While the Bible is a sacred book and should be treated that way, many children stop right there. The Bible never becomes 'user-friendly' and an important part of their lives. Devotional Doodling helps make their Bibles unique and personal and makes it easy to find "the good parts" (as my nephew Andrew would say).
Teaching this method helps elders assist children in identifying parts of the Scriptures that they will want to refer to again. It is a great way to mark favorite stories. This makes Bible study fun for children.
The groups of children who I have done this with often get together to compare favorite verses and art work. They sometimes borrow each other's Bibles to see what their friends have marked and drawn, going back to those verses in their own Bible to do similar doodling.
This is fun for adults too! (Many of us never outgrew the doodling stage of life.) Devotional Doodling makes a wonderful gift for a person you are trying to mentor or encourage in their personal Bible study.
As an elder, your leadership in encouraging Bible study and personal growth is especially important to
children. The influence you have on them will be greater and farther-reaching than you ever dreamed!
If you ask any group how many thought they had artistic talents, only a few would raise their hands. But asking the same group how many like to doodle in their margins and notebooks, almost every hand would go up.
Devotional Doodles are done either in the margins or directly over the text. Instead of underlining the verse, the participant draws an illustration for the verse(s).
Because of the type of paper used in most Bibles, this marking is best done with colored pencils. Most highlighters and felt-tipped pens will bleed through the page and deface the other side.
Favorite Stories to Doodle
Creation ...................................................................Genesis 1
Noah and the Flood...................................... Genesis 6:9-8:22
Tower of Babel................................................. Genesis 11:1-9
Jacob's Ladder............................................. Genesis 25:27-34
Joseph ........................................................ Genesis 28:10-17
Baby Moses...................................................... Exodus 2:1-10
Water from Rock ........................................ Numbers 20:10-13
Fiery Furnace ..................................................... Daniel 3:8-30
Daniel and the Lions.................................................... Daniel 6
Jonah........................................................................ Jonah 1-4
Birth of Jesus............................ Matthew 1:18-25; Luke 2:1-12
Baptism of Jesus............................................ Matthew 3:13-17
House on a Rock ........................................... Matthew 7:24-27
Fishers of Men ....................................................... Luke 5:1-11
Zacchaeus............................................................ Luke 19:1-10
How do we get started?
1. First mark your own Bible so you have examples to show participants.
2. It is best to have a few sample texts to start your group off. Have everyone turn to the text, and then on newsprint or a large sheet of paper, you draw a simple illustration of the text. Samples are included below for you.
3. Have the participants choose a favorite text, turn to it, and illustrate it in their own Bibles.
4. Show-and-tell around the circle with participants reading their texts and showing their illustrations.
5. Each time you meet have 3-5 specific texts to mark as a group. Then allow plenty of time for members to share the devotional illustrations they have done at home.
6. For extra fun, use a concordance and do a topical search. For example, in my group we learned to draw lips; then we looked up all the 'lips' texts in Proverbs and Psalms. Also we drew 'smiley' faces every time we found the word 'rejoice'.
word 'rejoice'. So get out your Bible and your colored pencils and have fun!
Sally Dillon writes from Timberville, Virginia.
