Every week, we want to provide our nursery parents with tips on how to cultivate core spiritual disciplines in their children and how to help them connect with God throughout the week.
Songs of the Month Putting a melody to words always helps us to memorize them better! Because of this, Teacher Rebecca has helped to compile a list of children's worship songs for your child that communicate simple truths about God and His Word. Our little ones learn best when things are repeated, so the list of songs provided will be utilized for the rest of August. Some of the songs may be familiar to your child, as they've been sung at least once in their Sunday School class before!
We recommend that you take some time each day to review at least one of these songs with your child. We've selected example videos with body motions, so you can dance and worship alongside him/her! This month, we'll be singing songs about God's goodness, faithfulness, and sovereignty.
Nursery Lessons with Teacher Rebecca: The Battle of Jericho Teacher Rebecca and I have been working together in the past weeks to develop and record lesson videos for your child to view at home. This week, we'll learn about how Joshua led God's people to defeat their enemies at Jericho.
Helping Your Child Develop a Habit of Prayer Teaching your child to cultivate a habit of prayer from an early age is an effective way to help him/her to build living, lasting faith. If you don't already have a prayer system in place for your child, here are some suggestions that we've come up with for you to do each day!
Lead your child to pray before mealtime. Here are some easy to learn short mealtime prayers to teach your child to say before each meal! Just as we give thanks for the food before us each time we eat, encourage your child to start his/her meal with a word of prayer so that he/she can also develop the habit of praying before eating and learn to thank God for His daily provision.
Lead your child to pray before bedtime: How do you teach your child to structure his/her prayers? The hand prayer is an easy method that is modeled after the Lord's Prayer in the gospels. Remember - prayer doesn't need to be limited to right before bedtime, it can be done any time of the day! Praying with your child gives you, the parent, an opportunity to encourage and speak biblical truth to your child, especially if something happened during the day!
The B-I-B-L-E Did you know that it's not too early to teach your child how to read the Bible? If you read to your child regularly from a simplified bible for tots, it will help your child to develop an appreciation for/eagerness to read God's Word early on in his/her life. I personally love to use Sally Lloyd Jones' Jesus Story Book Bible to introduce the stories of the Old and New Testaments to kiddos. They love it, because of all the colored pictures! If you would like a copy of a simplified Bible for your child, please contact Ms. Valerie and let her know.
Start by Becoming a Praying Parent Helping your child to become a faithful Christ-follower begins with YOU, the parent. Parents are called to impress God's commandments on their children (Deuteronomy 6:6-7), but the only way for them to do this effectively is if they immerse themselves in Scripture and rely on God's strength and Spirit to guide them. Because of this, I will be sharing a collection of prayer topics from The Daily Grace Co.'s Gospel Conversation set to help you learn how to share the gospel with your child and lead him/her according to the ways of the Lord.
This week's prayer is based on the familiar passage, Deuteronomy 6:5. Set aside some time each day to read and meditate on this verse. At the end of each quiet time, lead your child to answer the following questions:
Did you show your love for God today?
What are some examples?
After spending some time with these questions, write a list of things that you can do to show your love for God. Then, be intentional with those items as a family this week!