Can younger children understand metaphors?

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Can a six-year-old understand what Jesus meant when he described himself as “the Bread of Life”?

How about a nine-year-old?

The answer is YES --if the metaphor is properly and simply explained.

But...

For most of the 19th and 20th centuries, the answer was “no.” It was widely believed that children were mostly incapable of understanding metaphorical abstractions such as “Bread of Life.” This belief was enshrined in the early 20th century by Piaget’s theory of childhood development which classified children ages 7 to 11 in the “concrete” stage with the ability to think “abstractly” appearing sometime after age 10. The historical inclination to treat children as empty vessels who can only be filled with information – is a legacy that still plagues some Sunday school curriculums and teaching styles to this day.In fact, you can still find many bloggers and teachers parroting this old theory about "concrete only" children and metaphors.

Fortunately, modern empirical research into what children can understand has dispelled many outdated theories --- which is a good thing because the Bible is FULL of metaphors and Jesus used a lot of them!

• “I am the way, and the truth, and the life.”
• “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field.”
• "You are the salt of the earth."

“For this (prodigal) son of mine …was lost and is found.”

...and a few OT teachings such as:

• “The Lord is my shepherd”
• “God is my rock and salvation,”
• “We are the clay, you are the potter.”

The story of Adam and Eve, the story of the Exodus, Judges, Jonah --  so many stories (historical or not) function as metaphors for our own experience. Like parables, so many stories in the Bible teach us because they are true on a level that doesn't require archaeological proof! And by understanding their symbolic meaning, we see that their meaning is as true for us as they have been for countless generations.

Today, researchers believe that even preschoolers have a rudimentary ability to create and understand metaphors.

Some research links:
Children and development, survey of recent research
Article about James Geary's (Harvard) book "The Secret Life of Metaphor"
Metaphor development from age 6 to 9
Metaphor development in Preschoolers

The rest of this article has examples of "how to teach metaphors to children" including a chart of how to teach the metaphor that Jesus is the Bread of Life. Lots of great tips!

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