Keys For Kids Devotional Review

My son has a really awesome Sunday School teacher.  They do a lot of hands on activities.  They even made a topographic map of Paul's missionary journeys out of salt dough!!  Yes, I realize how blessed our family is.  A few years ago she gave my son a mail subscription to Keys for Kids daily devotional because she wanted to make sure he was getting into the Bible every day.  My son loved it and would read all of the stories.  I even had to make sure that he only did that day so that he would have something new to read tomorrow.

Then, he noticed in one mailing that they had an app.  Like most kids, my son loves anything electronic (though we have limits on his electronic time) and was thrilled to try out the app.  He loved reading or listening to the daily devotional on his iPod instead of reading it in the booklet, but the app was a little glitchy, often closing out before he got the chance to finish reading it.  When I contacted Keys for Kids, they said that they already had a new app in the works and it would be a few months before it was available.  So we went back to the mail version until the new app was completed.

However, recently they released their new app available for both Android and Apple.  It is very similar to the old app but without the glitches.  

What We Love About the Keys For Kids App:

• It has a daily devotional each day with a story that kids will enjoy and teaches them a lesson. Each devotional also has a few Bible verse references to look up and read, a key verse that is written out, a key message for the day, and a way for the kids to apply the key message.  You can read it or you can listen to it.  The devotional takes less than five minutes but gives your child something from the Bible to think about every day.

• You can live stream Keys for Kids Radio.  It has lots of great Christian music.  Some of the songs are geared directly towards kids and other Christian songs that everyone will enjoy.  It also has radio programs like Red Rock Mysteries, Down Gilead Lane, The Pond, Jungle Jam, and Adventures in Odyssey.  Check out the program schedule here.

• You can also listen to the current episode of Down Gilead Lane, Red Rock Mysteries, The Pond, Paws & Tales, Kids Corner, We Kids, and Karen & Kids anytime you want.  If you like these programs but the program schedule doesn't fit yours, then this is perfect for your family.

What We Change About the Keys for Kids App:

We LOVE the newly updated app and I LOVE that my son is reading God's Word daily.  It is becoming part of his daily routine.  The only thing I would improve would be making the Bible verse references hyperlinks so that the kids are more likely to actually read them.  Also, having a default setting that would decide what you want the app to do when you open (play the audio daily devotional, just open the daily devotional without playing the audio, or just opening to the main menu...) would be a great option.

Other Ways to Get Keys for Kids:

Plus you can follow Keys for Kids on Facebook or Keys for Kids of Twitter where they share both the kids daily devotional and a parent minute (you can listen or read or listen and read at the same time).  It's a great way for parents to see what their kids are reading.

If you love the idea of a daily devotional for your child but don't have a smartphone or tablet, then you can check them out at their website.  The daily devotionals are available 14 different ways, from mail subscription to email and e-readers to podcasts.