Discipling your child ages 3-5 and teaching them about God and the Bible is simplified with my framework for discipleship. Follow along for recommendations on what to teach and how to teach your little ones to create a Biblically-Minded Family.
What should we teach our child ages 3-5 in order to disciple them?
1. Teach your child about God the Father, Son (Jesus), and the Holy Spirit.
God is the Creator (Maker) of everything and that we need to obey Him. We should teach that God is the Creator (Maker) of everything and that we need to obey Him, that Jesus is God’s Son who loves us, and the Holy Spirit is our Helper.
2. Teach them that talking to God is called PRAYER.
Even though we cannot see God, we can talk to Him in prayer each day and need to be respectful in that prayer time.
3. God gave us a special book called the Bible.
Even at the ages 3-5 we need to teach each child to care for the Bible, read it, and obey it.
4. God gave us parents and put us in a family.
The father is the head of the family, the mother is the helper and the children are under her care. It is through the family that we learn to love each other and learn to obey God and our parents. Some families are large while others are small. God is the Giver of Life, and He is the Creator of the family.
How should we be discipling our children ages 3-5?
1. Use sentences and phrases to teach Biblical truths.
Children from 2-3 years old seem to develop new words every day, often without the parents intentionally teaching them. During this stage it is imperative that children are taught about the God and the Bible. Make up incomplete phrases or sentences for your children to finish by adding in a word. This will implant truth into their minds and hearts. Here are a few examples:
- Jesus loves ME! (Jesus loves LYDIA!)
- God made BIRDS (or anything else you see in Creation). Our children had fun with this one. We would say, “God made…” and they would respond with all of the new vocabulary words that they were learning. God made the trees. God made the “aminals”. God made the house. God made the diapers. It was a lot of fun to teach them new things. While it is true that God didn’t make diapers or the house, it is important to talk about all that God DID make – the components that make up those things. Your children will see how big and powerful God is as you discuss all that He made.
- I will OBEY.
- Children, obey their MOMMY or DADDY or PARENTS. (found in Ephesians 6) This was one of the first Bible verses that our children learned… what an important truth for them to grasp at this stage in their lives! While they are becoming more independent and desire to do things their own ways, they need to be reminded often that dad and mom are the authority. The child’s job is to obey (with a happy attitude, but more on that in another post!)
2. Have your child practice caring for the Bible.
We desire for our children to love the Bible. Many parents or grandparents will give their children age-appropriate Bibles. It makes a great gift, but what parents fail to do is to take it off the shelf and give it the proper respect that it deserves. While it isn’t technically the real Bible, it is good to begin the practice of respect for this book, no matter the form. Have them carry it carefully, turn the pages slowly, and put it back where it belongs after it is read. You can also show them your Bible. Let them feel how heavy it is, open its cover and carefully turn the pages. This will show your child how very special this book is to you and your family.
When one of my children was in this stage (age 4), he saw me underlining and marking in my Bible as I was studying it. He picked up his own pen and climbed up to the table where my open Bible was without me noticing. To his delight, he added his own writings to my pages… in several places! Boy was he proud of himself! While I wanted to yell, I took a deep breath and talked about the things that I have written in this section which made an impression on this little soul. Even though I do recommend your children seeing you in Bible study, I would be careful about showing them how you write or highlight in your Scriptures.
3. Read their Bible to them regularly.
Discipling our children ages 3-5 can be a little tricky since they are continuing to develop language and reading skills. In a time in their lives when they are learning words and sentence formation though, using the Bible to teach these things is an easy way to develop them Biblically . Use a children’s Bible with bright, colorful pages. While each page might not have much content, that is just fine. You are building the routine of reading the Bible, learning vocabulary and spending the time together. If you feel the Bible that they have is too young for them, it might be time for them to graduate to a different children’s Bible with more words, different stories, and more complex pictures which will capture their growing hearts and minds. Try using this Bible in your home:
4. Teach your child ages 3-5 to pray, a way train them in spiritual disciplines.
While your little one may not be able to pray in full complex sentences, we can teach these small ones to be reverent in prayer times at mealtimes, at bedtime, and other times that you pray together. This may look different for every family, but ideas that have worked well to limit distractions would be to
- All bow your heads and close their eyes
- Fold your hands together and bow your heads
- Hold hands as a family
Another idea when teaching your child to pray would be for your child to learn to say AMEN at the end of the prayer. This is an unnecessary but fun way to include your little one in prayer by giving them this special job. They will learn to listen for the ending and add in a resounding AMEN at the top of their lungs!
At this age they may also be ready for praying on their own. They could say a little sentence prayer during prayer times. These little prayers are precious. While you may not understand every word that comes out of their mouths, I am sure that our Heavenly Father is blessed by their intentions. This is another place where your child could use the Fill in the Blank technique as you lead them through sentences like
- Thank you, God, for _______________
- I am so glad that ____________ is part of our family.
- I really like the ___________ that You have made.
5. Sing songs together that have Bible verses or simple truths from the Bible that will disciple your child.
Start learning new songs from albums by Steve Green or other godly men and women. (See ages 0-2 for ideas of songs you can start at that stage and continue in this one.) They may be old albums, but their content is priceless. He uses Scripture set to easy tunes. Your children will memorize many verses through listening to these tracks. Eventually we were able use these memorized verses/songs to disciple them in times when they were afraid, when they got into an argument with a sibling or friend, or when they needed help controlling their tongues.
6. Role-play obedience with your child.
Did you ever teach your little one to disobey? Did you sit them down and teaching the ins and outs of how to have bad attitude? During this stage, you can clearly see the sin nature that each of us is born with! These children have their own will and aren’t afraid to show it. That is why is it so very important to train them to obey you as their parent – fully and with a happy attitude.
For example:
At our house one of the big areas that we needed to have our kids obey was when we were training them to stay in their new big kid bed. God gave us our children close in age (some just 19 months apart), but instead of buying another crib, we decided to get a big kid bed and teach them to stay in it. After building up the excitement for this new bed, we practiced staying in bed for small periods of time – just 10 seconds at the start – as we left the room. With a caution to stay in bed until we came back, we turned out the lights and shut the door only to return 10 seconds later. We praised them for staying in bed and obeying.
On the first day of rehearsals, we practiced 3-4 times with the length of time extending until we got to about 45 seconds. On the next day we started at 30 seconds and built the time until we reached over a minute. We continued in this way for about a week… teaching obedience through role-play. Our little ones were very clear about our expectations and were very ready to stay in that bed for all of naptime. They were excited to not only please daddy and mommy but God as well.
What areas can you role play at home?
- Expectations at the dinner table
- Behavior in their car seat
- Expectations for sitting during church
- Interactions with adults who greet them
- Thankful hearts when opening gifts
By using these ideas to teach your little one about God, the Bible, prayer, and obedience, we lay the foundational principles of being a Biblically-Minded Family. Congratulations, parent, you are well on your way to success!
Which one or ones of these ideas have you implemented in your home to disciple your child ages 3-5?
What ideas do you have to share with our community?
Please comment below so we can all develop into more Biblically-Minded Families!
Do you have other children who are beyond the 3-5 year old stage or haven’t reached this stage yet? Check out the other stages of raising a family who is Biblically-Minded by looking for a particular age group under our Discipleship Tab at the top of the page or click here.
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