15 Fast and Fun 15 Minute Family Devotions Ideas
One great way to pass down your faith to your kids is with short and impactful 15 minutes or less family devotions! Today I’ve rounded up some of my favorite fun and fast family devotionals, along with some simple ideas for how to implement family devotions in your daily schedule without stress or guilt.
As a family with three kids we’ve heard over and over how important family devotion time is to growing faith in our kids. For years I felt like I was always falling short! In fact, one year at a Christian family camp, we were taking a survey about our family faith habits and I put “Rarely” when it came to doing family devotions.
“Hey! What about circle time?”, my husband asked.
“Oh, yeah. I guess I’ve never thought about that as family devotions” I replied.
Circle time is the name we use for our time right before bed when our whole family gathers together to read God’s Word, sing songs, and pray a blessing over our children. It’s our daily faith rhythm to invest in our kids spiritual growth. But I honestly never thought of it that way. It was just our bedtime routine.
When you think about your family….
- What traditions and routines already exist that you could tweak slightly to be more faith-oriented?
- Maybe it’s your getting ready routine or your family dinner tradition?
- Maybe it’s your drive to school where you could ask one child to read aloud or read from a devotional audiobook?
Think creatively–but don’t overthink this!
What are family devotions?
Family devotions are a time when Christian parents gather their family members together outside of church to teach them about God through Bible stories, simple lessons, questions, songs, prayer, and connecting activities on a daily basis. They can be a longer more formal time, but I’ve found what works best is to keep it short and simple so that young children (and older kids) stay engaged AND parents don’t get overwhelmed.
Just like your personal time with God don’t get caught up in “doing it perfectly”. Connection and consistency are the most important things. Think quality time or quantity time.
How My Family Does Family Devotions
Our family devotions is called Circle Time. Circle Time consists of:
- Everyone gathering together 10-15 minutes before bedtime. We get cozy and snuggly together. The kids fight over who sits where. (Of course!)
- We read from a children’s Bible, book of the Bible or short devotional.
- We recite a new or old memory verse together.
- We sing a song together (sometimes a kids worship song and sometimes a lullabye like “I Love You Forever”.
- My husband and I pray over our kids, both specific requests and blessings.
RELATED: 35 POWERFUL SCRIPTURES TO SPEAK AND PRAY OVER YOUR KIDS
15 Fast and Fun 15 Minute Family Devotion Ideas
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In a busy schedule it’s best to find some quick and simple resources to help us enjoy and stay consistent in spending time as a family teaching our kids spiritual truths.
Jesus Storybook Bible by Sally Lloyd-Jones — This is my favorite Bible to start out reading to toddlers and preschoolers! It is simple to understand and points young children to the continuing story of Jesus the Rescuer in the Old Testament and the New Testament. Beautifully written and illustrated!
The Biggest Story Bible Storybook by Kevin DeYoung — Older children (elementary and above) will expand their faith with this compelling retelling of many classic and “next level” Bible stories from the Old and New Testament. I like how this Bible touched on every type of literature in the Bible, including the poetry books, prophecy, and the epistles.
The Very Best, Hands-on, Kinda Dangerous Family Devotions by Tim Shoemaker — If you want to spend a little more time and do some hands-on experiments and activities that will build lasting memories with your kids this is for you. I love the idea of using this once a week or twice a month to add some pizazz to your devotional time. This book takes a bit more prep time and planning ahead then some others here that are more open and go, but it could be well worth it for your family!
Long Story Short: 10 Minute Devotions to Draw Your Heart to God by Marty Machowski — If you have 10 minutes a day you can dive into the books of the Bible with this short devotional that unpacks great spiritual truths with little time! The focus of this devotional is telling the gospel transformation through the Old Testament stories. Each day includes Scripture readings, devotional section, extra verses to read, and discussion questions. You can also check up the follow-up devotional Old Story New which covers the New Testament.
The Gospel Story Bible by Marty Machowski — This is a full Bible storybook that is a companion for the above devotionals. I would say this is more geared toward younger kids. It also includes some good discussion questions and vivid illustrations for each story.
How Great is Our God:100 More Devotions About God and Science by Louie Giglio — This is a great devotional book, very engaging for preschoolers to elementary age kids to learn about the wonderful world God created! Each devotion has a science fact, Bible verse, and easy ways for kids to apply it to their lives. There is also another similar book by Louie Giglio called Indescribable.
