Keys for Kids - daily devotions and Bible stories for kids and families

Read: Psalm 150 “What’s all the racket about?” Mom came out of her office and stood in the doorway of the living room. “You two have done nothing but fight and complain all afternoon.” Asher and Olivia glared at each other silently. “Praise the Lord!” Mom suddenly shouted. Asher and Olivia jumped in surprise. Mom smiled as the kids looked at her curiously. “You were yelling and complaining in loud...

Read: Galatians 5:22-25 The pocket of Octavia’s red sweater bulged. She didn’t want Miss Allen to notice, so she quickly slipped into her seat. She removed a big orange from her pocket and hid it behind the box of crayons in her desk. The morning dragged by. Usually Octavia liked reading class, but not today. She couldn’t keep her mind on the story. A classmate—Ford—had agreed to give the signal f...

Read: Matthew 6:25-34 “This state park is really nice, isn’t it?” Dad said as he and Henry walked along a wooded path. “Huh? Oh, yeah,” Henry mumbled in response. But he hadn’t really noticed—he’d been too busy wondering if Dad would be able to find a new job. The place where his dad worked was going out of business. “Dad, what if we run out of money for food and stuff?” Dad was about to answer, b...

Read: Luke 8:26-36 FLASH! Lightning ripped across the black sky. Instantly every street light went out. “Whoa,” Luke said. “Talk about a spooky night! It looks like a ghost town out there.” Beth peeked out from under her covers. “Don’t say the word ghost.” Mom came into their bedroom with a flashlight. “Hey, Mom.” Luke put bed covers over his head to look like a ghost. “Tell us a ghost story.” “On...

Read: Philippians 4:6-7; Hebrews 13:8; 1 Peter 5:7 Tears fell down Leah’s cheeks as she and her parents drove past their old house in the country to see what it looked like now. They had moved to the city to be closer to her dad’s work, but Leah had loved living in the country and really missed her old house. She wished they could have stayed. Leah’s old house looked so different now. The bushes h...

Read: 2 Corinthians 8:8-12 Emma tiptoed into her house. The wind howled at her back, and she pulled her scarf tight against her neck. If only she had her coat. Slowly, she closed the door until it clicked shut. The last thing she wanted was for her mother to see her like this. She sighed. It was nice to finally be in her warm living room. “Emma?” Uh-oh. She cringed as she turned to her mother and...

Read: 1 Corinthians 13:8-13 Hunter peered ahead through the fog that surrounded them. “Hey, Dad!” he said as he and his father approached the large city they were visiting. “Look!” He pointed toward the distant city skyline that was almost completely hidden by the fog. “You can hardly see those huge buildings today.” “Keep watching them,” Dad said. “As we get closer, the fog will seem to disappear...

Read: Psalm 119:9-16 Sally shivered as she sat on the park bench. The weather was getting cold. Soon there would be snow, and Grandma wouldn’t want to come to the park once the sidewalks were slippery. Sally reached into the bag Grandma had brought and pulled out another nut. The squirrels around her sat on their hind legs, waiting. “Looks like they’re getting ready for winter too,” Grandma said....

Read: Psalm 65:1-8; Philippians 2:5-8 “Mittens, you’re driving me crazy!” Li said as she stepped over her cat. “What’s Mittens doing?” Mom asked. “Nothing, but I always have to step over him. I’ve actually stepped on his tail lots of times,” Li said. “I don’t do it on purpose, but he always gets under my feet. Why does he just sit in the middle of the floor where we’re trying to walk?” “I guess he...

Read: Matthew 18:12-14 “Zeke!” called Layla. “There’s a storm coming. We need to get the chickens in!” Zeke followed his sister outside. “Do you think chickens are like sheep?” he asked. Layla stared at Zeke as she opened the gate to the chicken coop. “What? No, chickens are different. They have feathers.” “Jesus talks a lot about sheep in the Bible,” said Zeke. “Do you think Jesus likes sheep mor...

Read: Romans 8:1-9 Jonah sifted through the model airplane parts covering his desk until he found the one he wanted. Almost done! I just have to get this propeller on . His fingers clutched the plane as he tried to attach the propeller. Then he heard a crunch. He had held the plane so tightly that it had cracked above one of the wings. Filled with anger, Jonah cursed and flung the plane against th...

Read: John 1:14-18; 8:4-11 Tessie sighed. Time for performing the skit that she and her friends had prepared was running out. Still Candace did not show up. “Where is she?” Tessie whispered to Gus, another student in the group hoping to perform at the homeschool talent show that evening. Gus shrugged. “We worked on this for so long—I don’t think she would miss it without telling us. Something must...

Read: Luke 21:1-4; 2 Corinthians 9:6-7 “What’s wrong?” Dad asked Sylvie after junior youth group. “Did something happen at your meeting?” Sylvie sat down at the table where Dad was cutting vegetables. “It’s Melissa again.” The two girls had known each other for years, but they were not friends. “I got there five minutes late,” Sylvie said. “The only empty chair was in the front row by Melissa. It...

