Bible Stories for Preschoolers

Bible Stories for Preschoolers, by Monika Kustra, adapted by Betty Free Swanberg and illustrated by Andrzej Chalecki is an exceptional children's Bible story book. It is well written for the preschool age comprehension. I loved how there are questions throughout the text that just flow as part of the reading. It is a great way to engage and maintain interest in the story. The illustrations are lively, cute, and even humorous at times. I think any child would enjoy flipping through this book to enjoy the pictures. At the end of each story are several questions and talking points to help with story comprehension, and reinforce the lessons being learned. There's a memory verse too for every story. And my favorite part is the activities. They are really exceptional, doable, simple but really fun. All the activities really excited me as I read through them. I can't wait to do them with my children as we read through this book together and plan to come back to add their creations to this post. One example is with the story of Joseph and the famine is to create a 'store house' jar with trail mix type ingredients. You could even ration out the food throughout a week sharing how Joseph was in charge of collecting and sharing the food so that everyone could survive during the years of famine. It's also a great collection of Bible passages, very comprehensive. I could not be more pleased with this book and would love to see more from this collaboration, maybe a book of Psalms and Proverbs with pre-school devotional type format. I am very happy to be able to add this book to our collection.

I received a copy of this book from Tyndale Publishing for the purpose of this review.

Kindergarten Picks!

I think I have a fun little post for you all today. As I've shared my son had his Birthday and is now in kindergarten. So, in continued celebration of my little guy, I thought it would be fun to share his own library picks and finds that he's been bringing home from school. I've been looking forward to him visiting the school library and was anxious to see what type of books he'd pick out. I must say I've been very proud of him; he's found some great books to share with us!

First up he brought home Carlos Likes Counting by Jessica Spanyol. He said he selected it because it reminded him of the 'That's Silly' pictures that are in the High Five magazines we get. It is actually a great little counting book with lots of items to count on each page of the corresponding highlighted number. My two have always enjoyed counting up items in books so we thoroughly enjoyed this one!

Next up Gumption by Elise Broach and illustrated by Richard Egielski. Just by looking at the front cover you can see why a 6-year-old boy would be drawn to this one! It was another fun read about a little boy who goes on a safari adventure with his favorite uncle. Traveling on safari requires lots of gumption! It was a fun adventure for us all.









Museum Trip by Barbara Lehman was next pick. We'd read this one many times before. We love Lehman's wordless books and if you've been here before you may have heard about how I love a good wordless book. He was so proud to have found it on the shelves. This is hands down his favorite one of Lehman's, in fact he asked to keep it another week. It's about a little boy 

on a class trip to the museum that happens upon a secret maze room. My two love mazes and I can't wait because we'll be heading to see some corn mazes soon! If you've not checked out Barbara Lehman's books, I recommend that you do. I think they are best described as fantasy adventure wordless picture books. Other titles include: The Red Book, Rainstorm, Trainstop, and The Secret Box.



Next up was A Couple of Boys have the Best Week Ever by Marla Frazee. It's a funny little story that captures this age group of boys very well and honestly. Two young friends stay at one of their Grandparents for a week trip so that they can attend nature camp. But of course, they have the most fun just being together doing, well, silly kids' stuff like bouncing on the bed, playing video games, and eating sweet treats. They're kids with heart though and at the end of the book have a special surprise for their host and hostess!








Last up is David Gordon's The Three Little Rigs. This is another one that we'd previously read together from our local library and was an instant hit with my son. He loves all things that go, trucks, trains, planes, race cars and so on. Plus, the original tale of the three little pigs is also a popular read with my two so the two together makes a near perfect read in my little boy's mind. This book is a retelling of the classic story with rigs that must set off to build their own garages.

Well, I hope you'll enjoy his library picks as much as we have. I hope to continue to add to his list here as the year progresses!

