Ok, well after my post earlier today on whether or not kid’s Bibles are the Word of God or not, I figured I should start suggesting some good kid’s Bibles. Let’s start with good Kid’s Bibles for ages 0-3.
My criteria
There are 3 major things that I am looking for with a Kid’s Bible for this age group. And they go in this order:
Theologically Accurate
Are they true to the Bible? Do they have errors? Do they get the story right? Do they get the characters right? Do they pick up helpful theological themes? Most Kid’s Bibles miss the mark here – particularly when it comes to Toddler Bibles.
Board Book
There is nothing worse than your toddler constantly grabbing the pages of the Bible and tearing them. If you get through even 1 story of a paper Bible unscathed you deserve a medal. Either that or your kid is hating it cos they can’t interact with the book. Not with board books though! Your kids can turn the pages all they like with little to no damage. And having your kid interact physically with the Bible is a big win. Having a board book Bible is so helpful!
Good and colourful pictures
What do I mean by good? I mean clear, obvious illustrations. My 2-year old has no clue how to understand abstract pictures. I don’t want to teach him that what the Bible says is fantasy. No, I want clear pictures he can relate to. And I want them to be colourful and interesting. Bible time is gonna be fun – so let’s make sure the Bible we use is fun. BONUS thing about pictures – if they can capture a core moment in the story which drips with theological significance it’s a winner.
Which Kid’s Bible to go for?
Well, sadly, there aren’t all that many that fit my criteria. But I have found some excellent ones! I still have some more research to do, so I’ll update this post if I find more gold hiding out there. But here are the best ones I’ve found so far. They are all in the same series. Some major pros for each one (apart from meeting my criteria) include a great selection of stories, nice and short stories which leave room for filling them out further and a strong focus on Jesus. Each of these Bibles have their pro’s and cons in comparison to each other – but they are all winners. Here are some of the pros and cons:
It only contains the Old Testament and is a great option. Pros: - It has way more Old Testament stories than the The Big Book of Bible Stories below
- Short and simple Bible stories
Cons: - It doesn’t cover the fall in Genesis 3. It kind of covers it in the Noah story though. - The Big Picture Question and Answers often don’t come from the text of the story. It feels like they have adapted the Bible from an older kids one, but kept the questions the same. (They have recently updated this Bible – so the newer version may fix this)
It only contains the New Testament and is a great option.
Pros: – It has way more New Testament stories than the The Big Book of Bible Stories below – The picture for the story of the death and resurrection of Jesus has the empty grave in it, unlike the The Big Book below Cons: – The Big Picture Question and Answers often don’t come from the text of the story. It feels like they have adapted the Bible from an older kids one, but kept the questions the same. (They have recently updated this Bible – so the newer version may fix this)
It contains both Testaments and is a great option.
Pros: – It covers the whole Bible – It hits Genesis 3, which the Old Testament above doesn’t do – The Big Picture Questions are way more on point for preschoolers. It doesn’t feel like it has been adapted from an older Bible. Cons: – It doesn’t hit as many stories as the Old and New Testament ones above – The interactive part of it is cool, but it starts reading a text aloud that is different to the text in book
I would recommend getting all 3 if you can afford it. If not, go with the Old Testament and New Testament ones. If that’s too expensive, go the One Big Story. If that’s out of your $$ range, get in touch and we will see what we can organise. As far as I can tell, you can only get these from Koorong at the moment. Click on the titles above for links.
Comment below if you’ve found them helpful – or if you’ve found other board book Bibles – or for any other reason!