Fun Way to Teach Your Kids About Inner Beauty

You know that God only cares about the inner beauty of your children, but how can you help them understand and embrace that truth when they live in a culture obsessed with outer beauty? There’s a fun activity that doubles as a family devotional you can do with your kids to help.

Before the devotional, you may want to go to your local library and check out books with photos and drawings of fashion trends from various times periods and cultures. Or you can bookmark websites with the same information (be sure to do this in advance to avoid accidentally showing your kids inappropriate content).

Call your kids together and have fun looking at the various fashions. Note the changes over the years or between cultures Are there some fashions that return in a later time period or a different culture? (Note: Including male fashion and unusual fashion trends can engage kids not as interested in fashion or history.)

After having some fun, explain to your kids that King David had a son who was obsessed with his own good looks. He was particularly proud of his magnificent head of hair. (You may want to include hairstyles in your fashion exploration.) Read or tell them the stories found in 2 Samuel 13-19. Afterwards, ask them why God didn’t support the idea of Absalom as King.

Point out that while Absalom may have been very handsome on the outside, he was not so handsome on the inside. Ask your kids to list the characteristics in Absalom that would have made him ”ugly” to God. Can they add other character traits to the list that perhaps weren’t part of Absalom’s character, but would also be ”ugly” to God? Feel free to add any they may forget.

Then have your kids list character traits that God would consider beautiful. Give them each a large sheet of white paper. Have them draw a self portrait. As they draw their physical portrait, encourage them to write words (you can write them for pre-writers) describing their character in and around their portrait. Family members may want to suggest additional words.

After the portraits are completed, discuss each child’s privately with him or her. Which character traits make them beautiful to God? Which character traits do they need to improve or which negative character traits do they need to eliminate to be more beautiful to God? You may choose to revisit these self portraits from time to time to encourage your kids to focus their energies on improving their inner beauty.

Published by

Thereasa Winnett

Thereasa Winnett is the founder of Teach One Reach One and blogger at Parenting Like Hannah. She holds a BA in education from the College of William and Mary. She has served in all areas of ministry to children and teens for more than thirty years and regularly leads workshops for ministries and churches. She has conducted numerous workshops, including sessions at Points of Light’s National Conference on Volunteering and Service, the National Urban Ministry Conference, Pepperdine Bible Lectures, and Lipscomb’s Summer Celebration. Thereasa lives in Atlanta, GA with her husband Greg, where she enjoys reading, knitting, traveling and cooking.

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