Biblical tv for kids.

Ok so it came to my attention the other night that even though we’ve been reading to my 5 year old every night short kids bible stories with animated pictures out of a children’s Bible book I’m worried . We’ve done this consistently for about a year now. My concern is that if you start questioning him on what we just read minutes ago and who it was about we get crickets and off the wall random things not at all related to the story as if he’s not even listening …. I thought maybe watching something like vegitales tv show would help. Same result. I’m worried that what he is learning from his 1 hour on Sunday school and nightly bedtime reading that it isn’t being retained. His mother, a school teacher bless her heart is trying to get him to memorize bible passages but I think he isn’t grasping the meanings of what he memorized. All he picks up on is that if he can recite the scriptures it makes mommy happy and makes the Sunday school teacher happy. I know that when I was a child the company that produced Skoobi-do made a kids biblical tv show called( the greatest adventure stories from the Bible) and it got me to at least sit and watch the stories. So I bought that today though the graphics are so 1985 and the voices are cut right from Skoobi doo! 😁Am I expecting too much from a 5 year old? I mean, he can tell me all about the secular kids cartoons like sonic the hedgehog or Spider-Man etc. he can talk about them and go on forever about it but when it comes to biblical stuff it’s just not grabbing his attention. Is there anything I can do as a father to help beyond what I’m doing or is this one of those trust in God and have faith things? Any ideas?

Does your son show any other signs of having a learning disability?

Not to say that is definitely the cause.

Just wondering if you have done any troubleshooting...

He has some speech issues. But otherwise can still communicate. Just mispronounces some words. Which we have him going into preschool with someone that’s supposed to be helping with that this year. He had a tongue issue at birth which was fixed and had a stomach issue called pyloric stenosis. Was prone to lots of ear infections in the early years.

Well Thankyou for the encouragement. I greatly appreciate it

The only bible passage I have memorized is 'Jesus wept." Oh, and maybe John 3:16 too. I'm far from an expert on child raising as I only had one daughter but, to me, it would be more important for my daughter growing up to retain scripture in her heart rather than trying to remember it in her mind. I read to her out of a children's bible book too. Personally, I would not try to force feed scripture to a 5 year old but do offer praise for demonstrating simple scripture in action.

I had speech issues too while growing up and attended speech therapy from 2nd grade through 7th grade. Moses was often tongue-tied too and God appointed Aaron to speak for him. I will say a prayer for your little guy.

Thankyou!

I have to wonder if it's simply that he can tell the difference between the normal cartoons and the biblical ones.
When he watches Sonic he watches to enjoy, and thus naturally picks up on details because he's interested.
But the biblical stuff he's Expected to learn something. Meaning it's not just fun, but an element of work attached to it, making it less appealing.
If I read something that gets my attention I can delve into it because I Want to. If I were to take a class on that same thing it's suddenly less fun and interesting because there's a pressure attached to it now.

And at 5 years old that's easy to see.
Watching Sonic rewards him, learning bible stuff rewards you.

My kids like to watch Superbook. We watch it on youtube. There's the modern ones (I'll put a link) as well as the ones done in the 80's (which my kids didn't like seriously- what's wrong with 80's animation ) being that he's 5, you might want to preview the first episode (In the Beginning) to judge if it's to scary or graphic for him. (It touches on Lucifer becoming Satan and wars in the Heavens)

They also like the Beginners Bible videos

maybe tv isnt the way to go, maybe its actually playing with toys like have a Noahs ark and enact the flood or something. dressing up as biblical characters is also fun.

TV can actually be REALLY boring for a child. Things either move way too quicky or its slow or it could be just all the flashing lights and colours. at five years old their eyesight isnt even there to pick up on much.
Make it tactile rather than just visual or audio.

Another way is to sing songs. Because tunes can be catchy and memorable. Eg wise man built his house upon the rock...with actions.

eating is also a way children learn. Jesus pretty much got people to imagine that grape juice was his blood and bread was his body. It was a way of conveying a very real spiritual truth. He used seeds and demonstarted the ways they grew.

He actually sat down and watched an entire episode of Superbook as attentive as if would be watching the secular cartoons like Sonic or Spider-Man. Thanks so much for the suggestion. I’m very hopeful this will help. Graphics kinda similar to Frozen which he likes as well. 👍 😃 .

Thats good to hear
Superbook is also available on dvd.

