As parents hoping to raise godly children, we may understand the importance of regular family devotions. However, we may find it difficult to get our kids (or even ourselves) fully engaged. But what if devotions looked less like sitting in the living room listening to someone read and trying to pry answers out of reluctant kids and more like, say, electrocuting a pickle? Or converting a leaf … blower into a toilet paper launcher? Or lighting toothpaste on fire?
These hands-on, kinda dangerous, totally unforgettable object lessons (along with nearly fifty others) are not only more fun than other family devotions–they actually deliver the spiritual impact you desire for your kids. They’ll even get dads and any too-cool-for-this-stuff teens jazzed about a weekly family devotional time.
So put away the flannelgraph, get out the safety goggles, and start bringing the truths of Scripture to vivid life in your household. Just remember to change out of your Sunday clothes first.
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What a fun devotional for families! Each chapter has an activity to do with your kids. Just know that some are pretty detailed so this is meant to be done together. Add in a teaching lesson and scripture and you have yourself a year of memories. Author Tim Shoemaker also gives some good tips for holding a child’s interest when doing devotions, which is a great addition for parents.
The down side to this book is that several of the activities require a lot of preparation. So while this is great for DIY families others may find it a challenge. But hey, give it a try. You may love it!
I received a complimentary copy of this book but was not required to leave a review.
The Very Best, Hands-On, Kinda Dangerous Family Devotions: 52 Activities Your Kids Will Never Forget is a fabulous and fun devotional. It is split up into fifty two chapters and each chapter includes:
Theme – tells how this activity will relate to the Bible
Things You’ll Need – tools or items needed to complete the activity
Advance Prep – how to get started
Running the Activity – starting the activity
Teaching the Lesson – relating the activity
Summing It Up – completing the activity
Some chapters will have a section called Keep It Safe that give some safety tips for the activity associated with that chapter.
I thought The Very Best, Hands-On, Kinda Dangerous Family Devotions: 52 Activities Your Kids Will Never Forget was a great way for my family to spend time together learning and teaching God’s word in a fun and exciting way. We enjoyed doing the activities during this summer. It is a great tool to teach kids the best morals and values.
I highly recommend The Very Best, Hands-On, Kinda Dangerous Family Devotions: 52 Activities Your Kids Will Never Forget and am giving it a well deserved five plus stars. This one is a keeper and to be used over and over.
I received this book from the publisher. This review is 100% my own honest opinion.
This book is absolutely the best devotional book that I have ever seen. With activities that will grab the interest of the kids and make them look forward to the devotional, the Biblical teaching is sound and Biblically centered for each lesson. Some lessons take more preparation than others but they would be definitely worth it. As a grandmother who used to do devotions with my children, I am excited about the possibilities for this book in the hands of today’s Bible believing parents. I also think that the book would work well to pull some lessons from it for Sunday school, Children’s Church or VBS. It is multi-purpose tool to get children interested in the truths of the Bible and guiding them to explore their faith and what it personally means to them. I highly recommend this book and encourage kids’ leaders and parent to just have fun with it!
Disclaimer
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from Revell. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255, “Guides Concerning the Use of Testimonials and Endorsements in Advertising.”
Oh, if only this book had been available a few years ago! For many years, it was my ministry to offer a short children’s sermon each Sunday morning to the young people in our church and I was constantly in search of ideas and subjects to be used as object lessons. The Very Best, Hands-On, Kinda Dangerous Family Devotions is a new book by Tim Shoemaker and even though he has targeted family devotions, there are many suggestions that could be adapted for a group of children. In each of the 52 activities the author suggests a theme, a list of the materials needed, instructions for both preparing and running the activity, and a lesson to teach. There is even a quick key for parents and adults that shows the activities that may be dangerous or perhaps too advanced for younger children and I believe that this would be especially useful when choosing an activity.
Young people need to be exposed to God’s Word and taught the value of living a Christian life but they live in such a fast-paced, visual world and just telling them isn’t always the way to grab their attention. Shoemaker understands our current popular culture and he suggests Legos, Light Sticks and that all-time favorite, Slime, as some of the materials to be used. Having 52 ready-to-use ideas for hands-on activities is so convenient and these are certainly great ways to impress the need to love and serve God and then help these young people remember the concepts.
In his introduction to The Very Best, Hands-On, Kinda Dangerous Family Devotions Shoemaker states that ‘As parents, we protect our kids, we provide for them, and we prepare them for the future. Teaching our kids spiritually is essential for all three of these things.’ This is a well-prepared book that will certainly help in this effort and I recommend it to parents, Sunday school teachers and youth leaders.
I received a complimentary copy of this book from Revell and I have chosen to write my honest thoughts in this review