Bible Verse Journal: God Gave His Son Part 1

A Bible Verse Journal is a collection of Bible verses you have learned as a family.  It is a chance to do an art or craft that reinforces part of the record that your child learned.

This Bible verse journal, "God Gave His Son", is focusing on the life of Jesus Christ.  Part 1 is Jesus Christ's birth and childhood. See Jesus Christ's Birth and Childhood Teaching Ideas Overview for teaching ideas while making this journal.


Benefits of a Bible Verse Journal:

• A tool for children to learn and review Bible verses. 
• Action and movement. For young children that have trouble sitting and listening, doing an art project is a great time to talk about the Bible verse and what it means.
• Visuals for children that don't read yet. Even though a child can't read, the visuals can remind them of the Bible verse they have practiced. My daughters love flipping through their journal together trying to see how much they can remember a Bible verse. 
• Focuses on the actual Word of God from the Bible. For young children we are often paraphrasing and summarizing the Bible. We want our children to hear the actual Word of God as much as possible. The Bible is where the truth is. God's Word is what is powerful.  God's Word is what God promises to perform when we believe. This is what we want our children to know.
• A great way to build on a topic. By flipping through the pages children can put together what they have learned week after week.
• A review tool.  My daughters love reviewing the pages and having me read the Bible verses to them. This is nice for days that I haven't prepared anything new to teach them.

Note: This is how I made our Bible Verse Journal.  My hope is that it gives you ideas.  There are many ways you could do this that might better fit the interests of your family. For example: older children might want to write out all the verses and draw pictures of each records, etc.
 
Supplies:

• 3 ring binder with a clear sleeve in the front.  This way you can add pages as you go. 
• white card stock (if you are printing out pages to paint)
• crayons
• watercolors and paint brush
• star stickers
• glitter or glitter glue
• salt
• glue
• Popsicle sticks 
• sand or dirt
• scissors
• clear contact paper
• 3 ring hole punch

1. Cover
Print out. Color or paint. If painting make sure the paint isn't so dark that you can't read the words. We used watercolors.

2. Mary Believed

• Find a picture of Mary talking with the angel. 
• Have your child color or paint the picture. (I used a picture from "The Really Big Book of Bible Story Coloring Pages" by Gospel Light because the angel does not have wings.)
• Attach the Bible verse Luke 1:37.  You can write it at the top of the picture or print it out, Luke 1:37, and staple it to the back.   

3. Jesus Is Born

• Find a picture of Mary and Joseph at the manger.  
• Have your child color or paint the picture. (I used a picture from "The Really Big Book of Bible Story Coloring Pages" by Gospel Light.) 
• Attach the Bible verse Matthew 1:21. You can write it at the top of the picture or print it out, Matthew 1:21, and stable it to the back.

4. The Shepherds Saw the Savior

• Print out Luke 2:14. 
• Decorate the words with glitter or glitter glue.  
• If using glitter: 1. You can paint on watered down glue and then put glitter on top. 2. you can outline the words in glue and then put glitter on top 3. After it dries, you may want to cover it with clear contact paper before putting it in your notebook to help contain the glitter.  

5. Anna and Simeon Praised God

• Print out Luke 2:30 
• Print out a picture of Simeon and Anna onto card stock.  I used a puzzle from"Bible Stories To Color And Tell ages 3-6" by Heart Shaper. 
• Another option is for a free coloring picture of Simeon and Anna (here is a link.) Draw a simple outline of puzzle pieces over the picture.
• Color it. 
• Cut it into puzzle pieces.  
• Glue 3 sides of a piece of construction paper to make a pocket to store the puzzle pieces on the back of the Bible verse page.  

 6. The Magi Rejoiced

• Print out Matthew 2:10 on card stock 
• Put star stickers on the paper. (make sure to press them all the way down) 
• Paint with water colors on top of the stars. I recommend blue, purple and black (and covering up the other colors you don't want your child to use.)
• While it is wet, sprinkle salt on the water colors. (here is an example of the effect). We didn't have ours wet enough when we sprinkled, but it was still fun to do.
• When dry, take off the stickers and brush off the salt. 
• (Alternative: paint dots for stars with Q-tips and yellow paint, like here.)  

7. Joseph Obeyed

• Print out James 1:22a on card stock.
• Have your child trace the road lines with glue. 
• Sprinkle sand or dirt on the glue (this works best over a tray). 
• Shake off the extra sand and let it dry. 

  8. Jesus Grew

• Print out Proverbs 3:1b on computer paper.
• Optional: after you cut out the paper, you can stain it with tea to look aged, instruction here.
• Cut out the rectangle.  
• Glue the craft sticks to each end of the rectangle 
• Glue a half sheet of paper to a full sheet of paper to make a pocket 
• When dry, roll up the scroll and keep it in the pocket.

I'd love to see pictures of anything you make! Send it to me at humbleheartsfamily(at)gmail.com.

Be watching for additions to the Bible Verse Journal as we go through the life of Jesus Christ this next year!

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©Brigette Hill, 2014