Show Me! Devotions for Leaders to Teach Kids

Although this book is geared toward Sunday School teachers, it deserves a place in any home where parents want to make the lessons of the Bible fun and memorable. Show Me! Devotions for Leaders to Teach Kids is an impressive collection of tricks, projects, and creations that help parents and teachers bring home biblical truths.

Written by Susan L. Lingo, each two page spread of this book features a project, complete with biblical references and questions to ask kids. For example, the first project requires a raw potato and a straw. Lingo suggests reading Matt. 19:24 (about a camel going through the eye of a needle) and asking kids how easy they think it would be for that to actually happen. Then she suggests asking kids how easy it is to push a straw through a raw potato. When kids try, they won't be able to do it, but with a simple trick, the adult can. Then the adult can explain that God makes even the impossible is possible.

Many of the projects offer hands-on things for the kids themselves to do.

Almost all the projects use ordinary household or office items, and the author gives suggestions for additional, related things that might go with the project, according to the maturity level of the kids you're teaching. Lingo also offers ideas on other Bible verses the project might work nicely with. Throughout, simple black and white illustrations help adults understand how to pull off the projects.

What I Like: Many of these projects are sure to impress kids, like the bottle that obeys commands, a banana that falls apart (it's "bad fruit") when it's unpeeled, balancing a glass of water on a card (illustrating balance in our lives), and "magically" appearing crosses (for a lesson in communication). I also appreciate that Lingo has given adults a complete program - with a script to follow.

What I Dislike: Some of the projects seem a little tricky - and in fact the author cautions adults to practice ahead of time. If you're not good at magic tricks, you probably won't be good at some of these projects because they require "slights of hand."

Overall Rating: Very Good.

Age Appeal: No age range is given, but I'd say preschool through grade school.

Publishing Info: Group Publishing, 2009; ISBN: 978-0764420221; paperback, $16.99

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