We had a very fun weekend celebrating the United States' birthday. Hazel and I went to my parents at Cape Cod and got to see the fireworks, a parade and we went to a powwow. Plus we had time for swimming, mini golf and the John F. Kennedy Museum in Hyannis. Then it was time to come home and get ready for work. Now I finally have a few minutes to share with you a wonderful new devotional for kids. It is I Am Devotional: 100 Devotions About the Names of God by Diane Stortz and illustrated by Diane Le Feyer.
This book is perfect to help your child(ren) grow in their relationship with God. I love it for the summertime so Hazel is developing spiritually even though we may miss a week of church and she is not in her Christian school. These devotionals take a look at the names of God and what they mean and how that meaning can play into today's life. They are each short and end with a prayer, discussion questions and a scripture to check out in the Bible.
Often we hear the names for God and we don't always question what does that name mean. How does it affect our relationship with Him? This book does that. It explains the meanings and gets the reader thinking more about why that name is used for God in the Bible. It also gives some of the Hebrew translations of the names.
Each devotional has an illustration to go along with it. They are colorful and pretty. It is full of thought provoking ideas that will lead to discussions in the family. It is the perfect book to read as a family. They take less than five minutes to read and bring prayer and God into your life every day.
To go with this book I decided to make a Names of God Domino Game. I got the idea from this post at Flame: Creative Children's Ministry. I used the names of God used in I Am Devotional. You can print out your own copy here.
I printed out the fifteen pages on regular paper, but would use cardstock to keep the game better if it is to be played often. Hazel and I began to play. We somewhat made our own rules as we went along. We started by choosing seven tiles. Then I let Hazel begin with any of her tiles. From that we tried to make matches. The tiles contain both English and Hebrew names and we also decided anything with a word like light or shepherd could be a match.
Since we do not know the Hebrew translations (and I do not plan on having her memorize them) I made up a "cheat" sheet for matches. You can get a copy here. Hazel had so much fun trying to put out as many of the tiles as she could.
We decided it was more of a team game than a competitive one. Playing together and figuring out the names and matches was a lot of fun. So bring your kids and your relationship with God a bit closer this summer and pick up a copy of this great book. It is the perfect way to start or end the day and get us all thinking of how wonderful our God is. Then print out your own dominoes and cheat sheet and have a family game night of exploring the names even more!! Enjoy!!
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