It is exciting to watch babies grow, isn’t it? So much happens during their first years of life. They learn to lift their heads, turn over, sit up, crawl, stand and eventually walk and talk. And as they grow, we continue to have a wonderful opportunity as mothers to spiritually nurture our little ones at home.
On a previous blog post, “Bible Time with Baby” we looked at the most important thing a mom can do to spiritually nurture her new born baby. What is the most important thing a mom can choose to do? She can choose to personally spend time with Jesus every day to spiritually nurture herself.
She can also choose to read the Bible out loud for baby to hear, she can pray in baby’s hearing, she can review her memory verses and can sing praises to the Lord in baby’s presence.
Time that we spend with our little one, singing to the Lord, spending time in God’s Word the Bible, and talking to the Lord in prayer. Let’s take a look at each of these areas with “growing babies” in mind.
I will share some simple ideas that will be appropriate for a variety of abilities as baby grows.
If you are a mom with a little one, and you are interested in having intentional Bible Time with your baby, I would encourage you to pick just one new thing from the list below to do with your baby this week.
Then, next week, you may like to add another idea as you continue to do the idea from last week, and so on. Over time, you may want to purpose to do one idea from each of the three key elements of Bible Time with baby each day.
These ideas will be listed under the three key elements of Bible Time, singing, the Bible, and prayer.
1. Encourage baby to shake a rattle, nod the head, tap the table, clap, or march while you sing.
2. If possible, purchase a children’s hymnbook. With baby on your lap, open the songbook and point to the pictures or words as you sing.
3. Use a family hymnbook of your choice, and sing, sing, sing! When baby is able, encourage them to sing along with you.
1. Read short sections of Scripture out loud in baby’s hearing. When baby is old enough to sit up, give them something to do with their hands as you read. Perhaps a few blocks to play with, or some beads, or a crayon and paper if appropriate.
2. Invest in some simple books for baby that share the truth of God’s Word. Look for books with pictures that honor the Lord. Read them to your baby. Talk simply about the Bible truths that are shared.
3. Write a Bible memory verse on a card to share with baby. Decorate it with a sticker. Cover it with contact plastic or laminate it for durability. Let baby handle it and look at it while you read it out loud. Over time, you can add more cards to read to baby each day. As you consistently do this, the exciting day will come when baby will begin to say these Bible memory verses out loud with you. (If you would like some suggestions of memory verses for your little ones, see the download provided with this post.)
1. Purpose to pray with baby each day. Keep your prayer time with baby simple. Speak clearly and slowly so that baby can hear clearly what you are saying.
2. When baby can say a few words, give your baby the opportunity to talk to God as well. For example if they can say “daddy,” you could pray, “Thank-you, God, for Daddy. In Jesus name, Amen,” encouraging baby to say “daddy” with you when you pray this.
3. Begin simple “Thank-you” prayers with baby. Collect photos of your family, and pictures of things to be thankful for. Look at one picture at a time with baby. You could begin like this using three pictures: “Dear Heavenly Father, (show the picture of Daddy) Thank-you for Daddy, (show the picture of Mommy) thank-you for Mommy, (show the picture of your baby) and thank-you for baby (using your child’s name). In Jesus name, Amen.” The photos and pictures you collect could be glued onto paper and collated into a simple picture book to be used over and over again. If you collate them into a three ring binder, you can add more pages of pictures as baby grows!
May you sense the Lord’s love for you as you love your precious little one today.
Marian Thomsen
Wife, Mother, Teacher, Author, Product Developer
As a young daughter my parents encouraged me to memorize Scripture verses. I memorized Isaiah 41:10 and it became one of my favorite verses.
“Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.” Isaiah 41:10
As an adult I continue to treasure Isaiah 41:10. And I can say with confidence that God has always been faithful to His Word. Praise Him! He is worthy of all our trust.
Because of one of your earlier posts, I started doing two things differently during our Bible times. And I have three kids, ages 5,4, and 2.5. I started singing with my kids first. And I started requiring my toddle to sit on my lap. I’ve been so encouraged that he can do it! He can not only sit long enough, but he’s learning to sing the songs, (his favorites are “God is so good” and “The B.I.B.L.E” but we also are working on putting Psalm 119 to our own tune, and he can sing the first couple of verses) And he loves to have his turn praying!
I really appreciated your specific ideas in this post! It helped me to hear that a little one might need To hold something! That seems to help my toddler too, but I wondered if this was okay:) I Especially liked your memory verse list, that’s helpful.
Thank you for sharing the ideas The Lord has laid on your heart. And thank you for offering such practical advice!
Thank-you so much Lindsey for sharing! I appreciate the opportunity to read about what you are finding helpful from the posts and about what you are doing for your Bible Time!! Keep up the great work!
I too appreciate the practical ideas and suggestions. Thank you so much for sharing!
You are welcome!😊