Hands on Bible - Review

Sunday seems like a good day to review a new Bible I picked up to use for family devotions. It's called the Hands on Bible, by Group Publishing, because it includes over 102 hands on, science and craft activities, as object lessons to go along with the scripture.

Here are a few of the other features of this Bible, that I'm really happy about:

• exciting, kid friendly introductions to each book, that pump you up, and draw you into the book.


• Timelines, that set the events in history, beside secular events...for instance, did you know that Haggai was prophesying at the same time public libraries were being opened in Greece, and five years after polo became a sport in Persia?


• 52 key verse activities, help you remember important verses.


• Fun, punchy, Bible hero biographies


• Charts for everything from types of sacrifices, to a comparison between Genesis and Revelation


• A family devotion section, with over 100 lessons to work through as a family, tying into scripture, and the hands on activities.
  

There's more, too. I'm actually really thrilled with the entire thing (except maybe some of the big head, pop-eyed photos, modern publishers seem to think kids like). It's really the best Bible I've seen for pre-teen children, and it's in the New Living Translation, which makes it easy for children to read. But don't take my word for it, you can download a sample of it (the entire book of Genesis!), for free from the publisher. You won't see the pretty color pages that way, but it will give you a look at the style.

I was worried, that all the extras scattered throughout, might be a distraction when trying to read the actual text, but I took it with me to church today, for a trial run, and found it was as easy to read as my normal "grown-up" study Bible. I'm really excited to begin using it in our daily study.

It's great to be a homeschooler.