My son loves books. Sometimes he wants to sit on them more than read them, and often he wants to look at the grown up books just as much as his books. Some of his favorite books to look at are ones that contain pictures of the Savior. He learned very young to identify Him in pictures, and he loves to look through religious children’s books and find Him.
Experts say that parents should read to their children at least 20 minutes a day to help their reading and comprehension skills develop. But children do more than learn to read when they look at books and are read to. They learn about all aspects of life from the characters and scenarios in the books.
Religious children’s books are great because they not only help young children learn to read, they teach important principles and tell important Story apps for kids . That is not to say that every book a child reads should be about someone from the scriptures, nor that every book necessarily needs to teach a moral lesson. But if you read to your children stories of Christ, or Moses, or just about people being kind, they will learn important life lessons while also honing their reading and comprehensive skills.
One of our church leaders told of his 2 year old grandson who dressed up and stood on a stool. He proudly announced, “I am King Benjamin (a spiritual leader in the scriptures), Everybody be nice!” He learned this story from a book, and was seeking to apply what he learned.
Children who learn basic reading skills and moral principles before starting kindergarten have a better chance of success socially and intellectually. Religious children’s books can help parents achieve this for their children.
As stories are central to literacy and essentially part of literature, children gain an appreciation for the arts from stories. This can lead them wishing to read in their own time, which of course has numerous benefits for children. Stories with pictures also provide children with the tools for an admiration of art itself.
Stories are cross curricular and can be used in a number of other subjects, such as art, or in solving moral conundrums among others. Their central place in teaching is one that no development will ever probably move.
Finally, when bringing your stories out to share them in person with either individual children or a classroom full, there is one additional important technique you’ll want to develop.
I found when telling stories to children, that it was essential to overcome my innate shyness. Through fully immersing myself in the story, I was able to ignore the critical inner voice and enter fully and unselfconsciously, into the characters. Becoming one with the story, I became one with my audience.