Another one he might like (the animation isn't s flashy, but the stories are good) is from Focus on the Family,
Adventures in Odyssey series

Do you read other stories to him that he retains? Is he the wiggly sort? Maybe don't have him sit and just listen. Maybe have him doing something with his hands such as drawing/coloring the story or something totally unrelated like fiddling with a koosh ball or those new "pop" toys (not really sure what they're really called) as he listens. Sometimes it helps those little ones to focus just to keep their hands busy.

Also, if he listens to other books fine, there are various regular books that are Bible stories that might capture his attention more. You can look them up on Amazon - or maybe Christianbook. "Noah's Ark" "joseph and his coat of many colors" That kind of thing. (And if they allow for it you can make them interactive - read through it beforehand and see if you can have him make animal sounds when they're loading the ark or if you're reading it to him while sitting on a bed, you can start rocking the bed around while you're reading about them being in the ark on the water. Kids love that stuff.)

hmm will have to check out Superbook, maybe Im wrong its actually the quality of the animation that a 5 year old really picks up on!

some really old animations are exhausting to watch, for example those old hannah barbera cartoons where they just repeated the same backgrounds over and over.

I recall older episodes of the Simpsons were very jerkily animated.

Nowadays most animations are CGIed. I find some of the earlier CGI very clunky. Maybe Veggie Tales is also in tha category...I dont watch a lot of cartoons now. But I remember as a child watching lots of animated cartoons and noticing the difference between good and bad ones (in terms of animation) .

Is there a stop motion or claymation animated Bible TV? That might be interesting

I mean there is Lego and Minecraft bible versions you can read now.

Yes it was Hanna Barbera that made the one I thought he would like as I remembered liking it as a kid but it really failed to grab my sons interest. Ow well, I guess I just bought the series for my own nostalgia to reminisce on the fond memories of my childhood.😃 guess I’m getting old…. laughs 😂

With children I believe it is planting the seeds and praying that God will protect his little heart and not allow the evil one to come and snatch them...

I have many many grandchildren , most little ones , and when I see them , I always speak a little to them about Jesus , and next time I ask them if they remember who Jesus is , and they say " Yes , Gods Son " then I add a little bit more to the story in little bite size bits , I think it is best not to overload our children , and expect to much from them , it is a learning process , and they also need their little minds renewed...
...xox...

Other than felt board stuff, I don't recall much in the early years that particularly "stuck out". Veggie tales I did watch but that was in the 7-8 range I think.

I DO recall having a Kids Quest NIrV bible that has a lot of cartoons in it and I definitely read all of those rather than scripture during adult services. Maybe an adventure bible or something?

I find that interesting a child in the natural world is about all you can do sometimes. Like more interested in doing a butterfly garden or watching a sponge grow than spongebob or spiderman. That stuff feels like rot to the mind to me...or perhaps a nature show if they are amenable.

Somewhat simple to ask some basic rudimentary questions about creation, etc. and witness a bit. Nothing super forceful but just probing to see a thought process is fine with me. I don't like teaching children to pray over food or stuff when they don't even know what that is and they are just copycatting.

A very small minority are spiritually cognizant at that age enough that I wouldn't feel odd about it. I was able to pray and stuff and one of my nephews is at 4 but the rest aren't anywhere near there...so I just wouldn't push it. Sort of up to the Lord.


At the same time, I've seen some incredible story tellers at children's camps that are able to hold attention incredibly well for faith based stuff that most of them would find boring on a show or w/e. Personally I think it depends on the story teller...rambling a bit. apologies.

For me at that age it wasn't scripture itself but who the Lord was and learning to follow before I knew that some things I learned were in plain text in the written word.

Just remember...the Word doesn't return void. If the Lord is doing something in someone's life eventually you'll be able to see a small portion of it. I'm occasionally amazed at what's retained subconsciously and what's not years down the road. Time will tell

Blessings on your road/journey in Christ.

I always try to include only church cartoons for my child. Because most ordinary cartoons have a very negative effect on children. And I often read reviews of famous scientists and psychologists who conducted research and found that such cartoons spoil children's psyche. Therefore, my son watches only cartoons on the computer, where morality is present. He has just turned eight years old, and he already uses a computer on his own and can find what he wants there. It seems that mu doesn't even need to go through online cooking classes for kids because he knows everything.