How to Organize Your Children’s Books

Raise your hand if you love books!  I sure do. Reading books together is one of my favorite ways to connect with my kids. But trying to organize your children’s books can often be a challenge!  Keep reading to learn 5 easy steps to creatively organize your children’s books. Or you can listen here:   Welcome to episode #8 of The Family Bible Connection Podcast with Laurie Christine!  Now, you may be wondering… what does the topic of how to organize your children’s books have to do with the Family Bible Connection?  Well, not only do we talk about ways your family can connect with the Bible, but we also talk about ways you can connect with your kids!    THE IMPORTANCE OF READING WITH YOUR KIDS Reading books together with my kids is one of my favorite ways to create connections with them.  And the more connected my children feel, the more likely they are to listen to me and respect what I have to say about God and the Bible. We snuggle up on the couch under a blanket and read everything from Bible stories, to Veggie Tales, to The Cat in the Hat, to The Magic Tree House, to Harry Potter.  (Gasp – yes, that’s right, my boys and I are reading Harry Potter together… Some of you may love me more and some of you may never my blog posts ever again… haha, that’s okay!  I’d be happy to tell you all the reasons we love Harry Potter… but I’ll save that for another episode!)   Books are an amazing way to teach your kids about people and cultures that they’ve never experienced before. Books create an opportunity to step into someone else’s shoes and imagine what life might be like for them.  Books create empathy and connections. Books give you inside jokes to tell as a family. Books help kids relate to the world around them.  Books are educational. Most importantly, books are fun!   I honestly believe, second only to loving your children and teaching them about Jesus, that reading to your kids is the most important thing you can do to give them the best chance at success in life. For me, as long as my boys live under my roof, I will continue to read books to them. Even when they’re teenagers!  When I read “Go Dog Go” with my littlest one, I can STILL hear my own mom’s voice and intonation as she read to me when I was little… “What is up there on top of that tree?  A dog party!  A BIG dog party!”  It is my desire that my boys will have many wonderful memories of reading books together as they grow up and I hope they pass on a similar passion to their own children some day. What about you?  Do you read with your kids?  What are some of your favorite books?    SEASONAL BOOKS With the fall and winter holidays coming up right around the corner, I wanted to talk a little bit about seasonal books – meaning, books for specific holidays or seasons – Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Winter, Spring, etc.    In order to make my children’s book collection a little more manageable, I have divided up many of our books into “seasons.”  At the beginning of each new season of the year, I bring up a new box of books from the basement to display on our bookshelf.  The boys always look forward to looking through the “new” season of books and exclaim “Ooh, I remember this one from last year!”  Or, “Mommy, is this a NEW book for this year?”