For almost a year now, I have made a habit of getting up every morning before my kids and engaging them with quiet time basket. It was a peaceful hour of studying God’s Word, reading a small section of a book, and enjoying a nice, hot cup of coffee. Sounds nice doesn’t it?
Then, I found out I was expecting our fourth child. The morning sickness kicked in and we also went through a time change recently which always seems to make our jobs a little more difficult in the morning.
Suddenly, our calm, scheduled mornings turned into chaos. I was grumpy because I didn’t feel well and I was waking up to my kids pounding on the door or fighting with each other. No one wants to wake up to that.
We have recently started a new morning quiet time basket routine in our home and it has been working out great. It’s important to me that my children make a habit of spending time alone in God’s Word each morning. Even though they are only 3 and 4, I believe that they are starting to understand a lot about the Bible.
In their Morning Quiet Time Baskets:
1. Bible
They each have their bible.
For my three-year-old, we use The Beginner’s Bible (it’s actually my husband’s old bible from when he was a kid, but they still make them). This bible has great simple pictures that keep her interested without overwhelming her.
Her favorite is the story of David and Goliath. She asked my husband and I to find “The Giant” every morning.
For my four-year-old, we use The Jesus Storybook Bible. If your child is starting to outgrow The Beginner’s Bible then I highly recommend that this bible would be on the next level. The stories are longer and the illustrations are more detailed.
2. Notebook
We always included a notebook in their baskets. Even though they can’t write yet, we encourage them to draw a picture about what they have “read”.
This usually ends with my three-year-old scribbling all over the page and my four-year-old drawing a picture of an apple every morning (from the story of Adam and Eve) but the point is that they are learning.
Just like my husband and I write notes in our notebook during quiet time, we are training our children to do the same.
It can be tough for us even as adults to understand the bible, but when we are writing down our thoughts on a certain passage that we don’t understand we can ask a mentor for their advice or look it up.
3. Prayer Cards
The last thing we include in their baskets are prayer cards.
I have made these specifically for kids that can’t read yet. I hope that you print them off and use them with your children or in your church.
Here is what I’ve included in the prayer cards:
- Hearts (Those you love like families, friends, etc)
- A thinking bubble with Jesus (To remind our children to think about Jesus in every situation)
- Stuffed animal that is “hurt” (The sick)
- A child living in poverty (The poor)
- American flag (Our country and leaders)
- Globe (Missionaries)
- Church (To remind them to pray for our church and church leaders)
Before you give the cards to your children, I recommend that you go over them more than once. Explain to them what each picture stand for.
I laminated the cards, punched a hole in the top corner, and added a book ring so that we could easily keep up with them.
After my girls are done reading/drawing they find a place to pray alone.
My goal in doing this for my kids isn’t just to get some more quiet time in the morning, but I want them to start this habit early. I want it to be second nature for them to get up and spend time in God’s Word.
