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Need some fresh ideas for family devotions? If you’re struggling to fit daily family Bible study into your routine, check out these easy family Bible study ideas.
Each one slips smoothly into the schedule you already follow, making daily family devotions so much easier for Christian parents–whether you have small children or older kids! Here are 5 fabulous ways to get family Bible study into your schedule.
Struggling to fit in daily family devotions?
Recently I heard some great advice about doing daily family Bible studies—at a wedding, of all places!
The preacher told the happy bride and groom, “Don’t wait until you have kids. Sit down and start your family devotions tonight.”
Even though you can’t find time for for family devotions or you struggle to come up with family Bible study ideas, do you still feel guilty that you aren’t including them in your daily schedule?
Wish you could somehow find time for family Bible study? Or that ideas for family devotions were just a little easier to come by?
I’m Sarah from BibleBaton.com, and I help busy Christian women teach the Bible to kids using creative lesson plans, simple crafts, & unique activities. Today, I’m here to tell you that including a daily family Bible study in your schedule doesn’t have to be so hard.
—–> Simply add family devotions into the routines you already follow!
This technique has worked incredibly well for us over the years. Even when we were crazy busy. Even when we had small kids. Even when we lacked good family Bible study curriculum.
With this simple plan, we’ve still been able to consistently include daily family Bible study time. And you can too.
Here are 5 ideas for busy Christian parents who know that family discipleship, training your children in the Word, and family devotions need to be a priority…but just don’t know how to make it all happen.
#1 Family Bible time first thing in the morning
As the kids get older, this is something that works increasingly well for our family. Even if everyone has different schedules, we’re still able to meet together first thing in the morning for a quick family Bible study.
Usually, we’ve used a good devotional book for our “first thing in the morning” family devotions. It’s short and easy, and we’re able to get it done before anyone needs to run off to work or school.
If you feel you have the time, you can add a song or two, or even follow a full Bible lesson plan (like this easy lesson for kids on God’s love). Open or close the time with a quick prayer.
I’ve seen families with teens and young adults who successful using this method. It’s truly ideal for families that are going in all different directions!
#2 Family devotions time during a meal
You have to stop and eat anyway, right? And you’re all together. That means meal times are truly ideal for adding family Bible time into your day.
You can get intense with actual family Bible study lessons during a meal, if you’d like, but we’ve found that a more casual approach works well around the table.
Lately, we’ve been using Bible question cards from one of our Bible trivia board games. We take turns reading questions from a card to the next person. If they successfully answer all the questions on the card, they get to keep it. If they miss a question, the card goes into the back of the box. Then the next person takes a new card and starts reading questions for the third person.
Play continues around the table until everyone is finished eating. Then we count up to see who has the most cards. And best of all, we’ve had family devotions, lots of fun, and become even closer as a family.
This is great because it’s super simple, requires no prep, and is easy to do while we’re eating all while making the most of the time that we have together. And it very effectively challenges us to learn and remember more from the Bible!
Immediately after a meal is another great time to include daily family devotional lessons in your day.
You’re already gathered together and sitting down anyway. Why not whip out the Bible or a family devotional book and have a quick family Bible time?
We usually like to do this after dinner, but I know of families that do it after breakfast or lunch. If you’re family is all together, then it’s a great time for family devotions whether it’s early morning or in the evening hours.
For our after-meal daily family devotional time, we like to use a little devotional book called Daily Light. It’s all Scripture, but each day’s reading is a new collection of verses on various topics.
With small kids, you might simply want to read through the verses. However, we’ve started trying to guess where each verse is found in the Bible. It’s a great way to become more familiar with God’s Word!
No matter what you choose to read, doing daily family devotions after a meal is natural and easy because the family is already gathered together.
#4 Family devotionals in the car
I’m a huge fan of slipping family Bible time into your daily rhythm, because it’s just so much simpler than forcing a separate event to happen every day. And one of the easiest times to add daily family devotions into your regular routine is when you’re traveling in the car.
Everyone is sitting there anyway, right? Why not throw in a little daily family Bible time?? Here are a few family devotional ideas for the car:
Listen to a chapter from an audio Bible.The dramatized versions are really neat (like listening to an audio book!) and are a huge hit with kids.
Listen to Christian kids’ programs or preaching. Many churches now record their sermons. Plus you can find audio and video recordings from many well-known teachers, too. And there are a variety of fun kids’ programs available as well. If you are happy to do something a little more loosely based on the Bible during your family devotional time in the car, you can choose one of these options.
#5 Daily family Bible study into your bedtime routine
This is the habit that our family has followed the longest.
Now, we usually also include several of the other times for family devotions listed above on a daily basis…but if it’s a busy or abnormal day and we somehow miss our other usual opportunities for family Bible studies, we make the before-bed family devotions happen.
It’s taken different formats during different life seasons. This is not a “must do” thing, sweet friend…this is all about grace and finding a way to do it for your family.
When the kids were very young, we read from a story-based kids’ devotional and sang “Jesus Loves Me” every night. Now that the kids are older, we read a chapter of Scripture aloud, sing a hymn, and take turns praying. In our family, this is the last activity we do in the day before everyone heads off to their own rooms until the next morning.
My favorite thing about these daily family devotions is that they end the day on a good note. We finish our day together thinking about God and His Word. And this “before bed” family Bible study time helps small children know it’s time to settle down and get ready for sleep—a great routine!
It’s even easier if you already have a habit of reading books or telling stories at bedtime. Simply add a short family Bible time to the habit you already have.
Choose one of these easy ideas for family devotions to try!
When you work your family Bible study time into the rhythms and routines you already have, it becomes so much easier to make family devotions a daily habit.
So give it a try! Choose one of the easy family Bible time ideas that I’ve listed above, and then see if you can work it into your daily schedule tomorrow.
You might be surprised by how simple it is to include a daily family Bible study in your routine.
Sarah is a certified Montessori teacher with a Bachelor’s in Biblical Studies, plus over 10 years of experience working with kids. She’s passionate about helping Christian women teach the Bible to kids! And she loves sharing creative lesson plans, simple crafts and unique activities, and practical teaching tips with her blog readers. Pop over now to grab your free Bible printables!
