CHRISTIAN EDUCATION
the Bible and
the Preschooler
by BETTY McCULLOUGH
P lease read me a story from my new Bible,” said five-year-old Sally as she climbed up on the divan beside her Aunt. T h i s n e w B i b l e had b e e n a Christmas gift from Grandmother. It had a black leather cover with a zipper closing and was small — just the size a five-year-old would not find too heavy to carry to Sun day school each week. “ Read about this,” said Sally as she opened to one of the colorful pictures. It took Auntie several minutes to find the passage that went with the picture and then she began to read. Sally listened attentively for sev eral minutes trying desperately to understand the words that were flowing so c o n t i n u o u s l y from Auntie’s lips. Suddenly Sally was seized with a r e s t l e s s n e s s which made her change her position several times, straighten her dress and then peer inside the cover of a magazine that lay beside her. Just at that moment there was a t e l e p h o n e c a l l for Auntie and Grandmother was asked to finish reading the Bible story. Grand mother had noticed the recent rest lessness and as she picked up the open Bible asked, “ Shall we finish this story or read another?” " “ Oh, let’s read another,” was the quick reply. “ That wasn’t a very good one.” Turning to the second chapter of Exodus, Grandmother read the story of baby Moses in the bul rushes. Somehow this story was more interesting and now the mag azine was cast aside as Sally snug gled up close in order not to miss
read selected quotations or other easily u n d e r s t o o d sentences where they fit into the story. It is so important for children to know which are the true stories that come from God’s precious book. Never assume that chil dren know these stories are from the Bible or that a comment to that effect will be sufficient. A l ways have the Bible open to the exact spot and use it in the tell ing so that little children cannot fail to know that these are Bible stories. 4. Read selected portions of Scrip ture that are not stories and ac company the reading with pic tures to illustrate the concepts being presented. The following excerpts from Psalm 147 and 148 and the suggested picture ac companiments can prompt pre schoolers to truly praise the Lord for His “wonderful works” : VERSE PICTURE Praise ye the L o r d : Children for it is good to sing sin9'n9 praises unto our God. Who covereth the Rain tolling Sing unto the L o r d w i t h thanksgiving; sing praises unto our God. Who maketh grass to Green grow upon the moun- mountainsitle tains. heaven with clouds, who prepareth the rain for the earth.
a single word. Story after story was read with the same interest until finally it was time for dinner and Grandmother had to close the Bible with a promise to read more later. Sally is not an exceptional pre schooler, for children of four and five years can enjoy stories from the Bible as much as they enjoy the antics of “ The Three Little Pigs,” “ The Three Billy Goats Gruff” or any of Walt Disney’s popular cre ations. But it is only the rare pre schooler who can comprehend a Bible story if it is read without comment from the King James Ver sion. Language on an adult level and composed of many archaic ex pressions must be translated into the vocabulary of childhood if it is to be understood. Let us consider several ways of presenting the Word of God to pre school children: f. Open the King James Version and read along verse by verse. But instead of reading each word as it is written use synonyms that are within the understand ing of the child. It may be neces sary to add phrases in order to clarify difficult points. In doing this you will be doing what translators down through the years have done with the origi nal inspired Hebrew and Greek documents. And it need not in any way add to or take away from the Word of God. 2. Use one of the modem transla tions when reading to children. 3. Tell the Bible stories to children in as simple and interesting a manner as possible. As you tell the stories always have the Bible open before you and occasionally
Sing unto the L o r d with t hanks g i v i ng ; sing praises unto our God.
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