Keys For Kids Ministries

Bible Reading: Matthew 6:26-27; 7:24-27What a horrible week, Ella thought as she dropped her school bag on the table. First I failed my science test, then Aria got mad at me and now she won't talk to me. Just then Mom's voice drifted in from the back porch. "Ella, come look! A bird's making a nest in our yard." Ella walked out and saw a bird gathering twigs on the branch of an old oak tree. "Mom, that tree's no good! It's dying, isn't it? Almost all of its leaves have fallen off!" She called to the bird. "Make your nest in the apple tree!" It ignored her. Mom laughed. "It's no use. It's made up its mind to nest there."That night, the wind howled outside Ella's window, and rain fell down in great torrents. When Ella looked out the window the next morning, she saw the branch from the oak tree lying flat on the ground with bits of straw and twigs scattered around it. "Mom, the bird's nest fell down!" she cried. "Poor bird! What will it do now?""I'm sure it will build another one," said Mom.Ella watched the bird

Bible Reading: Psalm 139:1-12; 1 John 1:9Maya and her little brother River watched ants scurry up and down the tiny tunnels in her ant farm. "Look!" said River, pointing to one of the ants. "What is that one carrying?" After a moment, he added, "And why is that one digging a new tunnel? Oh! Is that one cleaning up? Did God make ants too?""So many questions!" teased Maya. "Yes, God made ants too.""Are these ants just like the ones outside?" asked River."I guess so. I'd say they're cousins, at least." Maya stood up. "I have to go study, but you can keep watching my ants. Just don't touch the ant farm."A little while later, Maya heard River run outside. Minutes later, she heard the screen door slam and River scurried by on his way to his room. When she went to check on him, he was lying on the bed with his head under the pillow. It was the way River had tried to hide when he was younger. "River, I see you," said Maya. "What happened? Why are you hiding in your bed?"Slowly, River pulled his head from under the pi

Bible Reading: Philippians 2:1-4Sebastian quickly wrapped a rubber band around the faucet spray nozzle and ran back to the table. He watched his older sister rush into the kitchen and grab her water bottle. When she turned on the faucet, a fountain of water hit her in the face and she screamed. Sebastian laughed and stamped his feet on the floor. "April Fool!""Sebastian!" Leigh shrieked, dripping wet. "That's not funny! I'm going to be late for school!" Leigh was still fuming when Mom walked in. "Sebastian made the faucet spew water at me, and now I have to go change. I'm going to be late, and I have a quiz in my first class!"Mom glared at Sebastian, who shrugged and said, "It's April Fools' Day--we always prank each other on April Fools'."Once Leigh had changed clothes and driven off, Mom got a bottle of orange juice from the fridge and sat down. "Sebastian, I know you were just having fun, but playing a prank like that on Leigh when she's in a hurry to get to school isn't funny. She's trying to get her grad

Bible Reading: Matthew 28:1-10; Romans 1:20-23"Is not!" Santiago's voice rang throughout the house."Is too!" Aria shouted back at her older brother."Don't be so narrow-minded!" said Santiago crossly. "When you're older, you'll learn more about the world and find out you're not always right.""Well, Dad's older than you, and I'm sure he agrees with me!" Aria said, crossing her arms. She turned to her father, who was just coming into the room. "Santiago's been learning about different religions, and he thinks they're as good as ours," she said."I didn't say that!" protested Santiago. "But you should be willing to listen to other people and think about what they say instead of being so sure you're the only one who's right.""Well, I learned a verse in church that says no one gets to heaven except through Jesus," said Aria. "Isn't that right, Dad?"Both of them looked at their father expectantly. "Yes, Aria," said Dad. "The Bible is very clear that Jesus is the only way to eternal life.""But some of the religious le

Bible Reading: Romans 10:13-15"Yum! Those hamburgers smell really good!" exclaimed Isla as her mom turned the meat on the grill. "I'll call Dad and Evelyn. They said they'd stay close enough to hear us." The family was camping in a mountain canyon, and Isla's dad and sister had gone to collect some firewood while Isla and Mom got their meal ready. Isla faced the high cliffs opposite the campsite, took a deep breath, and loudly shouted, "Yoo-hoo!""Yoo-hoo!" came back to her, clear as a bell."Supper!" yelled Isla."Supper!" was the immediate response.Isla looked a little puzzled, then she grinned as Dad and Evelyn walked into the campsite. "When I heard 'yoo-hoo' coming from the other side of the canyon, I thought you were answering me, Evelyn," she said with a giggle. "But I knew you weren't calling me to supper. It was my own echo.""So you got acquainted with the friendly echo that lives on the canyon wall," said Dad with a smile."Echoes don't live on canyon walls," said Evelyn. "They're made by sound waves bo

