I’ve you’re not familiar with Grapevine studies, the idea is, in short, that you work your way through sections of the Bible by drawing stick figures to remember what you’re studying. This helps learn the chronology of the story, and breaks down story elements in an easily understandable way.

New traceables allow little kids to join in!

We’ve done these studies before, but not since the little ones joined the family. I was thinking I’d need to wait til they were bigger, but Grapevine has recently expanded the age range to include a traceable book so that even preschoolers can participate.

My 4-year-old didn’t know what I meant when I said we’d “trace” the stick people (and actually, I had to explain what “stick people” were, too!), but once I showed him, he did a great job. In fact, it’s hard to tell his from the older kids’ drawings!

Look at how hard he concentrated on doing his best:

I knew I’d use the traceables for my preschooler, but decided to use these pages for first-grader Scout as well. Kathryn used the blank pages, but liked being able to refer to what was on the traceable pages to see what her drawings were “supposed to” look like — although kids can be creative as they want with these. I think Scout could do the blank pages, but she enjoys the traceable pages and I think we’ll stick with these for now.

Hint: colored pencils make it more fun, and you can draw each person in the story a different color to more easily differentiate who’s who as the stick-figuring goes on.

Birth of Jesus study

We’re currently working our way through the Birth of Jesus study. It’s perfect for this pre-Christmas season of Advent, but applicable for any time of year. You can do these as 7 weekly lessons, or as 14 daily lessons.

You also have the flexibility of scaling down, or add to the lessons and continue with further discussion — especially with older kids! Right now, for the purposes of introducing the concept of Bible study to the little ones, we are doing only the lesson pages, and skipping the timeline pages. They don’t get the concept of a timeline yet; I still haven’t gotten “tomorrow” vs “yesterday” straight with Jem!

{Another idea: incorporate these lessons along with the hands-on activities in Truth in the Tinsel!}

For most kids, especially older ones, this is a very familiar Bible story, but Scout and Jem are still learning. Kathryn knows it, but she still eagerly participates because she enjoys Grapevine studies. As we stick figure our way through, we have plenty of chances to reiterate major points and talk about key people in the stories.

Multi-level ebook is economical and handy.

I love using the ebook on my iPad or laptop so I can simply refer to teacher pages without having to print them. The only pages I printed were the ones we needed to draw on. If you prefer, physical books are also available.

Try a free sample lesson!

Every child learns differently, of course, so if you’d like to see how these studies would work for your family, Grapevine offers a variety of sample lessons to try before you buy.

*Please note: I received this study in exchange for writing a review. All opinions expressed are entirely my own, and I was not required to post a positive review. Post contains affiliate links; see disclosure page.

Jamie

Wife, mom, J-ma. Introvert who enjoys good books, sunshine, and authentic conversation. Often seen with a steaming mug of tea in hand – unless it’s lost yet again in the microwave. Read more »