I love learning activities that involve the whole child! An experience that involves seeing, hearing, tasting, touching, and even smelling is much more likely to stick with a little one than simply hearing about it. Learning through all the senses is one reason that A-Walk-through-Bethlehem type experiences are so meaningful.

Children learn through experience.

Few Bible stories have been portrayed as a walk-through-experience, but books can be the focal point for that very kind of learning.

Say & Pray Bible by Diane Stortz offers a springboard for learning through experience. For example, young children can name the animals and objects in the story of Noah. (I LOVE the way the book is written at the language level of its young readers.) Parents can also use the book to help kids experience the Bible stories such as this.

This book could be used with a zillion stuffed animals, small plastic animals, or the real creatures during a visit at the zoo.

Have one child be Noah, and another, his wife.

Choose an ark (the sofa, a blanket on the floor) and have Noah build it. Talk about that God was not happy that the people did not listen to Him. He told Noah to build a big boat called an ark.

God told Noah to take his family on the boat. God also told Noah to bring the animals – two of each kind.

• Seeing – Bring in the stuffed animals. What animals can the child name. Make sure that Noah calls them onto his boat (the ark).
• Hearing – Animals are not quiet. What kind of sound does a lion make? What about a horse? A monkey?
• Touching  – How do the animals feel? Are the sheep soft? Do the turtles have hard shells?
• Smelling  – The animals on the ark must have been smelly. Talk about the smelly animals at the zoo. Imagine the ark with all of those animals together. Talk about stinky!
• Tasting – Remember that it rained and rained. How does rain taste?
• Seeing (again)  – Look at the beautiful rainbow in the sky. Talk about God’s promise to never again destroy the Earth with water. Get out the crayons or paints and create a rainbow picture.

I’d like to add one more to the list of senses – feeling with a believer’s  heart. Talk with your child about the way that God loves his children and wants them to follow Him. Talk about His wonderful promises and the sign of the beautiful rainbow in the sky.

Saturday is a great day to experience a book with a child. What book will you enjoy together today?

Carol

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