Bible Adventures & Activities Review

     The Catholic Company had sent me a bible activity book called Bible Adventures & Activities to review.  This faith based book is written by Sally Ann Wright and Moira Maclean for children to learn the main bible stories from both the Old Testament and New Testament.  I had read that the age for this book is between 7-11 years of age and I would disagree. I think it's meant for younger kids and I would rate it for 4-9 year olds.  The illustrations and activities are very cute and geared for little children.  The pictures definitely bring the story to life yet, I could see a child older than 10 thinking it looked "too babyish."
     With that being said, I loved this book as a perfect tool for teaching children who are unfamiliar with the bible.  It starts with Creation and ends with The Lakeside Breakfast. Within each story, the children have opportunities to play games like guessing the animals on Noah's Ark, to a maze the wise men take to find baby Jesus to a Jesus died to save us word search. Some of the activities are more challenging that require basic spelling skills but the majority ask the child to use their visual and imaginative skills.  Each story is one page with a beautiful age appropriate illustration.  On the next page is an activity to help the child learn and memorize the bible story.

This book could be used in a number of ways.  There are 34 bible stories and a parent or teacher could work on one story per week as a bible study for younger children. The activities are not necessarily reproducible but it can be used as enrichment by a teacher.  Perhaps as a quick review to test comprehension.  Each session could be done in 20-30 minutes depending upon the child's attention span.  Or it could be used as enrichment to build on previous knowledge of these stories. Just by looking at the pictures, one could ask the child what they thought was happening.  Or you could even role play the story with the child to increase story comprehension.

If your child is a strong reader, then this book is not for you even if they have little to no knowledge of the bible.  This is an ideal book for a younger child who is learning about God and benefits from the visual cues provided in the illustrations.  It's also better than a children's bible because the added activities help the child process what the lesson is in each bible story.  I think it will hold their attention more than just reading them a story.  Children's bibles are wonderful but I would use them in conjunction with this book.

My review was written as part of the Catholic book reviewer program from The Catholic Company. Visit the Catholic Company for additional information on Bible Adventures & Activities.  The Catholic Company is a great resource for tools to help you participate in the Year of Faith, including Year of Faith bible studies and exclusive Year of Faith personalized gifts.  The Catholic Company also has all your Advent needs in stock such as Advent wreaths and Advent calendars.  No monetary compensation was given for my honest review.

Blessings,
Noreen