Bible Reading: Ephesians 2:8-9Cillian was so excited. Nice weather was finally here, and he was big enough to ride a bike with real gears! He got on the bike Mom bought last year at a garage sale and pedaled down the street. Then he tried shifting gears, but his ten-gear bike wouldn't shift out of third gear. He sadly returned home. Mom had agreed to buy the bike, but all repairs had to come out of his savings."Mom, it's busted. The bike doesn't work. It won't shift."Mom knew of a bike shop not very far from their home. She loaded the bike into their van and they headed to the shop. When they rolled the bike in, the shop worker asked what was wrong. Cillian explained, feeling very anxious. He didn't have a lot of money saved up--what if it was too expensive to fix? What if it couldn't be fixed? But within two minutes, the bike mechanic adjusted a cable and all the gears shifted perfectly. "What do we owe you?" Mom asked."Nothing!" the mechanic said."Are you sure?" Cillian was skeptical. "No one does anything

Bible Reading: Ephesians 4:29; James 3:2-10"I don't want to see you again until you give me my mitt back!" shouted Adrian. "Don't ever come in my room again!" He slammed the door as his brother left the room."What's all this yelling about?" asked Mom, coming down the hall. "Adrian says I stole his baseball mitt, but I didn't," replied Sawyer angrily. "He's a liar." Mom rapped on Adrian's closed door. "Adrian, come out here. I want both of you to follow me." She led them to the back porch. There, on a bench, lay Adrian's mitt. The boys immediately began yelling, each accusing the other of leaving the mitt there.Mom held up her hands, and the boys got quiet. "Both of you, follow me." This time she headed for the kitchen. She took an egg from the refrigerator and placed it on the counter beside an empty bowl. "Sawyer, crack this egg into the bowl." The boys gave her a puzzled look, but Sawyer obeyed. "Now, Adrian," said Mom, "put that egg back into the shell again--just the way it was."Adrian frowned. "You know

Bible Reading: Ephesians 4:20-24"Leave my stuff alone!" Elijah shouted at his younger brother. "Get out of my room right now!"Mom hurried to see what was going on. When she got to Elijah's room, five-year-old Lance came running out, his eyes brimming with tears. "Elijah! What's the problem?" asked Mom as she sat on the edge of his bed.Elijah's eyes flashed with anger. "Lance knows he's not supposed to touch anything on my desk, but I caught him holding my clay dinosaur! He could have broken it!""Calm down," said Mom. "I'll have a talk with Lance.""Well, he'd better not touch anything on my desk ever again!" exclaimed Elijah. Mom listened while Elijah continued to spew his anger. She sat quietly for a moment once he was finished. "Remember that colorful butterfly we saw earlier today?" she asked. "We talked about the big change that takes place while butterflies are in a chrysalis. Do you think they ever try to crawl back into those old things?""Of course not," said Elijah. "Why are we talking about butterflie

Bible Reading: 1 Peter 5:8-10Editor's note: This story's subject matter may not be suitable for young children.Tayla watched her mother in the mirror as she clasped a necklace around Tayla's neck. They were getting ready to go to a funeral. "Mom, you've been really quiet this morning," Tayla pointed out.Mom smiled weakly. "Funerals are always difficult, but this one will be especially hard."Tayla knew what her mother meant. She had been to only one funeral in her life, and it was for her great-grandmother. Today they were going to a funeral for Jessica, a girl from church. Nobody had told Tayla much about what happened to her--all Tayla knew was that Jessica had taken her own life."I just don't get it, Mom," said Tayla. "I thought Jessica was a Christian. How could she do something like this?" Tayla's eyes started filling with tears. She was friends with Jessica's younger sister Summer, and Jessica used to take the two of them out for ice cream when Tayla went over to their house. She seemed like a nice, norm

Bible Reading: Hebrews 5:12-14"Harper sure drinks a lot of milk, doesn't she?" said Layla one day as she watched her baby sister. "You'd think she'd get tired of it.""Maybe she does," replied Mom. "Shall I fix her a peanut butter sandwich or offer her an apple?""No!" Layla laughed at Mom's joke. "I just think milk all the time sounds boring, but I know Harper can't eat sandwiches or carrots or stuff like that. She isn't big enough yet. She doesn't have any teeth to chew with.""You're absolutely right." Mom smiled. "But before too long she'll be able to have soft foods, like cereal and mashed bananas.""But it'll be a long time before she can have hamburgers, won't it?" asked Layla."Yes, it will," said Mom. "She's got a lot of growing to do before she'll be big enough for that."Dad held up his roast beef sandwich. "Well, I'm glad I'm big enough to have this," he said with a grin. "But you know what, Layla? Just like human babies slowly grow big enough to eat different things, baby Christians do too.""Baby Chris