Big Dreams Big Prayers NIV Bible

Big Dreams Big Prayers NIV Bible
Zonderkidz
Ages: 9-12
Price: $29.99

From Zondervan's Website:
The Big Dreams, Big Prayers Bible for Kids, NIV includes the complete New International Version (NIV) of the Bible along with devotions, prayers, and highlighted verses to help kids pray and listen for God's answers to their prayers.  Features include:
 *Presentation page for personalization and gift giving.
 *Devotions about people who prayed and listened to God such as Abraham, Hannah and Job.
 * The Lord's Prayer explained for kids.
 * The "hand" prayer model to help kids remember to pray for others and themselves.
 * Highlighted verses great for memorization and meditation.
 * Book introductions explain what each book of the Bible is about.
 *Prayer journaling pages with space to record personal prayers and answers to prayer.
 * Reading plans
 *Complete text of the New International Version (NIV)

This full text, full featured Bible is focused on guiding readers in prayer. It includes lessons on how to pray, examples of prayer found in the Bible, journaling prompts that help readers plan their prayer list, and more.

I LOVE this Bible...I love that it is an NIV and NOT AN NIrV.  NIV just seems to fit in with the things my children need a BIble for...

I LOVE that it is not girly or childish.  The colors are appealing to a wide range of people.  The color continues through the Bible with a few color pages inserted in the text.

I REALLY LOVE that this Bible has a prayer focus and that will be what I spend my time pointing out.

First, throughout the text, there are verses highlighted.  I have not looked at every verse that is highlighted, but the ones I have seen seem to be verses that you can pray.  I love that this Bible pulls some of those out and shows us that we can pray these same words.  Not only that, but it shows our children examples of what prayer looks like.

Then, there are over 50 devotions sprinkled throughout the text, so you child can read it and think on that.  These also seem to be prayer focused

There is a How to Use This Bible page that also explains how to find particular verses and what all those numbers mean.  I think that is VERY helpful!

The Lord's Prayer page gives an overall explanation, but I would have liked it to also go phrase by phrase.

My favorite inserted page is the Hand Prayer page...this gives a simple guide that is easy to remember to guide your child in prayer.  Praying for people close to you, those who point the way, those in authority and more.

There are also three different reading plans.  I think this is wonderful...especially for children who are new to the Bible.  When I became a Christian, I thought Sampson and Delilah was a love story...I knew NOTHING about the Bible...I started with Children's Bibles to get
 a feel for what the Bible was about.  The reading plans seem to start with an overview, then delve a little deeper each cycle through.

There is also a few prayer journal pages in the back.  I think it would be better to have a separate book to write prayers in...there are only a few pages with not much room to write.

Overall though, I love this Bible! It is such a great fit for our family!



I received this Bible in exchange for an honest review.  All thoughts and opinions are my own.

The Beginner's Bible Super Heroes of the Bible Sticker and Activity Book

The Beginner's Bible Super Heroes of the Bible Sticker and Activity Book

Zonderkidz

Ages: Preschool and Up

Price: $3.99

Who does not like a sticker book?  Even though my little guy was WAY OUTSIDE the range for this book, I KNEW he would still like this...and he DID!  Filled with 16 FULL COLOR pages and over 50 stickers, this is kid fun in a book!

I will note that the book says that the stickers are reusable...so I took one off and put it back on the sheet....where it curled and peeled up like crazy...but we stuck it back onto it's spot on the page, and no problems on there at all!  So, as long as you don't need to have them on that waxy page, they are reusable!
There are many activities in this book, including puzzles, mazes, sequencing and of course STICKERS!

This is a fun book with all the Beginner's Bible characters children have grown up with.  This book would pair well with readings from the Beginner's Bible...If you can pull the Sticker and Activity book away after only a page or so...
A great book for your little ones...or even those who are little at heart!

Maybe adult sticker books will catch on like the color books have!

I received this book in exchange for an honest review...all opinions are my own.

The Plans I Have For You Devotion and Journal

The Plans I Have For You Devotional
The Plans I Have For You Journal
Written by Amy Parker
Illustrated by Vanessa Brantley Newton
Zonderkidz Publishing
Devotional: $14.99
Journal: $12.99


The Plans I Have For You is a 90 day devotion for children.  There isn't an age range mentioned, but I would suggest at least mid elementary children.  The book is divided into 6 categories of devotions:
                            I've Got Big Plans For YOU!
                            I've Given YOU a Purpose
                            I Don't Do Things Small
                            There's Nothing YOU Can't Do
                            Find That ONE Thing
                            What I Created YOU To Do
This Devotion is based on the Scripture Jeremiah 29:11: "For I know the plans I have for you, " declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future."
Many people LOVE this verse and I was interested to see what it would be like.

First, there is an introduction page that explains REALLY well to kids what a devotion is...Spending time with God everyday!  She goes on to say that a devotion is a tool to help you do that, but you don't even need that...You can just open your Bible.  She stresses spending time with God EVERYDAY!  I love that this is pointing children to be in the Word everyday.

The pages are very colorful and interesting.  The drawings are probably more suited to younger children and the devotions themselves are PRETTY SHORT!  Sometimes just six lines.  Some of the devotions are very simple: "Are you Lonely?  Give God a call!  He is right there with you."
Others hit you right between the eyes with a big ouch: "Only the humble will hear God's Direction.  Prideful hearts won't need help.  The Arrogant already know the way.  The haughty have their own things to do, thankyouverymuch.  But those who admit they need God's guidance, those who wait for instruction, those who make time to listen...They will hear, ,and they will find the way."

What I don't love about this book:

The devotions seem to be written at different levels of comprehension and spiritual maturity.  Some devotions are great for preschoolers, while others need some more critical thought skills to grasp and apply.  It is so hard to put an age range on this.

At least a couple of the devotions seem a little too vending machine style (for lack of better words), put your money in and get this...For example, on a devotion for Ephesians 3:20 (God can do more than we can ask or imagine), the author lists a few things: Your wildest dreams, craziest goals, prayer of all prayers... "Poof! It's all yours."  I think that can lead to some wrong thinking.

What I LOVED about this book:

I LOVE how some things are explained really well for children: What a devotion is, What God giving us the desires of our hearts means, and Remaining in Him from John 15 for example.

I LOVE how it points children to God and developing a daily time with God.

I LOVE that it is simple enough for my middle elementary kid to pick up and work independently.


The Plans I Have For You Journal is a companion to the devotional.  The sections line up with the sections in the book and give space for your child to go a little deeper.  The sections in the journal do not appear to line up one to one with the devotional, but take the concepts and allow for the child to think and write about where God is leading them with that particular thought or truth.

 I love the idea of a journal, but my little guy thinks that writing is an extreme form of torture inflicted by mean Momma's, so we have not worked in this at all.  Some pages are fill in the blank, some are drawing pages and others are more free writing on the topic.  If your child likes these kinds of activities, I would HIGHLY recommend getting this to accompany the devotional.

I received these products in exchange for an honest review.  All thoughts and opinions are mine.