Last year I published my Jesse Tree Ornaments E-book, with 24 printable 3-D ornaments to craft your way through Jesus’ genealogy and the O Antiphons. My daughter and I had a wonderful time creating the ornaments, and I loved seeing her make them her own using glitter and sometimes stickers.
While she colored and cut, I would read the accompanying Bible Verses (which are also included in the e-book). And though I think she gained a little background, I thought this year I would try something different. Since she is only 5, and my son is 2, when we ‘read the Bible,’ we are really reading a children’s Bible. Which Bible you ask?
We love The Golden Children’s Bible. (This is an affiliate link. I make a small commission from any sales from this link, and the prices are the same for you!). It tells the all the stories in the Bible in a way easy for children to understand, but not so simplified that I want to pull my hair out reading it everyday.
My daughter also really enjoys the illustrations which are pretty and not as cartoon-y as some Children’s Bibles.
The thought came to me as I was planning our Advent: why not read from our children’s Bible for each day of the Jesse Tree this year? My kids will probably get more out of the experience, plus I can have my 1st grader read part of it to me! So, I made a reading plan to align each day of the Jesse Tree with a story from The Golden Children’s Bible, and it’s posted here for free!
Golden Children’s Bible Reading Plan for the Jesse Tree Printable
Not all Jesse Tree’s are created equal. My Jesse Tree Ornaments e-book is a Catholic version, and you can see each individual ornament and accompanying character in Jesus’ genealogy in my post about it. I chose stories from The Golden Children’s Bible which explain the symbol that is being crafted into an ornament for each day. For example, the ornament for Moses is a baby in basket and the story I plan to read from our children’s Bible is “The Birth of Moses” since it tells the story of Moses being floated down the Nile in a basket.
The * next to Joseph and Mary’s readings means I’m thinking about switching the order of these two so I read them in order of the events in the story.
When I get to the O Antiphons, the real Bible readings are from Isaiah. Since the children’s Bible focuses mostly on the Bible stories, Isaiah’s prophecies of Jesus are not in there in the same way. So my plan is to read some of the stories about Jesus’ life. The first O Antiphon, Jesus is Wisdom, is easily shown in Jesus Teaches the Parables. The last day of Advent, I plan to read the Psalms that were included in the Children’s Bible.
Since I love the Golden Children’s Bible, I’m having a give away! Check out the Raffelcopter below to see how to enter the giveaway for your own Golden Children’s Bible.
(This is going on the honor system here- don’t click enter until you’ve done the task! Thanks!)
If you have never done the Jesse Tree before, then this is the year to add it to your traditions! It’s a beautiful way to see how the Bible builds up to Jesus’ birth, through his genealogy. The best part of my Jesse Tree Ornaments E-book, is that all the ornaments are printable (so there’s NO shopping for felt, fabric buttons, or fancy crafting supplies). They were designed to be crafted by varying ages, so it will appeal to a wide range of children. While they color and assemble their ornaments, you can read either the scripture included in the E-book, or now you can read from your Golden Children’s Bible.
If you purchase the Jesse Tree 3-D Ornaments E-book in the next three days, get a special $2 discount using the coupon code: Golden. This is my way of saying thanks to my frequent visitors and subscribers!
Thanks for reading, and may God bless you with a beautiful Advent season!
Kristen
These are great — I’d love to use them with my 6th graders this year