Top Must Read Devotionals for Families
Family devotions are critical to our day-to-day family life.
I was asked recently for my BEST parenting advice. My answer?
“Do family devotions. Don’t miss it. Your very best parenting moments happen during family devotions.”
Today, I wanted to share with you some of our favorite devotional read-alouds. These are books that our family has read together for family devotions or bedtime devotions.
We love bedtime devotions… and the foundation it builds for our kids.
I honestly think that a bedtime or mealtime discussion/devotional is extremely important for families. Especially for parenting! It is something that we just can’t skip or forget.
It must be a priority in our homes.
I can’t stress enough how important and valuable this is for your kids!
Some of our best parenting discussions don’t happen during discipline or during correction but during bedtime or any other time specifically set aside for reading God’s Word together and learning as a family. Devotions are a huge part of parenting ahead.
The conversations that these books bring about are simply priceless to raising our children up in the way they should go.
No matter your kids ages, devotional time is something you can not skip. Even when tired after a long day or in the busyness of the morning, even a verse read or a short word spoken can change the entire tone of the day.
Family Devotions
1. God and Me! – I love this devotional! It is one that we have used in all of the different age levels. Each devotional contains a scripture, a short story, questions to answer and a short prayer. They have books that are specific to girls or boys which helps you, as the parent, make the devotional time pertinent to your child.
2. These are must have books! The Princess and the Kiss for girls and The Squire and the Scroll for boys. Books all about purity, godliness, faithfulness, integrity, honor and many more wonderful traits that we want to inspire in our kids!
3. 365 Bedtime Bible Stories – You’ll read through the Bible! This has helped me see which Bible stories my girls have never heard, which stories they understand, which Bible stories they love… each story ends with a few questions about that story.
4. My Precious Moments with God – We love this book. It is one that Elayna got for her first birthday. The girls read through this one on their own and it is one that we have read together.
5. God’s Little Princess Devotional Bible – Sheila Walsh does an incredible job on this devotional. There are things to fill out, questions to answer, beauty tips for the girl and her heart, verses, stories and more.
6. Fire Bible – This is the best Bible. ever. I love every page, every note, every article, every challenge, every tool and every part of this Bible. This is a full NIV Bible packed full of information for students and this is the Bible we have for our girls. You can grab it in a children’s version as well!
Updated to add more info on the Firebible… this is STILL my favorite Bible resource for myself and for our girls! AND, as if that wasn’t enough, there is also a FREE Fire Bible for Kids 3-D app that goes along with the NIV Kids Fire Bible. We have this app and my girls love it.
7. We also love the Adventure Bible. The pages are colorful and contain helpful “treasures” for your children to use for reading time or devotions. They will love exploring the Bible on their own and with the family using this great Bible!
8. Little Blessings – I can’t even tell you how precious these books are to us. My girls love the whimsical pictures, the happy children, the colorful pages and the endearing wording used in the Little Blessings books. Here is a devotional that you can use with your preschoolers that I know you and your children will love! As my girls have grown, we still go back to these and read them together. They are thoughtful and full of great conversation starters.
9. Josh McDowell’s Devotions for Families – I don’t know about you, but I love Josh McDowell. His time tested books are well worth your time and effort. They will bless, challenge and strengthen your family.
10. Just like any good read aloud, you need a journal. or a notebook. Something to write your thoughts in. My girls each have a journal that they can write in when they read God’s Word or when we do devotions. They are learning to write down their prayers, what God is doing in their life, what they are learning and what God is speaking to them. Journaling is a beautiful part of devotions that we must cultivate in our kids.
Here are a few fun ideas:
11. You can buy the Keys for Kids year devotional here, which is wonderful and convenient, or check out Keys for Kids website. You can get this as a quarterly book in the mail or as a daily email. Perfect for kids starting to do devotions on their own! Elayna gets this one in her email and she always loves it, knowing she has something special to read.
12. Our Daily Bread for Kids – You know the adult version that you get from your church? This is a kids version with a lesson, a verse and a fun fact for each day of the year. We are currently using this devotional and it is a hit each day. The devotionals give us great topics for discussion and prayer time.
13. Heaven for Kids by Randy Alcorn – I don’t know about your kids, but my girls have a lot of questions about heaven. This book is one we went through, a chapter at a time, together at bedtime. I highly recommend this as a go-to heaven resource for kids! If your family really gets interested or you want to know more, the adult version is also very well done.
14. Be-tween You and God Devotions for Girls – With 2 pre-teens and 1 teen in the house, this devotional has been spot on for them. The topics covered in each devotional hit them right where they are and I could not be happier with this tool and how well it has helped open up good, Biblical conversations with the girls!
15. His Mighty Warrior for boys and His Little Princess are both beautiful letters from God to read to your kids. My girls still talk about these letters and remember how much God loves them from this book!
16. 3 Minute Devotions for Teen Girls – There are quite a few devotions for different seasons of your kids lives. I can’t even tell you how many times this devotional spoke directly to one of my girls on a day they needed it most.
17. The One Year Devos for Animal Lovers – I haven’t read this one myself but it comes highly recommended by a friend!
What is your family’s or your children’s favorite devotional?
Do you do family devotions?
Thanks for this list. I love how you have presented a variety of tools for families. As a member of the team who has worked on developing resources that support the Fire Bible for Kids, I want to say thank you for sharing your thoughts. It’s important for us to hear from people who are using it in their homes. FYI: We now have a 366 Day Devotional that is a companion to the Fire Bible.
Just wanted to let you know that I’ve updated this post to include the newer Fire Bible for Kids resources! Feel free to share our post. We are happy to help promote and share this resource for families. Thanks for taking the time to visit our blog!
One of your AG Ms 🙂
We love our Little Blessings devotionals – we have two versions and have been cycling through them for years. We also use the one that comes home with Sam from school. He gets a new one every quarter.
I too LOVE having the Jesus Storybook Bible in our home. The CD’s have been listened to over and over and over again to the point that Julia can recite many of the stories. I love that God’s word and HIStory is being written on her heart.
We also have a devotional that is a nature/animal theme. The kids really enjoy the pictures and the questions keep them focused.
Thanks for sharing this list!
Thank you for this great list! We do have a couple of the books you mentioned and I will be checking out the others soon!
We love Josh McDowell around my house.
what a neat take on the idea of read-alouds! i love it!
Such a great list!!! I love the Squire and the Scroll- it’s a regular in our home. And we also adore the Jesus Storybook Bible. Even my oldest loves the way the stories are written.
What a fantastic list!! Thanks for some new titles that I think would be a great addition to our home library 🙂