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Bible Investigators Creation review
Way back in August, Danika emailed me saying she had a new book, Bible Investigators Creation, and asking if I would review it. The press release emphasized “puzzles and activities,” and that is exactly the type of Bible study I hated as a child because it felt insulting to my intelligence, and I always purposely filled in the wrong answer. HOWEVER, that’s not what this is, Danika emailed me back and I’m glad she told me that’s not what it is. Now I have a cool new tool to add into my Bible lessons, and another children’s Bible study I can recommend to friends when they ask me for one. I’m also going to add this in to my Creation story Unit resources.
(there are affiliate links in here, and Danika did send me a free copy)
What is Bible Investigators Creation?
It is not what I first thought it was, which was a bunch of crossword puzzles, mazes, and other silly things that use words from the Bible. **
It is also not what I thought next, which was something to support a Sunday School class. Once I actually started reading it, I realized this is a Bible study to do with your kids.
Or for your kids to do independently, which they could do.
But Bible study is best done where you talk about it later on, so I wouldn’t leave it completely on its own, but that’s just me.
This is a multi-week Bible study. I haven’t quite decided how many weeks I would take for this, but each section could easily be a week by itself, and maybe some might be slightly longer than that.
What I like about this Creation Bible Study
I like the actual Bible study. As I went through the study every time you interact with the Bible, Danika teaches important Bible study techniques that will continue throughout their whole life.
- making lists of what God says
- asking questions about the text
- why was this word chosen?
- why was this word capitalized?
- what does that mean in this context?
- look for things we should do
- ask what a metaphorical passage means for actions
There is a lot more in there.
Then there are the silly things, the ones that first made me not want to review Bible Investigators Creation.
She knows how to use them so it adds to the study. You solve a puzzle, and that gives you the Bible verse to read.
Not like the study I did in 7th grade, which is the upper limit of ages she wrote this for, where we were given a word bank to fill in the missing words in the Bible verse. In case you were wondering, in my version one of the 12 disciples was Bart Simpson. If you give me a stupid choice, I will write a stupid answer.
Instead, completing these points us back to how God created us to use our brains, and how we are to engage the Bible with our brains.
I have to admit, at first, I thought I would pass this on to one of my friends to let her kids complete it, but I may keep it because some of these puzzles are the types of logic puzzles I enjoy.
I enjoy breaking cryptograms.
The background Bible information. Danika takes the time to teach some pretty in-depth theology. She’s teaching Latin phrases like Ex Nihlio, and giving the information of who wrote the book of Genesis and what we know about him.
It’s Moses, Moses wrote Genesis, and we know a lot about him, and he was a pretty smart guy.
What I don’t like (and I recognize this is personal taste)
While I love that most of the puzzles are worked into the study and make sense, there are some still rather silly.
And I recognize this is completely personal taste. I’ve never been a big fan of dot to dots once you get past 1st or 2nd grade.
I think if I’m using Bible Investigators Creation with my own kids (who admittedly are too old for this, so when I recommend it to friends), I would allow them to skip puzzles they don’t want to complete. Afterward, I’ll talk with them about why they skipped it, and if I felt it could have helped deepen their understanding I’ll encourage them, but I know puzzles can be very controversial.
Final call I highly recommend Bible Investigators Creation
I’ll have to check in with Danika to see if there are others planned in this series. Or if someone else wrote some others in the series already.
More Bible Studies to complete with kids
If you’re looking for more Bible Studies, here are a few more that are designed for homeschool families:
- Bible Road Trip– also by Danika
- Generosity Bible Study
- Around Home Children’s Devotional
- Growing Up Wild Missions curriculum
- Words in Motion Bible Curriculum
** Yes, I do know all of those things build specific skills and are good for kids to complete, but I do not like them as the primary form of Bible study.
Comments
One response to “Bible Investigators Creation review”
I love a good logic puzzle.
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