Faith and Science with Dr. Fizzlebop — This cool and colorful devotional has 52 devotions and science easy experiments kids will love that ALSO reinforce simple Bible truths. Each day will take a bit of prep and it’s designed for weekly rather than daily use, but each experiment and devotional goes quickly. Perfect for hands-on and active kids and preteens.
Roar Like a Lion: 90 Devotions to a Courageous Faith by Levi Lusko — This devotional has eye-catching illustrations and I love the layout. Each day has a Bible verse emphasizing courage, overcoming fear, and knowing God better each day, along with a devotional story, application and fun Bible facts! Filled with practical help that meets today’s kids right where they are with issues like bullying, facing fears about friends, handling new challenges, dealing with disappointment and more!
Jesus Calling: 365 Devotions for Kids by Sarah Young — The perfect short and sweet daily devotional read. Each day has a Bible verse and the devotional is written as if Jesus is speaking directly to your child. At the bottom are a couple supplemental Bible verses for you to look up and read on your own as well. This is a very simple devotional and great if you’re just starting out in building a family devotional habit.
Our Daily Bread for Kids: 365 Meaningful Moments with God for Kids by Our Daily Bread Ministries — This is a great, easy, open-and-go option with devotional stories based on the Bible, Scripture verses, cute illustrations, and fun facts that will help build your kids Christian faith step-by step.
100 Days to Brave for Kids by Annie F. Downs — This simple devotional has a Bible verse and short devotional along with a compelling question for kids to answer about building courage and resilience while reducing worry in their lives. In this busy world that’s filled with anxiety this little book could be the exhale your kids need. This can also be used by kids on their own! It has journaling sections built in for response and is easy to read.
Deep Roots: A Family Devotional for Kids, Teens, and Parents — From the back cover: “Featuring a weekly verse from scripture, a short reading, a family discussion question, and a tear out memory card, Laura’s weekly devotionals are perfect for sharing with children and helping them understand what the bible says in an age appropriate way.” Although this devotional is designed for weekly use, you can definitely use it everyday. The lessons aren’t overly long or involved. I love the tear-out Bible verses and beautiful hand lettered Scripture illustration. This is definitely a devotional for kids up to teens to enjoy and dive deep in together.
One Year of Dinner Table Devotions and Discussion Starters by Nancy Guthrie — This is a great option for Christian families with preteens and teens who have questions about the Bible to learn in an engaging and non-confrontational way. With short devotion sections and Bible verses based around a question, like “Is Sin All the Same” this book will provide lots of spiritual truth and discussion as you dive into it together. I would NOT suggest this book for kids younger than middle or high school and you may want to pick and choose which questions you address based on your unique family.
The Family Bible Devotional: Stories from the Bible to Help Kids and Parents Love Scripture by Sarah M. Wells — This activity style weekly devotional will keep your kids engaged in learning together! This devotional is very applicable and helps you as a parent teach, discuss, and affirm your child’s faith as you see God’s character and heart of redemption throughout the entire Bible. Some of the activity suggestions aren’t “open and go” but they can provide great ideas for family activities to do together that can also be faith building for your kids.
The One Year Challenge Bible for Kids (NLT) by Tyndale — Ready to read through the entire Bible in a year with your kids? This Bible has 365 daily readings of Scripture portions that will take your family all the way from Genesis to Revelation. This is a great way to encourage Bible and to help your child understand and love all of Scripture! It also includes a puzzle and a challenge each month to cheer kids on toward the goal of reading through the Bible in a year.
RELATED: EASY FAMILY DEVOTIONS FOR TODDLERS AND PRESCHOOLERS
Bonus Idea — Book basket
Create a faith-building book basket for the days or nights you need to “hit the easy button” on your family devotion time. Fill up a basket or shelf on your bookcase with all the faith based and Christian books in your home library. Some of our favorites are…
- The Tales That Tell the Truth Series (The Friend Who Forgives and The God Contest are probably our favorites!)
- The Do Great Things for God Series
- Big Theology for Little Hearts
- Called and Courageous Girls Series (We have A Brave Big Sister and An Unexpected Hero)
- Unwrapping the Names of Jesus for Kids by Asheritah Ciuciu
- When God Made You by Matthew Paul Turner (And his other books too!)
Then simply read the book together! Ask your kids to show you their favorite page and why they like it. Some books may include some other discussion questions as well.
RELATED: 25 BEST DEVOTIONAL APPS FOR BUSY MOMS TO GROW THEIR FAITH
Let it your family time with God be easy, simple, and less than 15 minutes! Release guilt or any idea of what this time “should” look like and embrace some simple daily or weekly rhythms to help grow your family’s faith TOGETHER.
