Browsing Tag

Children’s Book

Bless Your Heart by Cindy Colley

Family Bible Time…It’s THAT Important! (Bookmark this one if you have little people in your life!)

Posted on January 28, 2026

I always love it when a young mom comes asking for Family Bible Time help. “What materials would you recommend?” …”I’ve never done this and my baby is now two. How do I begin?” … “Can you help me know what a five-year-old should know?”

If you’re a young mom trying to mold hearts for him, I think age-appropriate informal time in God’s Word every day is your greatest tool. Today, I want to throw just a few ideas your way. Let me know if I can further help, because there’s no greater calling, Mom, than yours –to put the souls in those little bodies you’ve borne (or adopted, or fostered) around HIs throne for eternity. YOU are key in that forever accomplishment. You really are more than “key.” You are primary.

Here goes:

  1. The fundamental purpose of the book “Picking Melons and Mates” is to give parents a 21-day guide for beginning Family Bible Time. You can’t mess this up. It’s step-by-step instructions and they are in the back of this colorful story book. https://thecolleyhouse.org/
  2. Kids Sing cards. Kids love the drill and reward system. This is not wasted rote memorization. I know middle-aged people who routinely use what they have learned from these cards in their evangelism. If kids repeat, they retain. You can watch a video about how to use these cards here: https://westhuntsville.org/kid-sing/
  3. That They May Have Hope” and “That They May Believe” series by Caleb and Rebekah Colley.

    One night, they got to jump on bubble wrap if they answered correctly. That was epic!

    These have study guides, timelines, flash cards, a memory game, etc…And I have watched pre-schoolers get very excited about Bible characters and accounts when mastering this material. https://thecolleyhouse.org/ 

  4. Hannah’s Hundred for Bible memorization through songs. This one’s classic by now: https://thecolleyhouse.org/ 
  5. In my blog, search for “Family Ties in the Social Distance,” Created during the 2020 Covid isolation time, each of these segments are catered to rich Family Bible Time. They have step-by-step instructions. https://thecolleyhouse.org/category/bless-your-heart
  6. Use one night a week for service. Also in the blog, search Mama’s K.I.S.S. You will find just under 100 ideas for kids to develop servant hearts. You don’t have to fit all of a project in your short FBT. You can introduce it there and incorporate into your week.https://thecolleyhouse.org/category/bless-your-heart
  7. But in all of the doing and learning and getting, don’t miss the ordinary games like Twenty Questions, Charades,  “Who am I?”, and scavenger hunts Kids love to play Bible guessing games and they are such  great family bonding tools!
  8. Then turn your board games into FBT tools, too. Kids get to move or spin or collect or toss when they answer correctly. All the classic games can be turned  into spiritual “play” that’s not really play at all. And you can adapt the questions/challenges to the age of each child.
  9. Those AP Discovery trading cards. I can’t really say enough good things about these for your elementary and middle-school kids. Each card can easily become a Bible Time. http://www.apologeticspress.org

    This night was the lame man in Acts 3–out on the trampoline.

  10. Don’t discount the value of good sound Bible story books. Face it. Every now and then, we need a little chill time, and it’s pretty nice to cuddle up and read what someone else has put together for us. https://sainpublications.com/product/bible-stories-from-a-rocking-chair/
  11. Finally, check out the treasure trove at Families of Faith. This young mama is busy, but she’s packing this little store with very valuable tools for people like herself! https://familiesoffaith.store/?srsltid=AfmBOorzzIX_RPrqE8zX6KEWdw8JQuJ4wsZ54wl9p4g3N1FEKVKryTXU 
Bless Your Heart by Cindy Colley

Mamas, You will want this!

Posted on April 24, 2024

We’re very excited to be bringing SOON a book for kids ages 7-12 written by Hannah Colley  and exploring doctrinal issues on a kid-friendly level. It seems to us at The Colley House that there’s a void of plain teaching about the nature of the church, the authority of the Word and the unique features about the Biblical things we teach–things like God’s truth on marriage and divorce, His plan for church leadership, the nature and the “why” of baptism and so much more. So Hannah presents a typical, but imaginary, family working through these issues in their Family Bible Times. I’m collaborating with her and I could not be more pleased. This is going to be great for YOUR Family Bible Time, too. I cannot wait for you to see it.

Here’s a blurb:

…Speaking of big and mature, apparently you start to think about things a lot more when you’re 8. Big people things. Take what I thought about and learned this week, for instance. I was playing with my friend Maddie a few days ago while our moms were drinking coffee downstairs. Maddie is a lot older than me—she’s 12–and has long straight blonde hair and braces.  Maddie was saying something about how her family always goes to the lake on Sundays in the summertime. I said, “On Sundays? You mean you don’t go to church on Sundays?”  She smiled at me and said, “I know church is really important to your family, Jane. That’s your truth. But my family thinks you can find God everywhere, especially out in nature, like at the lake—you don’t have to be at church to know God. That’s my truth, and it’s okay if it’s not the same as yours.” 

Well, I just sat there without saying anything else because I’d never heard anyone talk like that before. What did she even mean MY truth and HER truth, and whoever heard of going to the lake on Sunday? Didn’t her parents teach her that that’s the Lord’s Day? I was confused. 

That night, during our family Bible time, I asked my dad about what Maddie said. I told him how she said her family goes to the lake on Sundays and that when I asked her why they don’t go to church on Sundays, she said that my truth was different from her truth. 

My dad said that Maddie had probably been brought up around something called relativism. He asked if I knew what that was…. 

I think you are going to want this book. It makes Family Bible Time easier without making it less efficient. It will build spiritual muscles and security. It will, prayerfully, help you  put your  little souls around the throne.

While you are waiting, don’t forget the Hope series. It’s helping hundreds already. Our goal is daily spiritual injections that give kids better Satan immunity.  We can do this!

All are found here:

https://www.thecolleyhouse.org/store