The One Year Devotions for Preschoolers

(Little Blessings)

by Crystal Bowman, Elena Kucharik (Illustrator)

Over 250,000 copies sold!
A full year of easy-to-understand devotions, paired with adorable Little Blessings illustrations, will help your preschooler know and love Jesus each day of the year. Your preschooler will join Kaitlyn, Zoe, Parker, and Jack―and together they will learn to walk with God in everything they do.

Watch your young children grow in their understanding of God as you meet with Him together using this One Year devotional. Each reading includes a Little Blessings illustration with a short Bible verse and devotional thought that gets you and your child talking about the simple truths of Scripture. A fun, rhyming prayer completes each devotional.

A great way to get young children interacting with Scripture daily.

Genres: Childrens, Christian, Devotional, Religion, Nonfiction

384 pages, Paperback

First published August 11, 2004

About the author

Crystal Bowman is an author, speaker, and former preschool teacher. She graduated from Calvin College with a degree in elementary education and studied early childhood development at the University of Michigan. Her writing career began in 1990 as a lyricist for children's piano music. She began writing children's books in 1993 and has since written more than 100 books for children and 3 for women. She has written books for many popular children's series, such as Little Blessings, BOZ the Bear, MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers), Berenstain Bears, and I Can Read! She has also written two books of humorous poetry for children, numerous magazine articles, Bible study materials, and educational resource books. As a speaker, Crystal enjoys sharing her stories and poetry with students in the classroom and also with adults at teachers' conventions, writers' conferences, and women's seminars. "Writing and speaking can be intimidating because in order to connect with your audience you need to be personal and transparent, exposing what's in your heart and soul. But when readers or conference attendees respond positively to something I've said or written, it is humbling and rewarding all at the same time!" Crystal and her husband, Bob, have enjoyed 44 years of marriage and are the parents of 3 grown children and 5 grandchildren. They spend summers in Michigan and winters in Florida.

Reviews

[L.A. · Rating 4 out of 5]

2025 UPDATE: My now 4-year-old little guy has been learning to find books of the Bible for the day’s passage and still enjoys the characters. He’s able to regurgitate basic truths from the devotional in his own way. Going to keep him here for at least one more year before considering a new devotional.

I am noticing/remembering that I have to change the wording of a couple entries and/or prayers to be sure I’m not insinuating that he is for sure going to heaven—a very few entries could use some tweaking in this regard.

Big 7-year-old sis still likes to chime in—I mean, listen in!—to the stories! 😉

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2024 UPDATE: My 5-year-old was over this by summer (shortly before she turned 6), so we moved her on to thicker pasture. But it was perfect for the 2-year-old (who is now 3). Little man has learned his books of the Bible, so as we start this over in 2025, it will be good to begin having him look up passages on his own. Like his sister, he has loved the characters and has comments about whether they are doing right or wrong, et cetera.

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2023 UPDATE: Reading this with my 2-year-old for the first time and 5-year-old for the last time! So far really pleased with how it’s working out to read what’s there with both kiddos, pray a short prayer, then send the squirmy baby on his way before having my little girl find the passage in her Bible for us to exegete the whole passage a bit.

This devotional on its own is definitely not enough for her, but it allows little bro to observe big sis; big sis to start putting a scripture verse in context (the story is so simple and short, she doesn’t get caught up with questions about that part); and me to keep my sanity while still encouraging both kiddos to start their own relationship with God.

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2022 UPDATE: Every year I am more and more pleased with how this devotional has served our family. My now 4-year-old gets more out of it each year. We’ll see if we go for one more year or move on to something else.

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2021: I had only a handful of entries I thought could be better. Really pleased with how this has served my 2-year-old (now 3-year-old) and I over this past year. The devotionals are the perfect length, introduce a healthy balance of topics, include a relevant & applicable scripture to look up, and the little prayers get you started on talking to God with your child.

[Brianna Knutson · Rating 5 out of 5]

My 3 year old and I enjoyed going through this most mornings. It is perfect for his level!

[Taryn · Rating 5 out of 5]

We read a devotion from this book at breakfast, and it takes about 2 minutes. A great way to start our day.

[Jen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tate and I love this little daily devotional...cute pictures and simple explanations that a 2 or 3 year old can grasp.

[Laura]

I haven’t read the whole book, maybe a third, but I wanted to write a review. I think the book definitely has its merits and I will continue using it, but I did want to point out a couple downsides to the book just to give a heads up to anyone considering it. The book has a fair number of devotionals focusing on 1) how we can be happy and 2) how obedience to the Lord makes him happy. I understand what they were getting at and how they were trying to put Biblical principles on a preschool level. That being said, it just didn’t sit right with me to say that obeying God makes him happy, without also saying he loves us regardless of sin, because of Christ. Also, the Bible doesn’t promise we will be “happy” if we just obey God. If those terms or ideas don’t bother you, then this book will be great for you and your kids!

[Shannon Evanko · Rating 2 out of 5]

I did not enjoy this, but Evelyn did, so we kept going. I thought the devotions were too simplistic for her & focused on works a lot more than I would have liked. I would edit the words as I read some days— it just read very legalistic and works-based, in my interpretation. Looking forward to starting a different resource with her during our morning time together!

[Miranda | BookishlyBrewed | · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is such a well written daily devotional for toddlers. My toddler easily comprehends the stories and even answers the questions. He enjoys reciting the prayers and verses each day too. He is just under 4 years old for reference! We started when he was 3 and 1/2! We will be continuing this through the next year as well!

[Ashley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love this little devotional book! It’s great for ages 3-6 and short enough to add with other bibles or do for part of morning. It has illustrations my kids like, daily prayers and verses, and has stories related to the dates/seasons you read them in. Highly recommend.

[Christina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great devotion for ages 3-5. We will probably read it again next year.

[Ashley · Rating 5 out of 5]

My little one loves reading the devotionals in the morning. They are short enough to hold her attention, the illustrations are cute, and the messages are perfect for starting her day.

[Frans Kempe · Rating 3 out of 5]

A small devotional, a scripture and a prayer that rhymes. A bit repetitive but otherwise ok

[Jill · Rating 5 out of 5]

Easy to understand text and nicely illustrated to capture the attention of young kids.

[Anthony · Rating 5 out of 5]

GREAT

[Lori Schmidt · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an awesome devotional for younger children. Fun pictures on each page and topics that get the kids thinking and talking. There's a short Bible verse and prayer for each day as well.