Making Faith Fun: 132 Spiritual Activites You Can Do with Your Kids

by Amy Viets

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• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0879463031
• ISBN13: 9780879463038
• Release Date: April 2006
• Publisher: ACTA Publications
• Length: 158 Pages
• Weight: 0.12 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 5.6" x 7.6"

Customer Reviews

A no-nonsense list of ways for parents to weave faith into daily life with their children

Making Faith Fun: 132 Spiritual Activities You Can Do With Kids by Amy Viets (Director of Children's Ministry, ELCA Lutheran Congregation) is a no-nonsense list of ways for parents to weave faith into daily life with their children, from infants and toddlers to preteens. The individual chapters are organized by age groups and refer to ways to remember God on the road, during chore time, in the great outdoors, at the store, at the dinner table, during special occasions, and more. Ideas range from telling stories from the Bible to emphasizing the importance of mealtime prayers to quietly donating surplus school supplies and helping neighbors with housework or yard work when they fall sick or upon difficult times. Making Faith Fun is especially highly recommended for its promotion of compassion, connections, and positive moral values in an era of increasing individual isolation.

Very cool ideas!

Loved all the ideas & fast, fun ways for kids and their parents to talk and share their faith with each other.

Bringing God-Language into Family Life

A thoughtful reading of the introduction is essential to appreciating the activities in Making Faith Fun. Without knowing the author's starting point and her suggestions for using the book, the material could seem beyond reach. We learn in the introduction that Viets and her husband realized, over time, that simply participating in Sunday worship as a family did not meet their goals for living faith. As the idea of bringing faith into everyday life took root, Viets found that available devotional resources, while worthwhile, didn't offer the flexibility she was looking for: something that could be done on the fly, without supplies or preparation. She stresses that her family is "ordinary." Neither parent has special expertise in Scripture or a seminary education; the parents and three kids are subject to the same daily challenges as most other families. One of her most important remarks in the introduction, I think, is that talking about faith to your children may feel uncomfortable. "I felt pretty awkward at first using God-language in the midst of our normal routine," she writes, but at some point it began to feel natural. Viets also suggests that parents pick and choose from the activities, which are based on themes, each one containing ideas for toddlers, preschoolers, elementary schoolers, and pre-teens. So, if you aren't sure about using bath time as a jumping off place to explain your four-year-old's baptism to him, move on to an activity in that section that is more comfortable, such as bedtime bible stories or family prayer. Who knows, the baptism thing might work for you after a little more practice with "God-language." In addition to ideas on such themes as appreciating nature and approaching chores, Viets covers special occasions including birthdays, Christmas, Lent, and back-to-school. Activities are indexed alphabetically and by age groups. This is a valuable resource for families and those who, like Viets, work in children's ministry.

God All Around You

Do you feel like you are a Sunday-only faith family? Do you wish that you could bring the sacred into your every day life? Then this book is for you. Ms. Viets gives real-life examples of ways you can translate your faith into daily activities- riding in the car, grocery shopping, getting ready for bed. Written with self-effacing humor, you will enjoy reading through this book again and again. Your children will love learning how faith can transform ordinary moments into blessed lifelong memories.