Our congregation has taken the Faith Stepping Stones program by Rich Melheim and adapted it for our use.  Two of the stepping stones are:

 

We invite all kids entering the pre-school Sunday School class to a session that helps them get to know their teacher, see the room, sing songs, pray, and hear a Bible story.  They are each given their own Children's Bible to follow along in.  After the story the kids make a bookmark for their Bible.  It is a way to introduce them to their new class, the Bible, and be given one that their parents can share with them at home.

 

This stepping stone is offered to 2nd and 3rd graders AND a parent, baptsimal sponsor, or close relative/friend.  The parent/child experience is an important element of the class.  We look at it as an opportunity for the church to help parents fufill their baptismal promises to their children.  It is amazing how much the parents learn in this class (the whole idea, since they should be the chief faith nurturers of their children).

The congregation purchases new, NRSV, all the same Bibles as a gift for these children.  We spend two Saturday mornings going over first the New and then Old Testments of the Bible.  The first session also includes looking at all the "extras" included in the Bibles; looking at a Greek and Hebrew Bible; and a discussion about writing in our Bibles - that it's a good thing!  Our handouts have a very short synopsis of each book and then one or two Bible verses that are lifted up as key/or important.  We go through the Bible book by book in a fun and accessible way for the kids while also anwering parent's questions along the way.  Each of the verses are underlined by the kids with colored pencils.

Finally, the following Sunday we invite the kids and parents forward; we hand the Bibles to the parents and invite them to place the scriptures in their child's hands; and the kids receive a blessing.  We have done this program for many years now and only continue to get wonderful feedback.