During the time when children and young people were at home, parents may have been looking for additional material to supplement the teaching material provided by schools. In order to help with this – in what may be an ongoing quest – CViE have put together links to various resources, with a Christian perspective, that may be of use to parents.
If you know of any other resources that other parents might find helpful, then please get in touch a let us know (enquiries@cvie.org.uk), or share on this forum topic. As always we are keen to bring people ‘together’ to help and encourage one another – something particularly important at present.
[Note: We recognise that not all Christians may agree on everything that is published and in using these resources we urge parents to make their own judgements as to their value and suitability for their own families.]
Lockdown Resources Index
| Nature Observations Magazines | Trinitarian Bible Society |
| Savour of Salt Colouring Pages | Covid Emergency Home Schooling |
| Online Sunday Schools | Stories of the Covenant Videos |
Nature Observations Magazines
At the CViE Conference 2019, I was given a copy of the September 2019 issue of the magazine Nature Explorers, which was subtitled: Learning about God’s world. The magazine was attractively produced with informative and topical articles together with activities to engage younger children.
At the time, it struck me that this would certainly be of interest to Christian parents looking for material that they could use with their children to explore the world around them. As a consequence, I decided to find out more about the magazine and contacted the publisher, who was very helpful, for more information.
The publisher －Nature Observations－ is a Christian company, which publishes three magazines every month, intended to educate everyone about nature in Britain and, as appropriate, other parts of the world. The company was started in early 2016 when a group of six young people joined together to form a nature club. The publisher’s aim is “to increase understanding of and delight in God’s wonderful creation so enabling everybody to see the glory of Christ in all of nature because it reveals God’s eternal wisdom and power”, which is evident throughout the magazines and website.
The three magazines are:
Nature Explorers: this serves primarily young children between approximately four and eight years of age and aims to instil an appreciation of God’s creation. This is achieved through clearly written and well-illustrated articles together with activities that can be completed individually or as a family.
Nature Observations: this is for all aged eight and above with a general interest in nature, based on a six-day creation. This magazine is well produced, the articles are well written and encourage the reader to develop an understanding of nature through observation and reflection. Activities are included, such as learning how to draw different animals. The magazine would also be of interest to older people.
Nature Investigations: this is for those age 14 upwards who have a special interest in nature. The articles are more in depth and draw on biological science and chemistry. The magazine would be a useful complement to the science studied at school.
All three magazines are available on subscription in either electronic or printed versions. Although people may feel comfortable with the e-version (which, if needed could be printed out), the printed version is very attractive and as such you want to pick it up and have a look inside; also this format may be more suitable as a resource that can be shared by the family.
It has been said that there are two books: The Bible (the Book of God’s Words) and Creation/Nature (the Book of God’s Works). Certainly, these three magazines with their focus on God’s wonderful creation would be a resource for parents in encouraging their children, of different ages, to take an interest in the changing natural world around them as the seasons alter.
Further information on Nature Observations, sample copies of the magazines and subscription information can be found at: https://natureobservations.weebly.com/
Please do take the opportunity to visit the Nature Observations website and view the sample magazines. There is also a contact page on the website if you have any questions.
[Note: The publishers are currently offering regular online workshops on nature-related subjects, including frequent workshops by Philip Snow (creationist artist). These are free to subscribers, or £5 per workshop. Details: https://natureobservations.weebly.com/events.]
Christian Home Education website
Many of you may have benefited from the website produced for parents who were unexpectedly educating their children at home during the COVID-19 epidemic. The “Covid Emergency Home-Schooling UK” lessons website has been replaced by a new and permanent website, Christian Home Education : https://christianhomeeducation.weebly.com .
We have included a a review of the original website that has been kindly provided by one of our supporters, and continues to apply:
“This website has an interesting blog with ideas that may be useful to parents with their remote learning at present. (Although most schools will be setting differentiated work for their class which is tailored to individual children’s needs and ability.) I would say that most parents are following the remote learning program set by school and not actually home schooling as such. However, I found the suggestions and ideas on the blog helpful, particularly for ideas on timing and also about not over exposing children to the News of Coronavirus.
