This book was provided as a review. No other compensation was provided.
The The Ten Commandments for Children by author Ron Cammenga is a lovely book geared towards children to help teach them the importance of the Ten Commandments. The table of contents is broken into 28 easy to read sections to help provide a manageable way to teach each commandment to young minds. The book is also filled with additional Bible versus, discussion questions, and songs to aid in the entertainment and learning aspects. Mr. Cammenga wrote the book not only to serve as an instructional but as a devotional. Another nice feature are QR codes that will link to the 1912 United Presbyterian Psalter for those that enjoy seeing the Psalms.
The book provides each topic or chapter in a two page colorful spread. First is the notation to which Bible verse and then a "Let's Learn a Bible verse." The amount of text present is just enough to not overwhelm the children while still captivating their attention. Each two page spread provides a colorful illustration that correlates with the theme along with a "Let's talk it over" series of questions such as "What is God's law?" I think this is a great way to ensure the child understood what he or she just heard or read as well as to answer any questions they might have had. The last feature of each topic includes a "Let's sing" notation of a Psalm.
Mr. Cammenga does an excellent job explaining different aspects of the Ten Commandments. Such as in the beginning, he explains the importance of the number ten by utilizing key sentences from the Bible as well as further explaining how we have ten fingers and toes and how it wouldn't be good of we were missing some of those nor if we had extra fingers and toes. Ten is the perfect number he explains. I think the words used throughout the book makes it easy to understand.
The foundations of living a good life are contained in the Ten Commandments. It's the ultimate addition to the Bible itself in being Godly and an excellent beginning to ensuring our children are living the best that they can. My grandsons enjoyed the book and the questions. It was enjoyable to see my older grandson respond to the questions and listen to his thought processes. The illustrations reminded me of books when I was young.
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Also, read what is available online about what this book teaches children...
- what God’s law is: his ten words to his people
- how we obey God's law: by loving him and our neighbor
- why we keep God's law: to thank him for delivering us from our sin, to be assured that he has made us his children, and more
When we teach children about God’s law, we teach them about Jesus Christ. Jesus obeyed perfectly each one of the commandments in God’s law and died for all the times we have not kept God’s law.
This book explains and applies each commandment in two to three chapters, covering both what God forbids and requires. Chapters include discussion questions, a Bible memory verse, and a related psalm to be sung.
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Ronald L. Cammenga is professor of Dogmatics and Old Testament Studies at the Protestant Reformed Theological Seminary in Wyoming, Michigan. He is a former pastor, and he and his wife, Rhonda, have eleven children and many grandchildren living in four states.
Ana Sebastián is a digital illustrator and visual development artist based in Madrid, Spain. Ana also likes to work with colored pencils and watercolors and enjoys reading and traveling in her free time.
