September/October 2006 Issue

KINGDOM MATTERS:
New Canadian Website Brings the Bible to Kids
By Patricia Paddey

Thanks to a new interactive website called BibleKids.ca, children from preschoolers to preadolescents can explore the Scriptures using the latest Internet technology.

Developed by the Canadian Bible Society (CBS), BibleKids.ca is designed as a tool to help children cultivate a love for the Bible.

Featuring kid-friendly music, colourful animation and biblically based adventure stories and games, BibleKids.ca launched in June in the midst of the Bible Society’s centennial celebrations. CBS national director Phyllis Nesbitt says the site arises out of the Bible Society’s mandate to “translate, publish, distribute and encourage the use of the Bible in Canada and the world.”

Visitors to BibleKids.ca are encouraged to “use the Bible” and have fun at the same time. They can colour and hear stories, watch an animated music video about the Genesis account of creation, play a guessing game to identify a “mystery person” from the Scriptures or participate in interactive adventure stories from the Old and New Testaments.

Concept designer and CBS Web coordinator Robert Everitt says Biblekids.ca is a website that even preschoolers can navigate through and interact with on their own. “While we encourage parents to explore the site with their children, we’ve used both auditory and visual cues throughout the site, making it possible for pre-readers to get as much from the experience as older children,” he explains.

Heather Cushing of Oakville, Ont., is mother to three children ages three, seven and nine. She says all three enjoy playing on the site and she feels comfortable supporting such play. “As a parent, I would much rather they be painting Bible characters and hearing a story from the Bible than playing [on secular websites],” says Cushing.