Is This in the Story? A Great Bible Story Review Idea For Your Preschoolers

Did Adam call Eve on the telephone when he needed her advice in naming the animals? Or did Jacob sew Joseph's coat of many colors on a sewing machine? Hopefully, your little ones would be able to answer, "No!" to both of these questions.

Understanding what does and doesn't belong in a Bible story not only helps your preschooler to review the story, but it can also help them understand the world around them. "Is This In the Story?" is a fun activity that you can use to review any Bible story. It does take a little preparation, but once you have what you need, you can reuse this idea over and over again.

Here's what you need to do: Pick any Bible story you would like to share with your children. Let's say it's the story of Adam and Eve. You can choose to read it straight from the Bible or you can use a nice picture Bible for the preschool level. Before reading the story to your group, gather pictures of objects or people found in the story. (Don't forget to laminate them form long-term use.) For example, you might include pictures of Adam and Eve, some different kinds of animals that Adam named and maybe a picture of the tree they weren't allowed to eat from. Now gather some pictures of things that were NOT a part of the story such as a telephone, a computer, even a picture of another Bible character such as Noah. Place all of these pictures face down on a table or display them on a pocket chart. Now you are ready to read the story.

After reading the story, tell the children that you are going to show them some pictures. Say that some of the pictures were in the story and some were not in the story. Explain that you need their help to decide. Begin by turning over one of the pictures. Let's say you turned over the picture of a lion. You will say, "Is this is in the story?" Let the children respond. Say, "What is this a picture of?" Let them respond. Finish by affirming or correcting their answers, such as, "You're right! A lion is in the story of Adam and Eve."

Continue to turn over each picture until all have been seen. Place all your pictures in a Ziploc bag along with a title of the story on the front and store it away for future use.