Category: Bible Study

Parents of preschool children and preschool teachers are prepared for children who get the wiggles. For a wide variety of reasons, there are now also many older children and teens who have trouble sitting still in class. Whether it’s from lack of self control, a physical condition or their preferred learning style, adding movement and touch to your class or your home Bible studies will help these children learn better.

Unfortunately, in many cases the movement provided as suggestions in curriculum is shallow and doesn’t add much meaning to the subject. Allowing children to run around a room for fifteen minutes popping balloons and then saying “This is how Jesus pops our sin”, isn’t really teaching these active children anything.

Continue reading Teaching the Bible to Older Wiggly Learners

Our daughter is an auditory learner. She really does need to hear something to understand it better. She prefers having a teacher verbally tell her about a subject rather than trying to understand it by reading alone. It doesn’t mean she has poor reading comprehension, but just like a visual learner needs to see something to really understand it well, an auditory learner needs to hear it.

Fortunately for auditory learners, most Bible classes are set up just for them. Much of what is done involves listening to the teacher. If you teach a class, work on your story telling skills. For younger children, make sure you use different voices when different people speak. Even if you are reading the story exactly as written from the Bible, add the appropriate emotions to your voice. You don’t want to go overboard, but anything that adds depth and meaning to the auditory message being given is helpful.

Continue reading Teaching the Bible to Auditory Learners

We are not quite sure how it happened, but in our house, two visual learners gave birth to an auditory learner. Since we homeschool, I had to change my teaching from my preferred learning style to the one best suited for my daughter. Even the way she studies most effectively is very different from what worked for me.

Shift to most Sunday morning children’s and teen classes and the mode is almost entirely auditory. An adult tells the story and perhaps asks questions or makes an application. An activity is provided which may or may not actually be what an educator would call “hands-on” learning. Once in awhile, the teacher may pull out some old flannel graph or the unit might come with a poster or coloring page.

If your child is a visual learner, they probably reacted the way I did to Sunday School. “What did the Tabernacle actually look like? I can’t tell from the way you are describing it.” “Where is Assyria? I don’t remember seeing that on a map before.” I couldn’t picture a lot of the things I was reading about, because there was nothing in my town or my culture I could compare to it. Since I couldn’t visualize many things, a lot of what I read and heard did not have as much meaning for me as it could have had.

Continue reading Teaching the Bible to Visual Learners

Have you ever tried to love something you thought might be good for you? What if that something seemed like it would be very boring?

I know treadmills are a great way to get cardio workouts during bad weather. As much as I want to like the treadmill, I just can’t make myself get on one. The one time my treadmill loving husband got me on one, I was off again in less than a minute, complaining of boredom. Knowing it will make me healthier is just not enough motivation.

Unfortunately, for many older children and teens in Christian homes, the Bible is their treadmill. These kids are being raised in homes by parents who love God and want to serve Him. They take their children to Sunday school and Church on a regular basis. Yet, their children think of the Bible as a boring book you are supposed to read. In fact secretly, many of them also think God is pretty boring, too – if He even exists.

Continue reading Teaching Young Children to Love the Bible