Read: Matthew 7:7-11 “Hey, wait up!” Jordyn grabbed her foot and looked at the bottom of her shoe. “Look—the sole of my shoe almost ripped right off!” She glanced around with a red face. “How embarrassing. Right in the middle of the store!” “Let me look at it,” Mom said. “How did that even happen?” “Well, I knew they were starting to fall apart, but I didn’t know it was this bad.” Mom smiled. “You...

Read: Romans 12:4-8 BLATT! BLATT! BLATT! Brayden was sitting in front of the music stand with his trombone, moving the slide, when Dad walked in holding a baseball and glove. “Hey, Brayden,” Dad said. “How about taking a break to play catch?” In the backyard Dad threw easy tosses to Brayden, who then threw them back. “How’s the trombone going?” Dad asked. Brayden shrugged. “Okay, I guess.” “What d...

Read: Isaiah 11:6-9; Romans 8:19-22 Aaliyah rushed outside to see why Grandpa’s dog was barking so loudly. She found Otis jumping up and down, trying to reach a squirrel up in a tree. “I think that squirrel is scolding you, Otis,” she said as the squirrel chattered loudly. She laughed and pulled the dog away. Looking around for Grandpa, Aaliyah headed for the toolshed and saw her cat hiding in the...

Read: Psalms 26:2-3; 139:23-24 Eden’s sweater crackled as she pulled it on over her head. She smoothed down her hair and hurried downstairs for breakfast. “What’s so funny?” she asked her brother as she took her seat at the table. “There’s a sock stuck to your back!” said Jonathan. “Oops!” said Mom as she removed the sock from Eden’s sweater. “That’s caused by static electricity. It makes things s...

Read: James 1:17 Parker put down his fork and sighed. “Thanks for dinner, Mom. It was great!” Mom smiled. “Well, thank you, Parker. I know lasagna is your favorite, but you seem to have enjoyed it more than usual.” “Yeah, but it wasn’t just the lasagna. This whole day has been great!” Parker sat back and clasped his fingers behind his head. “The weather was perfect—not too cold and not too hot. An...

Read: Romans 12:17-21; Colossians 3:12-14 Alaina ran all the way home from the park and came into the kitchen out of breath. She poured a huge glass of cold water and gulped it down. A few minutes later, her sister walked in. “Why didn’t you wait for me?” Hailey asked. Alaina shrugged. “I saw you talking with Blake, so I decided to go for a run.” Hailey sighed. “Are you still mad at him for what h...

Read: Isaiah 55:8-9; Romans 8:28-29 “What do you want first, the bad news or the good news?” Mom asked when Morgan got home from school. “The bad news, I guess.” Morgan knew that when Mom played bad news/good news, the news was never terribly bad. “Dad’s job is now transferring to Dalton instead of Briggs,” Mom said. “Dalton? But we already found a nice house in Briggs!” Morgan sighed. “What’s the...

Read: Psalm 51:10-17; Ezekiel 36:26-27 Aunt Dee must be here! Qian thought when he saw a blue mini van parked in their driveway. Maybe she brought Grandma home from the hospital—the doctor said she might come home today. Grandma had been very sick, but she’d had an amazing operation. She’d been given a heart transplant—her diseased heart was removed and a different one was put inside her body. Now...

Read: Hebrews 11:1-3; 1 John 5:4-5 “Look out!” said Benjamin as his sister stumbled over a chair. “You must be blind as a bat if you didn’t see that chair, Eliza!” Eliza huffed as she righted the chair. “Bats aren’t blind!” she said. “Yes, they are,” said Benjamin. “They find their way around by listening to sound waves instead of by seeing things with their eyes.” “Yes, but they can see,” said El...

Read: 1 Corinthians 3:5-9 “We can make applesauce, apple dumplings, apple strudel, apple pies, apple butter…” Hannah’s voice trailed off as she lugged a basket of apples into the kitchen. “Sounds like you’ve got big plans for all these apples we picked,” said Aunt Maria. She took some of the apples from Hannah’s basket. “We’ll make a batch or two of applesauce and freeze some of it. Would you like...

Read: 2 Timothy 3:14-17 “This isn’t working!” said Lucas. “Josiah is really good at math, and today he showed me how to do these math problems, but I still can’t figure them out.” Mom walked to the table where Lucas was doing his homework. “Doesn’t your textbook tell you how to do them? Let’s take a look at it to make sure Josiah gave you the right information.” “Okay,” said Lucas. He opened the b...

Read: 1 Peter 1:17-21 “Oh no!” said Mei. “I won’t be able to mail this birthday card to Grandma until Monday.” “Why not?” asked Mei’s little sister, Anya. “The mailman hasn’t come yet. I’ll go put it in the mailbox for you.” Mei shook her head. “We’re out of stamps. Without a stamp on the envelope, this won’t go anywhere.” Anya looked thoughtful for a moment and then bounded off to her bedroom. Sh...