The Pigeon Needs a Bath by Mo Willems is the perfect book to get readers of all ages chuckling and giggling, while at the same time making its point that being physically clean is important!

But what about being “spiritually cleansed” from our sin?

Why not use this book as a springboard to helping your child understand the concept of forgiveness? In the Psalms, David prayed, “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.” In 1 John 1:9, the Bible states that “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

As believers, when we sin, we need to confess that sin to God and ask him to forgive us. The word confess literally means “to agree.” We are agreeing with God that the sin we committed is wrong, and that we want to change. God promises to forgive us when we confess, and when we receive that forgiveness, we are made spiritually “clean” before God!

Teaching your children how to ask God for forgiveness is important. It can be as simple as helping them to pray something like, “Lord, I agree with you that telling a lie is wrong. I’m sorry. Please forgive me and help me not to tell lies.” Of course, it is the attitude of the heart and not certain words that make the difference.

Being forgiven feels so good!

Here is an object lesson that you can use with your children:

Step 1: Cut a paper heart out of construction paper.

Step 2: Put the heart in a Ziploc bag

Step 3: With a dry erase marker, brainstorm some common sins and write them on the heart that is in the bag. (disobey, tell lies, hitting, not sharing)

Step 4: Have your child wipe the “sins” off of the plastic bag with a cloth and make the connection as you explain the verses that the “erasing” is similar to God’s forgiveness.

The Mo Willems picture book can also be useful for kids who are throwing a fit about not wanting to take a bath! And here are a few more goodies:

Extra idea for the Pigeon book: Wash the pigeon activity. Make a paper pigeon that you place in the plastic bag. Your child can “get it dirty” with the dry erase marker and then clean him. I found this idea on Pinterest at this link and it sparked the idea of the “clean heart” object lesson I created.

Bath Time Fun Activities Click here to find links to more Bath Time Fun activities on my Pinterest account.

This post was submitted by Mindy Baker of www.mindybakerbooks.com. I have a new mini-magazine called Make the Time! If you are interested in receiving similar content every two weeks, click here to sign up, or go to the homepage of my website!

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