It’s about a year since I trialled Bake through the Bible with my goddaughter Harriet, so it was nice to see another title in the series, this time playing through the Gospel of Luke. Like Bake through the Bible, this book is designed for parents to use with young children. Twenty passages from Luke are included and each one has a simple retelling of the story and a prayer, some guidance on how to tell the story and ideas for craft, messy play, outside play and things to do if you’re playing anyway.
I decided to do the ‘lost’ stories from Luke 15: the lost sheep, the lost coin and the lost son. The retelling given in the book merges the three together into a very short story, but repeated words and some good ideas on how to illustrate this short story (downloading pictures from the website, using toys or creating a party atmosphere with hats and streamers) made the retelling clear and engaging.
To go alongside the story, I chose the craft activity – creating a box to keep special things. I wasn’t doing this in my own house, and I wasn’t sure that Harriet’s parents would want play-dough and glitter all over their living room, so I didn’t go for the messy play suggestion! It was a winning choice, as Harriet enjoyed decorating the box. But moreover it provided time for conversation. In between cutting, sticking and colouring, we were able to talk about what we do when things are lost, how we feel and what we might put in the box when it was finished.
We didn’t have time to try any of the other activities in the session, but they all seemed like they would help children think around and interpret the stories for themselves. These ideas played with the themes of lost and found, searching, being safe and celebrating: going on a treasure hunt, playing hide and seek or making a den.
At first glance, the design of the inside pages is colourful, with simple illustrations, but as you start to use it, it proves quite difficult to navigate. The busy-ness of the book made it confusing to find your way around. There is help at the start but I jumped right into the book, without reading these instructions. Going back to this introduction after I left Harriet’s house, I could see how helpful these pages are – but it was a bit late by then. I wonder if I was just impatient and if other, more sensible people would have read this information, but I suspect most would do the same as me!
This book is part of the Beginning with God range, but unlike the Beginning with God resources, or its companion Bake through the Bible, it’s much more openended in its Bible engagement. Rather than using closed questions and straightforward statements about God, the activities in this book allow for much more wondering, which naturally comes from and during the play.
I think that with repeated use, Play through the Bible would start to create family tradition and routine, fostering the discussion of faith in a family context. Many Christian parents are looking for ways of creating God-memories with their children, and this book could be a good starting point. If parents already have a Bible time, this book gives some good ideas and guidance for those with pre-school aged children.
Main strength Well-written, Bible-based stories, great ideas for play around the stories, enabling open-ended discussion rather than closed, knowledge-based questioning
Main weakness The ideas in some sessions seem a bit weaker than others; you need lots of resources to make the most of the ideas in the book
The verdict: 4 stars (out of 5)
