We tried to do some variations on a theme for most of last year for our nursery, problem is our nursery teachers vary so much and we had a large influx of babies and that took up much of their time. We used a book from Group:

PRAY & PLAY BIBLE FOR YOUNG, By: Jody Brolsma, Group Publishing, Hardcover, 1997, ISBN: 0764420240,
DESCRIPTION: 14 favorite Bible stories are beautifully bound in a large 9X12 hardcover complete with full color artwork throughout. The child-friendly language makes it perfect for your church nursery and preschool classes. This is a memory-making activity book--with 3 pages of activities, snacks, games, crafts, and songs after each story! Note: pictures are full page and beautiful to hold up for story time, everyone can see!

Index
God Made our World
Noah
Abraham
Moses
Samuel
Esther
Jonah
Jesus' Birth
The Little Lost Sheep
Jesus' Miracles
The Miracle of Easter
Jesus Appears to His Followers
Saul's Surprise: On the Road to Damascus
Paul & Silas in Jail

When we did do it the children really loved it. If I have enough volunteers this year I may try it again. Also last year we had this huge group of 2 1/2 year olds and in January I just moved them all to the preschool class and it worked fine.

Thanks for the resource, I will check it out.

SheilaB

Poster updated description, added index, and added the 2nd volume that was released in this series.

PRAY AND PLAY 2, by Group, 2002, 0764425145.
DESCRIPTION: Easy, child-friendly language makes this a special joy to read! 14 all-new Bible stories in this sequel. Beautiful, full-color Bible art in a durable 9" x 12" hardcover binding makes stories come to life!
Over 140 faith-building activities including crafts, games, affirmations, singing ideas, and more!

We've done 2 weeks now very successfully! The little ones (1 1/2 - 2 year olds) are really responding to it and the parents are thrilled with it. I'm doing a monthly take home sheet for parents that talks about what the theme is for the month, a sampling of things they're doing, and most importantly a "Discovering God at Home" piece for parents to continue the theme at home.

We are using some of the ideas included in the storybooks and adding some of our own and from other sources as well. You could use just the book's ideas. In most cases they do need a bit of prep, mostly collecting supplies needed. I'm trying to put everything needed for the month in one spot for the nursery staff and then they pull what they need each week. If you planned in advance like that with the supplies, someone could easily "walk in" and do the activities.

Another book we found helpful was "Toddlers & Twos" (from Group). Lots of lessons and ideas. I'm using some of their ideas to supplement the other activity books.

CRAFTS & SERVICE PROJECTS

FOOT PRINTS ON THE WALL: AND 50 OTHER BIBLE CRAFTS FOR PRESCHOOLERS, By: Daphna Flegal/LeeDell Stickler/Judy Newman-StJohn, Abingdon Press, 2001, ISBN: 0687048508.
DESCRIPTION: Is loaded with 50 crafts geared specifically for Preschoolers. Many use reproducible pages, which are included. And since each craft relates to a specific event in the Bible. Index of bible stories. Index of bible stories covered in Old and New Testament.

WOMEN IN THE BIBLE: CRAFTS AND ACTIVITIES, By Sharon Van Houten/Mary Wenger, Baker Books, 2002, 0-8010-4450-2.

DESCRIPTION: Each woman as a section which includes a preschool & elementary craft & activity sheet. They are simple with easy to find items. It covers 34 women!

Tami Ziegler - posted March 15, 2002
This is the best resource we are currently using.

BIBLE CRAFTS AND MORE FOR AGES 2-4, Standard Publishing, 2001, ISBN: 0784709742.
Description: Imaginative crafts for all the Bible stories young children love--from creation through the missionary journeys of Paul. Plus an extra section of crafts for lots of holiday fun!

Barbara in Portland - posted April 02, 2002
I just purchased the below book. It has crafts and activities that are meant to be done for others. I like it so far and am using it with my pre-schoolers,

SERVICE PROJECTS PRESCHOOLERS CAN DO, By: Group Pub., 2003, ISBN 0764424025.
DESCRIPTION: Preschoolers love to help...and here are 44 service projects they'll do with ease! Help your preschoolers learn to care about others as they serve their families, their church, their community, and their world. Each service project helps preschoolers explore a Bible theme or story--and you get a step-by-step lesson idea with each project.

Oh my goodness, you've hit on my weakness. I LOVE books!We have tons and we use them with our preschoolers all the time. I'm not sure what you mean when you say that you want books that "teach, rather than just have a pretty cover" - I'm a firm believer that books must be appealing to the reader (and in the case of little ones, the listener), both visually and textually, and that quite a bit of the learning comes from how the book is processed through discussion and activities once it's been read. That said, we use the Bible Big Books published by Group Publishing with our preschoolers, as a good basic storybook. With our various rotation units I've also developed a collection of picture books about each story. What follows is a list of books I can put my hands on now - there were more, and if anyone wants to put their head together with me to see what we can come up with for other stories, I'd be happy to do that.

Unit - Jesus Was a Child Just Like Me:
Jesus Grows Up, by Pilar Paris (a few pages each Sunday)
We also used these other two books for various things during the unit:
Tell Me the Story of Jesus, by V.Gilbert Beers
Daily Life at the time of Jesus, by Miriam Feinberg Vamosh

Unit - Holy Week:
The Miracle of Easter (Big Book from Group Pub.)
A Child's Easter, by Patricia A Pingry (I've also used this as a children's message on Palm Sunday - it's appealing to both adults and children)
One Morning in Joseph's Garden, by Barbara Younger and Lisa Flinn (Abingdon Press)
Good News Travels Fast! An Easter Story, by Barbara Younger and Lisa Flinn (Abingdon Press)
Peter's First Easter, by Walter Wangerin Jr. is a powerful book to use with adults and older children. It's above the heads of preschoolers.

