Family Devotions for Toddlers at Ages 1 to 3

Family devotions for toddlers can be five minutes long. One short Bible verse, one short prayer and one hymn is a full session for a child between one and three, and it is worth doing even when the child wanders off in the middle of it.

If you have a toddler and you are wondering how any of this works, I want to give you an honest picture. A toddler will not sit still, will not follow the passage and will sometimes shout over the prayer. And still, you are doing something good. You are putting God's Word into a young life before that child can understand it, and you are teaching them that this is what our family does every day.

What a toddler can do in family devotions

A toddler will follow very little of an explanation, but a toddler can do a surprising amount.

• Sit on your lap or beside you for a short time.
• Hold a Bible, turn its pages and point to a picture or a word.
• Clap, sway or sing along to a hymn they have heard many times.
• Repeat a short line after you, one word at a time.
• Fold their hands and say “Amen” at the end of a prayer.

At this age you are asking them to sit near the Bible, hear their parents pray and hear their family sing.

Family devotions for toddlers in five minutes

Here is a plan that fits around dinner or bedtime. Do it at the same time each day, so your child gets used to what comes next.

1. Begin with one sentence of prayer, such as “Lord, please help us listen to You.” Let your child say “Amen.”
2. Sing one hymn. Sing the same verse every day for a week, so it becomes familiar.
3. Read one or two verses, or tell one short part of a story in your own words from an open Bible. Keep your voice warm and slow.
4. Ask one question, such as “Who did Jesus welcome?” or “Where is Jesus in this story?” If your child does not answer, answer it yourself with a smile and go on.
5. Pray again. Thank God for one thing from the day, ask Him to keep your child, and finish with “Amen.”

For a first reading, try Mark 10:13 to 16, where Jesus welcomes little children. You will find it in the session for Mark chapter 10, which gives the whole chapter, a short question and a closing prayer. With a toddler, read only those four verses.

What Jesus said about little children

Mark 10 tells us how Jesus treated small children.

“They were bringing to him little children, that he should touch them, but the disciples rebuked those who were bringing them. But when Jesus saw it, he was moved with indignation, and said to them, ‘Allow the little children to come to me! Don’t forbid them, for God’s Kingdom belongs to such as these.’”Mark 10:13-14, World English Bible

The disciples thought the children were in the way, and Jesus did not. And then He said something that every parent and every child needs to hear, “Most certainly I tell you, whoever will not receive God’s Kingdom like a little child, he will in no way enter into it” (Mark 10:15). The Kingdom is received, and it is received from Him.

So when you hold your toddler during family devotions, you are doing what those parents did. You bring your child to where Jesus is spoken of, and you ask Him to receive them. Whether He does is His to give.

Why short and daily works better than long

A long session that ends in tears is hard on everyone, so keep it short. Five happy minutes every day will leave your child with a good feeling about the Bible. After a year you will have spent more than thirty hours with your child in God's Word, and neither of you will have felt it as a burden.

When your toddler cries, runs off or will not stop talking

This will happen, probably this week. Here is what I would do.

• Keep going quietly. The other children may still be listening.
• Shorten the session. Pray and sing, and leave the reading for tomorrow.
• Give your toddler a small job, such as turning the page or holding the Bible.
• Do not scold. Paul tells fathers not to provoke their children (Colossians 3:21), and that includes a two year old at devotions.

On the days that feel like a failure, you still came to the Bible with your family, and the Lord sees it.

What we hope for, and what only God can do

We want our little ones to know Jesus. Paul wrote to Timothy, “From infancy, you have known the holy Scriptures which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith, which is in Christ Jesus” (2 Timothy 3:15), and that is what we pray for our own children.

So even with the youngest, we tell the gospel plainly. Jesus died for sinners and rose again, and everyone who turns from sin and trusts in Him will be saved. We say it simply and often, and as our children grow we call them to turn from sin and trust Him for themselves.

A toddler who says “Amen” or sings a hymn is not thereby saved, and we should never tell a child that they are. Faith in Christ is God's gift (Ephesians 2:8), and no habit of ours can produce it. So we do what God has told us to do. We read, we pray, we sing and we teach, and we ask the Lord, day after day, to give our child a new heart. We leave the rest in His hands, because He is wiser and kinder than we are.

Common questions

At what age should we start family devotions?

You can start as soon as your child is in the room. A baby will not follow anything, but the baby hears your voice reading and praying, and you are forming your own habit at the same time.

Should I use a children's Bible with pictures?

A picture Bible is fine for a toddler, as long as it keeps close to the text of Scripture. When your child is older, move to the Bible itself and read it aloud, as the chapter sessions on this site do.

What if the older children are bored?

Give them a part. An older child can hold the baby, choose the hymn or read the verse. Doing family worship with a toddler in the room is also a good reminder that God's Word is for the whole family.

My friend, you do not need much to begin. Choose one hymn, open the Bible and start a session tonight. The hymn library has the words, and the whole site is free as a ministry of Cornerstone Reformed Baptist Church. If you would like to help other families do the same, you can give here. May the Lord bless you and your little ones, and may He draw them to Himself.