gratitude in our children. Many kids already love watching Veggie Tales on video. Why not challenge your younger children to see how many Veggie Tales books they can read this summer? You can involve your older children in the challenge as well by encouraging them to help their younger siblings improve their reading comprehension.

• The Adventure Bible Stories are perfect for children who love action and adventure stories and for parents like us who want their children to emulate and admire the heroes of the Bible instead of the mythical figures presented through secular comic books. This series not only contains individual story books for young readers, but Bibles and devotions for readers at different levels as well.

The Zonderkidz I Can Read!™ series of books are perfect for beginning readers, ages 4 through 8, who are learning to read on their own.

As you can see, participating in the Zonderkidz I Can Read Summer Reading Challenge is a wonderful way to introduce our children to amazing books and engaging characters that will educate them, entertain them, enrich them, and spiritually impact them for the rest of their lives.

Won’t you join us on this exciting literary adventure?

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Your Turn

Which of these four I Can Read!™ series will interest your child the most? Did you read any of these stories when you were growing up? Please share your thoughts in the comments!