Best Family Devotionals to Read Together With Kids
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When I was younger, I always saw myself as a mom who would lead her children in devotions daily, and we’d have Sunday evening praise sessions as a family. And so much more. Well, now that I have kids, I’m sad to say, my main achievement most days is keeping the tiny humans alive. Parenting is WAY harder than I imagined.
And I don’t know about y’all, but coronavirus rearranged our priorities FAST. We used to fill our days with so many errands, activities, and extracurriculars that we were always on the go. My calendar was constantly full, and when my husband and I weren’t working, we were busy somewhere doing something. Looking back now, I see how thinly spread we were and how we had so many of the wrong priorities. We were focusing on so much more than what truly mattered.
With schooling now happening at home and the same with church, we’ve also felt even more accountable to teach our children the Word of God. I first panicked with the thought of being solely responsible for their faith journey right now, but I also realized this as the beautiful gift it was to stop and take time and re-evaluate how we want our life to look.
One of the first things I did was to start looking for family devotionals that are children friendly. I wanted us to be able to read a daily devotion (ideally at the dinner table, because my kids are still young and have short attention spans otherwise) and then discuss. I also wanted our daughters to see my husband and me spending our time putting devotions and God first (and not our jobs, material goods, or our busy social life.)
So, if you, too, are looking to spend more organized time with your family learning about God, I’ve put together this list of the best family devotions with kids that we’ve found!
Best Family Devotional With Kids – My Favorites
While there are also devotionals that are for just kids, these family devotionals are meant to be done by the entire family together.
What I love so much about these books is they help parents who are unsure of how to start talking about Christ to their children have a starting point. We are all first-time parents at some time, and it’s great to know others have gone before us in this journey of parenting. And these more experienced parents can help show us how to be better witnesses to our kids!
So, with that said, let’s get started!
1. The Family Bible Devotional: Stories from the Bible to Help Kids and Parents Engage and Love Scripture
This family devotional has 52 devotions in it, so it’s a weekly devotional rather than a daily if you want it to stretch a year. However, each is a meaty devotion that you can work on application throughout the week. As a beginning family to tableside devotions, altering habits to fit one devotion in a week is much easier than fitting in one every day.
Each weekly devotion has a short Bible passage that has supporting background information in it. At the end of each devotion, there are questions that get kids thinking and discussing with parents. I like when my daughters learn by understanding rather than being told how certain things are supposed to be, and I feel like this devotional encourages kids to think. Each devotion also has a prayer prompt, helping to teach kids how to pray.
If you’re enjoying the devotion and have extra time, there are also activities at the end of the devotions to get kids moving and learning the applicability of God’s Word!
2. One Year of Dinner Table Devotions and Discussion Starters: 365 Opportunities to Grow Closer to God as a Family
By Nancy Guthrie, One Year of Table Devotions aims to turn mealtimes into times to learn about God. I’ve found that when my kids are at the table, we have more meaningful conversations because there are no other distractions (besides food.) Hence, why I think this deviational is such a good idea!
Each devotion is short enough to be finished during table time and will only take 10-15 minutes to learn more about God! Included are Bible verses, the devotion itself, and then sevearal discussion questions.
In terms of age range, this is geared towards elementary-aged and above. However, I don’t think having younger family members listen in to the Word is ever a bad thing, even if they don’t fully grasp everything!
3. Very Best, Hands-On, Kinda Dangerous Family Devotions
The purpose of this family devotional is to turn boring school-like learning into much more exciting, Biblical lessons you can learn through doing. There are 52 devotions, each surrounding a silly, engaging, activity.
One drawback is not all the activities will be applicable to all families. For instance, many families many not have a leaf blower, a box of LEGOs, or a bag of potatoes just lying around for use. Also, because these are activity-based, it requires a little more foresight on the part of the parent. If you’re too busy struggling to get dinner on the table most nights, this might just be one more thing you have to handle.
The stories are well-suited to elementary-aged and over, although older teenagers may benefit from a slightly less silly and more mature devotional. A few devotions, like the one requiring you to watch the trailer for Frankenstein, might also frighten young children. But for the right age demographic and the prepared parent, these are sure to make memorable Bible lessons!
4. The One Year Classic Family Devotions
If you’re looking for very short daily devotions for your family, this is a good fit. It provides a small story at the beginning (not a Bible passage) and then has discussion questions. At the end of each devotion, there is a memory verse. I’m a big proponent for young children having at least a small arsenal of Bible verses memorized! Every week, there is also an additional activity in the book.
I think younger children who have difficulty understanding Scripture verbiage may learn more from this devotional. It’s approachable, not boring, and allows kids to learn so much about God and His application to our daily lives. Although, memorizing the Scriptures may be more difficult for younger children, and the weekly activities are suited for older elementary school students and up.
5. NIV, Once-A-Day At the Table Family Devotional, Paperback: 365 Daily Readings and Conversation Starters for Your Family
Another at-the-table devotional, this book uses the NIV Bible to help families learn more about God together.
Each daily devotion starts with a couple of questions, then a Bible verse, and next a very short devotion passage surrounding the passage. At the end, there is a prayer. Unless your family is prone to deep and long discussions, these devotions will only take 5-10 minutes each.
Unfortunately, we are having to save reading the rest of this devotional until my girls are older. It’s a little bit too advanced for them right now, and I’d recommend it more for older elementary-school kids at least. It reminds me of an adult devotional, and as such, contains a LOT of good material for families with older children.
Which Family Devotions For Kids Books Do You Prefer?
I hope you enjoyed reading about some of my favorite family devotionals that cater to the spiritual needs of children of all ages. Are there any that I’m missing that you recommend? We have the next 10+ years with kids at home to teach them around our dinner table!