It is nice to see the Christian emphasis with daily bible readings, hymn singing, memory verses to learn and bible verses to colour. There is a text linking with the subject of each lesson which is encouraging and acknowledges that all subjects are taught from a Christian world view. e.g. ‘The heavens declare thy glory of God…’ is the text for the story of flight (aircraft).
I would say that the resources are primarily suited to Key Stage 2 (particularly lower KS 2 -7 to 9 year olds) There are Science, History and Geography resources, which if I was using with my children, I would back up with an interactive video clip from Bitesize or a teaching resource website such as Espresso. The information is useful and there are some nice little activities, although not particularly challenging for the more able children. (There are no Maths and Phonic resources.) The value is in the content being Christian based and obviously there are no issues with topics such as Evolution which are frequently found in secular educational resources. However, I feel I would want to use these resources with some of the other engaging and interactive resources which are available on line.
The Nature Magazines seem to be one of the best resources. These would be excellent non-fiction texts/Science resources to promote learning”.
TBS: Children and the Scriptures
Many are no doubt aware of the work of the Trinitarian Bible Society (TBS) and we have included an extract from a recent newsletter provides information regarding the materials available for children and young people.
“The TBS prayerfully publishes and distributes the Scriptures. A portion of those to whom we distribute are children. As well as the Bibles and New Testaments, the Society has several resources to encourage children to read, memorise and search the Bible. Currently we are working on adding online colouring pages and we will provide an update once these are available. We hope that these resources will give children a deeper love and understanding of God’s Holy Word.
‘Learning More about our Bible’ Modules
These modules address two important issues. First, they promote respect and reverence for the Bible as the divinely inspired and preserved Word of God. Second, they familiarise children with the benefits of using faithful and accurate translations such as the Authorised (King James) Version, and the dangers of using more recent and supposedly more accurate and comprehensible translations of the Holy Scriptures which are based on significantly different Greek and Hebrew texts. Learning more about our Bible modules can be ordered free of charge or downloaded at www.tbsbibles.org/teachingmodules.
Quizzes
For the last few years the TBS has annually created a children’s quiz. Once completed children can return the quizzes to their local TBS branch and receive a prize of a hardback Royal Ruby Bible or they may choose to grant a Bible to someone in need. For the most recent quiz (new this month!) visit the Young Supporter page and scroll to the bottom.
Puzzle and Activity Books
In 2018 the Society published four new children’s puzzle books which teach about journeys taken in the Bible: The Patriarchs, The Exodus, Christ’s Journeys on Earth and Paul’s Missionary Journeys. The new puzzle books expand the range of our children’s activity books which also include three different series of colouring books, the Hidden Text books and another series of puzzle books. Puzzle and activity books can all be found in our online store.
Children’s Scripture Learning Programme
This programme is designed to encourage English-speaking children to memorise the Holy Scriptures. We provide lists of verses to be memorised by children in two age groups—ten years of age and under, and eleven to fifteen—and award leather Bibles to those who complete the programme.
Young Supporter
The Young Supporter is a children’s activity insert in the Quarterly Record. These inserts have been created to give children a deeper understanding of the Bible: what it is, what is in it, how we received it, and why it is so important. Each edition contains a section on a book of the Bible, and a section about the Bible or church history. For free downloads of the insert visit www.tbsbibles.org/youngsupporter”.
Savour of Salt – Free Colouring Pages
These free colouring texts are perhaps more suited to older children. They can be downloaded here: https://savourofsalt.com/free-colouring-pages/
Online Sunday Schools
A number of chapels and churches are providing online Sunday School lessons:
- Providence Chapel Bedford – https://www.providencechapel.org.uk/online-sunday-school/
- Hope Chapel Stotfold – https://www.hopechapelstotfold.org/sundayschoolonline
Stories of the Covenant Series – Reformation Scotland
These videos aimed at children focus on Scottish church history. Their own intro states “Children love good stories. What could be better than stories that are true as well as attractive tales of brave followers of Christ? In Stories of the Covenant, children encounter real-life heroes from the past. From fearless preachers to courageous children of faith, history comes to life in a simple way. Give your children a lifelong love for church history through this video series.”