By The Water
This is a free 30-day Bible reading plan for children and families: one well-known passage a night, five to ten minutes of reading, and one question to ask together afterwards. It runs from creation to the empty tomb and on to everything being made new — the thirty stories a child most needs to have met. Print it, stick it on the fridge and tick a box a night.
| Done | Day | Read together | Ask together |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Genesis 1:1–2:3 God makes the world, and calls it good. | What is your favourite thing God made? | |
| 2 | Genesis 3 The first wrong choice, and the first promise to put it right. | Why is it hard to own up when we get it wrong? | |
| 3 | Genesis 6:9–7:24 Noah builds a boat nobody else believes in. | What would you have said to Noah while he was building? | |
| 4 | Genesis 8:1–9:17 A dove, dry ground and a rainbow. | What does a promise mean? | |
| 5 | Genesis 12:1–9 God asks Abram to leave home and go somewhere unnamed. | Would you go if you did not know where? | |
| 6 | Genesis 37 Joseph, a coat, and ten very jealous brothers. | When have you felt left out? | |
| 7 | Genesis 45:1–15 Joseph forgives the brothers who sold him. | Is forgiving the same as pretending it did not happen? | |
| 8 | Exodus 2:1–10 A baby in a basket, and a sister who watches. | Who looks after you? | |
| 9 | Exodus 3:1–15 A bush burns without burning up. | Moses said “not me.” Have you ever felt too small for something? | |
| 10 | Exodus 14 The sea opens and a whole people walks through. | What do you do when you feel trapped? | |
| 11 | Exodus 20:1–17 Ten rules, given to people who had just been set free. | Which of the ten is hardest? | |
| 12 | Joshua 6:1–20 A city with enormous walls, and a very strange battle plan. | Why do you think they had to walk around it seven days? | |
| 13 | Ruth 1 Ruth refuses to leave Naomi on her own. | What does it mean to stay with someone? | |
| 14 | 1 Samuel 3 A boy hears his name in the dark, three times. | How do you think God speaks to people? | |
| 15 | 1 Samuel 17 The smallest person in the story wins the fight. | What are you afraid of? What helps? | |
| 16 | 1 Kings 18:20–39 Elijah, a soaking wet altar and fire from heaven. | Why did Elijah pour water on it first? | |
| 17 | Daniel 3 Three friends refuse to bow, and walk into a furnace. | They said “but if not” — what did they mean? | |
| 18 | Daniel 6 Daniel keeps praying anyway, and spends the night with lions. | What is a habit worth keeping even when it is hard? | |
| 19 | Jonah 1–4 A prophet runs the wrong way, and a whole city is spared. | Why was Jonah cross at the end? | |
| 20 | Luke 1:26–38 An angel visits a young woman in a small town. | Mary said yes to something frightening. What made that possible? | |
| 21 | Luke 2:1–20 The first Christmas, told to shepherds first. | Why do you think the angels told shepherds and not kings? | |
| 22 | Matthew 3:13–17 Jesus is baptised, and a voice speaks from heaven. | What did the voice say? Who says that kind of thing to you? | |
| 23 | Mark 4:35–41 A storm, a sleeping teacher, and a sudden calm. | What frightens you at night? | |
| 24 | John 6:1–14 One boy's lunch feeds a crowd of thousands. | What small thing could you share this week? | |
| 25 | Mark 10:13–16 The disciples shoo the children away. Jesus does not. | How does it feel to be told you are too small? | |
| 26 | Luke 10:25–37 The person who stops is the one nobody expected. | Who is hard for you to be kind to? | |
| 27 | Luke 15:11–32 A son comes home and is seen while still far off. | Why did the father run? | |
| 28 | Luke 19:1–10 A short, unpopular man climbs a tree and is invited down. | What changed for Zacchaeus? | |
| 29 | Luke 23:32–24:12 The cross, and then an empty tomb on Sunday morning. | Why is this the most important story in the book? | |
| 30 | Revelation 21:1–7 God makes everything new, and wipes away every tear. | What would you like to see made new? |
How to use it without it becoming a battle
- Pick a time that already exists. The end of dinner, or the ten minutes before lights out. A new slot in the day is a new thing to defend; an existing one is not.
- Read it aloud, even to readers. Being read to is how almost everyone first met these stories, and it keeps the pace moving past the names.
- Ask the question, then wait. The silence is not failure. Children often answer these thirty seconds after you have given up.
- Let them tick the box. Give each child their own printed copy. The tick is doing more work than it looks like it is.
- Miss nights. You will. Pick up at the next unticked box rather than starting again — this plan has no dates on it for exactly that reason.
Which translation to read aloud
The references above are the same in every Bible, so use whatever you have. If you are buying one for a young child, a modern translation reads aloud far more easily than the King James — the NIrV, ICB, NLT and CEV are all written at a lower reading age. For children over about ten, the NIV and ESV are fine, and a KJV alongside is lovely for the passages they will hear at carol services.
What comes after thirty days
Read a whole gospel together. John takes about an hour and a half in total — a chapter a night for three weeks — and Mark is shorter still. When the household is ready for the whole thing, the New to the Bible plan spreads it over a year in the gentlest order, and the other three plans print the same way this one does.
If you would rather not print anything
By The Water is a Bible app built for people keeping a reading habit, and it does the parts a paper chart cannot.
- The whole Bible, offlineEvery passage on this plan is a search away, with no advert, no account and no connection needed at bedtime.
- Tick it off and keep itChapters you finish are saved to your account, so the chart survives a lost piece of paper and a new phone.
- A reminder at the right timeSet it for the end of dinner or just before lights out, and the reading is waiting when you open the app.
- Somewhere to go nextFour one-year plans for when the thirty days are done, including a beginner order that opens with John.
Free to start: the Bible text, the reading plans, progress tracking and reminders are all free in the app.