Unit - Creation:
God Made Our World (Big Book by Group Pub.)
In the Beginning, by Steve Turner
The World Around Us (Pop-up Prayers Mini Book)
First He Made the Sun, by Harriet Ziefert
One Starry Day in Heaven, by Bill Bell
Who Made the Wild Woods? by Scharlotte Rich
And It Was So: Words from the Scripture, ill. by Tasha Tudor (we used the beginning of the book, the part that talks about creation)
When the World Was New, by L.J. Sattgast (we used this book with some older children, though it works well with young children as well)

Unit - Noah:
The Animals and the Ark, by Karla Kuskin
Come Aboard Noah's Ark, by Deborah Chancellor
Noah (Big Book from Group Pub.)
Older kids liked: Tales from the Ark, written by David and Chonda Pierce

Unit - Abraham and Sarah
It was hard to find books on the Abraham and Sarah story, so we pretty much just used the big book from Group, and supplemented with fingerplays and action stories from other sources.

A few general "good books"
Anything by Helen Caswell, ie. "Growing In Faith: Seven Stories for Children" and "Parables of Jesus: The Mustard Seed and Other Stories"(Abingdon Press)
Many of the books by Nancy White Carlstrom are over the heads of preschoolers (though thoughtfully and skillfully written to address questions and concerns of older children) but her book "Does God Know How to Tie Shoes" appeals greatly to young children.
The Pray and Play Bible, Volumes 1 & 2 are both written for preschoolers, though I have not had a chance to read through them yet. They are available from Group Publishing.

Unless I've noted otherwise, the books I listed above were all gotten at Borders or Barnes&Noble. Few things are more frustrating than discovering a resource that sounds like it'll be just perfect for what you need, and then being unable to get your hands on a copy of it!

Hope this gets you off to a good start...
Heather :-)

Tales of Glory Figure Playsets
I love anything hands on. These adorable 3” bible figures will be a big hit with your 3-6 year olds to re-enact bible stories. Made by the company “one2believe”.

Available online at https://www.bibletoys.com/Figurine-Playsets-s/1.htm and other Christian Retailers.

Example: Tales of Glory Galilee Boat Set (Note it includes a Jesus figure, not shown)

The Humongous Book of Preschool Ideas for Children's Ministry, by Group, December 2007, 9780764436017.

37 Bible stories covered (Old & New Testament). Interactive stories, experience the story activities, crafts, prayers, snack, and songs are covered for each story.

Link to Group website - Look Inside shows you the "Table of Contents" and preview of the first chapter. https://www.group.com/product/...nload/9780764480447/

The Humongous Book of Preschool Ideas # 2 for Children's Ministry, by Group, December 2008, 9780764438134.

Just pick a story...flip to it in this book...and craft a lesson using games, crafts, finger plays, prayers, and snacks.  https://www.group.com/product/...eas-2/9780764438134/

Storypath is a terrific resource from Union Presbyterian Seminary. It came about as a class-developed resource connecting children's literature to scripture and biblical themes. You can read about it here.

It is searchable by Lectionary as well as by Bible passage and theme, and is a great way to find books that can be used to inspire younger learners (and older kids too!) in a visual way.

Concordia Publishing's "ARCH" Bible story books are nicely illustrated and retold versions of the Bible stories for younger non-readers and early readers.

These paperbacks run about $2.50 each and are available through a number of distributors, including Concordia Publishing, Amazon, and Christianbooks. They come as singles or can be purchased in collections. The published 125 stories.

If you have a modern overhead projector that uses a camera, you can project these BIG on the wall for group reading/enjoying.

Prekinders.com has a number of free printable Bible story activity sheets and mini-books for Pre-K.

See a menu of all their Pre-K Bible / Christian School printable activities at https://www.prekinders.com/category/christian/

Screenshot:

I tried several of the above books on Thrift Books without success.

Any other source ideas?

Hi @Lora!

There are a lot of resources listed above. Is there one in particular you are trying to find?

I do know that the God Loves Me storybooks are still in print and I have used them. They are great for toddlers and preschoolers. A bit young by the time the kids are in first grade.

Here are links for the one for Adam and Eve  and the one for the Fall: A Very Sad Day. Or you can buy the whole set of 52 books.

Let us know specifically what you need and we can help.

Amy 

Trueway Kids Preschool - Kindergarten Sunday School Curriculum

is truly a treasure, and it's FREE.

Lessons can be viewed, downloaded, and printed as colorful PDFs, including the activity sheets.

The lessons are visually formatted to make them extra-easy to understand and do.

They also have video tutorials of the lesson materials/activities. For example, here's their YouTube video tutorial for their "Jesus Heals the Paralyzed Man" activity sheet.

In addition to OT and NT story lessons, they also have a new set of "inclusive Sunday School lesson" packets with activities and POV that every kind of child is welcome and included.

Trueway is the project of a U.K. mom and dad who originally created lessons for their own use. While originally for kids 5 and under, they now also have lesson downloads for older kids and even VBS. The lessons are traditional and mainstream and come in a multitude of different languages.

I have not evaluated all of them, but of the few I looked at for PRESCHOOLERS, I liked what I saw.