When I was Five

Well this title could not be more appropriate for us this year, it's called When I was Five by Arthur Howard. Yep, my little boy had his Birthday recently and went from 5 to 6. We had actually read this book last year as well preparing him for upcoming changes of growing up and I looked forward to getting from the library again this year to share with him. Join along as a young boy shares his favorite things from when he was five and what they are now that he's six. It's a fun collection of things that are important to little boys from what he wants to be when he grows up, favorite dinosaur and favorite secret hiding place. But of course there are somethings that never change which is very endearing! It has been fun reading with my little guy and talking to him about his favorite things as he continues to grow each year. I think this will be a Birthday favorite read for years to come.

Zero is the Leaves on the Tree

Fall LOVE is here for me again this year. I love this season and just couldn't resist sharing one of our new favorite fall reads. It's called Zero is the Leaves on the Tree by Betsy Franco and illustrated by Shino Arihara. It takes you through all the seasons starting with fall and on too summer sharing all the many instances that there are zero like leaves, kites in the sky, sleds on the hill and so on through the seasons. Its deals with so many wonderful conceptual lessons like that of zero but also seasons and the five senses too as some of the 'zeros' to be found include sound as well as sight and touch. The drawings are soft and muted in their color palette as they charmingly depict young children at play.

My First Hands-On Bible

My First Hands-On Bible from Tyndale Kids is a great family devotional for those with preschoolers. The illustrations are charming, simple and colorful. There are two ' character friends' that follow along through the book, a little kangaroo named, Pocket, and a lamb named, Cuddles. They are at the end of each story with activity suggestions and a prayer. My two-love finding Pocket and Cuddles. While it isn't a complete copy of the NLT Bible there are numerous scripture passages that are taken directly from scripture. I would say they achieved the goal of creating a very hands-on experience with focus on engaging and connecting young children with the story. Small handprints are throughout the text that suggests activities to do that relate and highlight what is being read throughout the story. For example, in Joshua 6 when they are marching around the walls of Jericho some of the during the reading activities are to count to seven, the number of times they were to march around the wall, and to all shout together as they did after their seventh time. It's been great for keeping my children's attention and engaged with what's being read. There's a prayer, talking points and a few activity suggestions for each story. Everything is very doable, and some are really quite simple. There is also a connection note that links the teachable lessons from the verses to Jesus, it's called the Jesus connection. While overall we are really enjoying this book, I have to say that the NLT is just not one of my favorite translations, I also wish there was a scripture verse suggestion for memorization. This is a book we will revisit for our Bible time, to use as a devotional and just as a resource for ideas for teachable activities.




I received a copy of this book from Tyndale for the purpose of this review.

You all know how I love my little Storybooks!

I Love My Little Storybook by Anita Jeram captures the joys that a well written/illustrated and well loved storybook can bring to a child. Jump into the pages of one little bunny's favorite storybook as he shares all that he loves about what can be found in it's pages. The illustrations are so sweet and just packed with things to find and see. The characters found in the storybook follow along as you meet them and move through the story with you. What a fun celebration of reading and imagination!

A chance to win a Little Pim DVD for you!

Congratulations to Crystal, you are the winner of the Little Pim DVD giveaway! I will be contacting you shortly.

Thank you to Little Pim for this opportunity and to all who entered!!!!


Here are your random numbers:
10
Timestamp: 2011-08-15 17:03:07 EST



One of my lucky readers now has the chance to win the same DVD I reviewed Happy, Sad and Silly,disc 5 DVD from Little Pim. While I selected the Spanish DVD the winner will able to have their choice of language: Spanish, French, Chinese, Italian, German or English/ESL.

You can check out their site at www.littlepim.com.

To Enter the Giveaway:
You can enter to win through Monday, August 15th, 5:00 PM eastern standard time.

To Enter:

1. Simply leave a comment

2. For two extra entries follow my blog and leave a comment that you are now a follower or that you are a follower. (Be sure to leave extra comments for each).


This giveaway is open to anyone in the United States and Canada. I will either utilize random number generator or the good old draw a name from a hat method of selection. Be sure to leave a way to contact you. If your contact info is not easily attainable I will draw a new winner.