Jonah Learns to Obey

One of the first devotionals we ever did with our daughter was shortly after she turned 2. We bought her her first Bible - The Play-and-Learn BIBLE. The thing we loved about that Bible was it was interactive and it taught her to read. We read that story countless times because I think she felt like she could relate to Jonah in the aspect of obedience. At the end of the story, was a great memory scripture using Ecclesiastes 12:13 (NLT) - Obey his [God's] commands.

Each time we read the story, we would talk about a different aspect of the story. We would talk about the city of Nineveh - as she liked the sound of the word. Sometimes we would talk about why Jonah disobeyed God and how Jonah felt about it - then eventually relating it back to how we can learn from this story. Sometimes we would focus a few minutes on the big fish that swallowed Jonah and we would try and imagine what it felt like being inside the fish. We have a story-teller type of child so she could easily share with us her imagination. 

Different kids need different illustrations and tools to help them get the idea. Sometimes we need to learn what works best by trying different methods. If a method is not working or keeping their attention, we just stop and change directions. It's okay to stop and come back to the story at a different time when they might be more interested. The point it to keep reinforcing how the Bible applies to our lives and how Mommy and Daddy use it as well.

Good song to learn as a family: Trust and Obey 

For kids who are young, even learning the chorus is simply enough and easy to remember.  Another idea would be to jazz the chorus up with a rap of your own!