1. God Made
Play a game of GOD MADE. Pick a good time, like driving in a car or during a snack. You start with an example like, “God made you.” Pause and see if your child offers an example. If not, offer another one, “God made trees.” Some children will jump in with their own ideas. Others might need to be asked: “What do you think God made?” The possibilities are endless, and sometimes funny! Have fun with it and don’t worry about correcting them. You’ll know when a child is ready to do something else. Maybe next time, she’ll start the game!

2. Take Care of the Inside
Remember the childhood song, “This is the way we brush our teeth, brush our teeth, brush our teeth. This is the way we brush our teeth, early in the morning!” As parents, we use this song to teach our own children how to take care of their bodies. TAKE CARE OF THE INSIDE aims to help your children focus on taking care of their spiritual lives, too.

A quick and easy way to get across the idea is to reinforce things your child is already doing with a simple statement. When you see your child reading a book, you can say, “You know how to take good care of your imagination.” When you pray with your child, you can say, “Let’s meet with God and take care of our souls.” As your child sings a pretty song, you can say, “That beautiful song makes your heart grow, doesn’t it?”

Simple, daily guidance—and the care you give your own soul— signal to your child that the heart, mind, and soul are as vital to life as eyes, ears, mouth, and nose. Use Graham Blanchard’s board book  All of Me That You Can’t See to find out how one child takes care of his inside.

4. Curious Short and Simple
God gives children remarkable curiosities, doesn’t he? Curiosity is an engine that powers young brains to make new connections, which are the foundation for logic and meaning. But children’s questions can come out of the blue when we least expect them. Therefore, think in advance about your strategy for the best answers. The secret: Keep them short.

Pre-teens and teens often will ask about the technical, apologetic aspects of faith to either prove or disprove what they’ve learned so far. They’ll invite more of a discussion or debate. Younger children go for the spiritual jugular. Where does God live? What is Hell like? Who gets in Heaven? But they don’t want a long response. They want the answer simple and direct. So think in advance about brief answers to the hardest questions you might be asked.

Even adults have limited capacity for a lecture about God. It’s the one- or two-liners, morsels of profound information, that stick with us the most. We can learn from the Master who answered his children: “I am the way and the truth and the life”  (John 14:6). To see how one dad answers many curious questions of his daughter, check out Close as a Breath with your child.

5. Holding Good and Bad
Life is complicated in an unpredictable world, even for a small child. By five years old, most children have had an experience with loss or sacrifice. Often such times can be both happy and sad, feel good and bad. That tension is natural in life, particularly the life of faith. And weathering it with people they love helps children build resilience and deepens their walk with Jesus.

Grownups don’t always have answers. But you can spend casual time with a child, and ask him questions about how he feels. You can lend a sympathetic ear when he decides to tell you. And you can pray together for God to help you understand and get through a challenging time.

The Hello, Good-by Window is a wonderful picture book that addresses the tug of conflicting emotions. Check it out from the library and read the book together with your child. Ask why the girl character might be happy and sad at the same time.

8. Name Love
To hear a child say, “I love you,” is like music for the human heart. But we grownups know that love takes many forms through our daily decisions to love. Acts of service, deference, respect, politeness, hospitality, grace, mercy—are all love in action. You can NAME LOVE and help your child understand its broader meaning. Point out her loving actions. “You show sweet love for your puppy when you pet him gently like that!” “Oh, thank you for picking up that toy for your friend. That was very loving.”

Connecting your child’s actions with love helps you to reinforce many important qualities, like obedience, by emphasizing the deeper significance of an action. Along the way, your child will grow to understand your motivation in life, too.

9. What Do You Think
Create some time just to hang out with your child in the next few days, whether you’re taking a walk looking for treasures like leaves and rocks, or you’re driving someplace with the music off. Ask your child, “What do you think God is like?” Sometimes the answers are funny. Don’t worry about correcting. This is a moment for thinking and reflecting, not teaching.

If your child is too young to really answer, just say something about one of God’s traits, like, “God must be so powerful to make all of this.” Let things be quiet and sink in. Sometimes a great conversation is knowing when to say nothing more, and letting the fragrance of truth linger without being distracted, stifled, or cut short by changing the subject too quickly.

10. Symbols for Faith
The Bible abounds with symbols from creation like water, seeds, light, and heart, which the prophets and Jesus used to teach unseen spiritual truths even a child can understand. You can share this language of faith now with your young child by discussing what a symbol is.

Start with the heart, one of the earliest symbols children learn about. If your child is a baby or toddler, simply clasp your hands to your heart and say, “I love you with all my heart.” See how your child responds. It might become a regular exchange you have, as your child mirrors your actions.

When your child is a little older, you can make broader meaning about the symbol by stating what it is and doing an activity around it, like making heart maps together. Draw two big hearts and then draw things that you love inside each of yours, in proportion to how much you love them. Don’t be surprised if a family pet is the largest picture in your child’s heart! When my daughter and I made heart maps, I said, “God is in my heart.” And she said, “But we can’t draw Him!” We chuckled together about that. Then I drew a cross, symbolizing His love for us.

11. I Wonder About
Use your child’s natural curiosity—and exercise your own—by playing I WONDER in a variety of situations to connect your child’s life with God. For example, in December play I WONDER about Jesus’ first days. Symbols of Christmas and Jesus are all around. If you see a nativity scene, or have one in the house, you could study or hold the pieces, and say, “I wonder what it was like to be God’s Son born in a barn.” Leave pauses for your child to wonder or respond, too. You could say, “Some of the first sounds Jesus heard there were farm animals! I wonder what sounds He heard?” You both can moo or baa or cluck. Have fun with it! Recall a time your child has seen similar animals. Remember that conversations with children are usually brief. Let your child change the subject when he is ready.