Hi readers! I am really excited to try out a new Bible curriculum this year. It’s The Picture Smart Bible and I love the detail that they’ve put into this program and my kiddos absolutely love drawing their way through the bible! So I’m hoping this will be a great fit for us!
Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links. If you purchase a product through one of these links I receive a small commission.
What is The Picture Smart Bible?
For those of you who don’t know, The Picture Smart Bible is a curriculum that teaches all of the book of the Bible in illustration form. Each Bible book has its own full page illustration sheet with the exception of some of the shorter books that have been combined.
It also comes with a time line as well as maps to help students grasp the lesson further.
They currently offer New Testament and Old Testament lessons, and you can get them individually or as a set. They also come in CD, download, and printed formats so you have a lot of buying options!
They even have a K-3 edition which are a bit simpler drawings for your little ones.
How I set it all up…
I received the printed version for review, then made copies of the student pages for my kiddos. I put all of the teacher’s lessons into a binder, then had my student materials spiral bound at a local office supply store.
I thought it would be a great way to keep their lessons all together, as well as be able to review books as needed.
Plus when we’re done, they’ll each have their own illustrated Bible!
The Teacher’s Manual comes with scripted lessons as well as a completed student sheet so you have an idea of what it should look like. Each step of the lesson also has a small image to let you know which section of the drawing your student should be working on.
The Student Pages come with traceable outlines so no one has to worry about being a great Artiste! For each lesson section, students will trace a certain area of the page and color it in. After looking at the lessons, we will split them up and do 1 lesson per week. I don’t want to rush them through the lessons just to get done, but I’d rather have them take time and learn the material, as well as have time to color in their artwork.
Since I have a kindergartener this year, I gave her the teacher’s manual pages so she’s not having to worry about tracing over confusing lines. So her book (right) is already drawn and all she has to do is color in her images. The other kiddos got the normal student pages (left) and will trace the color their work.
We will also be incorporating their Learning the Word for Life series of books. The intention is to use these books to help memorize key verses from The Picture Smart Bible lessons. As you progress through the lessons you’ll see the books referred to as a key memory verse. Each book has illustrations and the verse to help students memorize verses through visual queues, as well as their own dialogue with God sheet where they can journal.
There are three books in the series:
- “Foundations” – Key verses from the lessons for memorization
- “Bread for the Wilderness” – Relating to key issues in life (anger management, self-esteem, etc.)
- “God, Your Real Dad” – To help students develop an intimate relationship with God.
–>GIVEAWAY!!!
Since we are just starting this curriculum, I’ll be posting a more thorough review of it a bit later on.
But I wanted to do a giveaway for you so you can get started right away!
Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links. If you purchase a product through one of these links I receive a small commission. I received the product above free for review and giveaway on my website. The opinions expressed in this post are my own, and were not influenced by the company or free product provided.
I am curious..does it use a specific version of the Bible or are you able to choose?
Looks like fun!
I think I’ll learn a lot from this Bible curriculum-let alone my children. 🙂 Hope to win it!
I love the way it uses lots of color. It looks very crafty and it looks like it would def. bring out creativity!!
Thanks Erica for the chance!!
This looks like such a neat curriculum. We would love to try it!
Why didn’t I think of this? What a fantastic learning tool for teaching our kids the Word of God!
to be perfectly honest, i am very hesitant to try any curriculum that “dumbs down” the Bible for kids, and adults. But that doesn’t mean that i am right, maybe this is easier to help grasp the ideas and then later i can lay thicker more concrete information…? Not sure, but am willing to try!
This would be great for the entire family!
Looks fun for younger students
Looks like a great, fun way to learn the Bible. And a nice change of pace without being too much still from our Grapevine Studies we have been doing.
The website is a little confusing though, do the OT and NT downloads include student pages AND teacher’s manual pages??
Hi Sara,
The download includes both the student pages and the TM pages yes.