Great Adventures Kids Pack: My Review

I'd like to thank the Catholic Company for allowing me to review Great Adventures Kids Pack. Materials included in the pack are a large 48 page coloring book in which each page illustrates one Bible story and has a summary of that story on the bottom, along with a Bible verse from it; a deck of cards, some color coded prayer (pony) beads, a Bible timeline chart, and a bookmark. All the parts fit together as part of a system to teach Biblical history, using colors and symbols. In other words, the symbol on the coloring book page will match the symbol on the timeline chart, cards, and bookmark. They are also color coded.

The materials are attractive and I like the timeline approach. The copyright notice allows reproduction for home use only, so while a homeschooling family would only have to buy one set; a parish catechist would need one for every child. The middle school religion teacher in my daughter's school had a larger version of the timeline chart hung in her classroom when I used to use it for CCD, and I used it a few times to point out the sequence of events. The chart in this package is for personal use though, it isn't big enough to be seen across the room. The cards have illustrations from Bible stories, along with the symbols and colors common to the program and include directions on how to use the cards to play such traditional games as "go fish", "spoons" and "memory".

I was hoping for something I could use with my CCD class or give to my four year old. In that sense, I was disappointed in this pack. None of it was appropriate for classroom use; the home market is the obvious target. The coloring book is too elaborate for my four year old,who likes to color. I think by the time most kids are able to do a nice job coloring such an elaborate picture; those who aren't fond of coloring have quit. My daughter does enjoy the card games, and while I suppose the pictures will give her some familiarity with the scenes, they'll be scattered and lost long before she remembers all the stories. Perhaps a homeschooling mom with kids of many ages would find this program more useful that I have.