Getting Started With Daily Devotions for Children
Our Daily Bread has been publishing daily devotionals since 1937, and they eventually recognized that kids needed their own version. The devotional material is built around a short Bible reading paired with a simple explanation and a prayer. It is designed to be read aloud by a parent or by an older child, then discussed briefly. The structure is consistent: scripture passage, a one-paragraph reflection, and a closing prayer. That consistency is what makes it useful for families trying to build a habit. The kids' version uses language at a lower reading level and features illustrations that are meant to hold attention without overwhelming the text. Each day runs about three to five minutes. You can access it through the Our Daily Bread website, their app, or as a printed book you pick up at most Christian bookstores. I tend to grab the print edition because screens pull focus away from the actual reading when you are trying to teach a child something. Here is how this works in practice. I read the scripture out loud first. Then my seven-year-old reads the reflection paragraph. If she stumbles on a word, I help her decode it. After that, we talk about one thing from the reading for maybe two minutes. Sometimes she asks a question. Sometimes she says she does not get it, and I explain it in simpler terms. Then we pray together using the devotional's prayer as a template, usually adding one or two things she mentions.
The whole process takes about five to eight minutes total. I try to do it at the same time each morning before school, which means breakfast table works better than the couch because the TV is off and nobody is running out the door yet. That timing matters more than people realize. If you pick a messy time, you will skip it within a week.
Common Problems and What I Do About Them
The biggest issue I ran into was that my kids would treat it like a chore they had to finish. They would rush through the reading and say "amen" three seconds after the prayer started. That is not engagement. That is compliance. Here is the workaround that actually worked for us: I stopped requiring them to read every single day. Instead, we do Monday through Thursday, and on Friday we talk about the week instead of doing a new devotional. Saturdays and Sundays are off. This reduced the pressure significantly. When something feels optional, kids participate more willingly. It sounds backwards, but it is the opposite of what most parenting advice suggests, and it worked. Another issue is that the daily format assumes you have a new topic every day. Some days the devotional theme just does not land with your kid. Maybe they are having a rough day at school and the gentle encouragement about patience reads like noise to them. In those cases, I skip the devotional and just read the Bible passage out loud and ask what they think it means. The devotional is a tool, not a rule.
Get the Full Details
What the Material Actually Covers
The devotionals rotate through Old Testament stories, New Testament teachings, and themes like kindness, forgiveness, and trust. The reflections are written at a fourth-grade reading level roughly. The prayers are short and direct, which helps because long prayers lose children every time. There are no complicated theology sections or deep doctrinal debates. It is introductory material, and that is intentional. One thing beginners often miss is that the value is not in the individual daily entry. It is in the repetition and routine. Reading the same devotional twice will not help. Reading it consistently over months builds the habit, and the habit is the actual product. The content itself is mild and generic, which means it works across denominations but will not challenge a teenager who needs something deeper.
Where to Access It
You can find the daily devotionals free on the Our Daily Bread website at ourdailybread.org. They also have a mobile app called "Our Daily Bread" available for iOS and Android that sends a daily notification. The kids' version is sometimes listed separately under their children's materials section. If you want a physical copy, local Christian bookstores often carry the annual compilation book, which includes every devotional for the year organized by date. The printed annual book costs between fifteen and twenty-five dollars depending on the edition and retailer. The digital version is free. I recommend starting with the free online version to see if it fits your family before committing money to a book.
Limitations You Should Know About
The devotional is fairly traditional in its theological approach. It leans toward mainline Protestant interpretation. If your family belongs to a denomination with different practices or beliefs, you may find certain reflections misaligned with what you teach at home. This is not a dealbreaker, but it is worth checking a few days ahead of time before subscribing your child to daily use. Another limitation is that the material does not adapt to different age groups within the same household. If you have a six-year-old and a twelve-year-old, the reading level will be too simple for the older child and possibly too complex for the younger one. You can read it aloud to both and let the older child do more of the explaining, but the written text itself is aimed at roughly grades three through five. Middle schoolers who want deeper content will likely outgrow it within a year or two. For older children, I would suggest looking at other devotionals like " Jesus Calling for Teens" or "The Action Bible" devotional supplements, which handle more complex themes and reading levels.
Practical Setup Advice
Keep the devotional in a visible location. I leave the daily sheet on the kitchen counter where breakfast happens. If it is hidden in a drawer, it gets ignored. Print the daily page the night before so you are not scrambling in the morning looking for it on your phone while trying to get kids dressed. Morning chaos kills routines faster than anything else. Also, do not try to push the devotional past the point of resistance. If your child is genuinely rejecting it after two or three weeks of gentle attempts, take a break. Come back in a month. Forcing it creates negative association, and that defeats the whole purpose. The goal is exposure and habit formation, not spiritual performance metrics.
