The Christian Parenting Resource List (Books, Apps, Curricula)

The Christian parenting resources most families actually need are narrower than the internet suggests: one book for your child's stage, one app or video platform the kids will use, one weekly rhythm at home, and one place to get help when something goes wrong. Everything below is real, currently available, and sorted into those categories with one honest line each.

This is a hub page, not a sales page. Some of these cost money, some are free, one of them is ours, and a few come with caveats we've flagged. Skip to the section that matches what you're missing.

What Books Should Christian Parents Read?

Buy one book for the stage you're in, not five at once -- Christian parenting books contradict each other on discipline, and reading several at a time produces guilt rather than clarity.

• Parenting: 14 Gospel Principles That Can Radically Change Your Family (Paul David Tripp) -- the best big-picture starting point; deliberately theological and light on tactics.
• Habits of the Household (Justin Whitmel Earley) -- the most immediately usable, turning wake-ups, meals, and bedtimes into small family liturgies.
• Give Them Grace (Elyse Fitzpatrick and Jessica Thompson) -- the antidote to moralistic parenting; some readers find it short on what to do about disobedience.
• Shepherding a Child's Heart (Tedd Tripp) -- hugely influential heart-versus-behavior framework, and explicitly pro-spanking, so buy it knowing that.
• Are My Kids on Track? (Sissy Goff, David Thomas, Melissa Trevathan) -- 12 developmental milestones from three Nashville counselors; the best "is this normal?" book.
• The Tech-Wise Family (Andy Crouch) -- decide your device commitments up front instead of relitigating every request.
• Age of Opportunity (Paul David Tripp) -- the strongest theological guide to the teen years; dense.
• Praying the Scriptures for Your Children (Jodie Berndt) -- for the seasons when influence has run out and only prayer is left.

Full write-ups, stage by stage, with the honest caveats on each, are in our guide to the best Christian parenting books. And if you're looking for what your kids should read rather than what you should, start with Christian books for kids by age.

What Are the Best Christian Parenting Podcasts?

Podcasts are the highest-return format for parents because they fit into drives you're already making. Subscribe to one or two, not eight.

• Focus on the Family Parenting Podcast (Dr. Danny Huerta) -- 8-15 minute answers to one specific question at a time.
• Raising Boys & Girls (Daystar Counseling Ministries) -- counselor-led conversation on kids 8 and up; therapeutic tone, lighter on theology.
• FamilyLife Today (Dave and Ann Wilson) -- daily interview show covering marriage and parenting; a firehose if you try to keep up.
• Rooted Parent Podcast (Rooted Ministry) -- the theologically deepest option; Reformed frame, not quick tips.
• Connected Families Podcast -- teaches one specific grace-based discipline framework, which is the point and the limitation.
• Truth.Love.Parent. (AMBrewster) -- systematic, explicitly doctrinal teaching; directive rather than conversational.

All 12 shows, with episode lengths and who each one fits, are in our Christian parenting podcasts list. Worth knowing: Risen Motherhood, long the go-to for moms of littles, has ended -- the archive is still excellent, but no new episodes are coming.

What Are the Best Christian Apps for Families?

Pick one app the kids will actually open, and one for yourself. Two is a system; six is clutter.

• Bible App for Kids (YouVersion / Life.Church) -- free, no ads, no in-app purchases, animated Bible stories for ages roughly 4-8. The default first app for most families.
• Superbook Bible App (CBN) -- free, with dozens of full animated Bible episodes plus games; strongest for ages 6-10.
• YouVersion Bible App -- free, thousands of translations and reading plans; the app your kids will eventually graduate into.
• BibleProject app -- free, donor-funded, with animated explanations of every book of the Bible. Made for adults and teens, which is why 12-and-ups take it seriously.
• Minno -- a paid Christian kids' streaming service (currently around $10.99/month or $69.99/year) with shows, Bible stories, and devotionals. Formerly JellyTelly, so older reviews use that name.
• Yippee TV -- another paid Christian kids' streaming platform, now owned by TBN and expanding; check current pricing before subscribing.
• RightNow Media -- a huge Bible study video library, usually free to you if your church buys a license. Ask your pastor before paying for a personal plan.
• Dwell -- a paid audio Bible app with excellent narration; the best option for a kid who listens better than they read.
• Faithful Kids -- our own platform: animated Bible video lessons with a quiz and a reflection after each one, built for ages 7-15, with progress tracking per child. It's a paid subscription with a free trial, and it's the right fit if you want structured lessons your kids complete rather than a library they browse. If you want free and simple, the Bible App for Kids above is a genuinely better place to start.

Side-by-side comparisons, including free options, live in our best Bible apps by age guide.

What Bible Curricula Do Christian Families Use at Home?

Curricula are for families who want a sequence rather than a shelf -- if you keep starting and stopping devotions, a curriculum is usually the fix.

• Long Story Short and Old Story New (Marty Machowski) -- two volumes of short family devotions covering the Old and New Testaments; the most-recommended family devotional set in evangelical publishing.
• The Gospel Project for Kids (Lifeway) -- a chronological, Christ-centered curriculum on a three-year cycle; built for churches but usable at home.
• Grapevine Studies -- stick-figure drawing through the Bible; unusually good for kids who need their hands busy.
• Bible Road Trip (Danika Cooley) -- a three-year Bible survey across three age levels, popular with classical homeschoolers.
• Answers Bible Curriculum (Answers in Genesis) -- three-year chronological curriculum; comes with a young-earth creationist framework, which is either the reason you want it or the reason you don't.
• Generations of Grace (Grace Community Church) -- narrative curriculum for ages 3-12, recently updated; strongly expositional.
• Truth78 -- formerly Children Desiring God, with catechism-based discipleship materials and the well-known Fighter Verses memory system.
• Apologia's "What We Believe" series -- four worldview courses for roughly grades 4-8; apologetics, not Bible survey, so don't buy it as a substitute.
• Telling God's Story (Peter Enns) -- a well-written narrative approach, and one with real controversy attached: conservative reviewers object to Enns's positions on Genesis and evolution. Preview it before committing.
• New City Catechism (The Gospel Coalition and Redeemer) -- 52 questions and answers with a free app and a kids' edition; the easiest on-ramp to catechism.

Our homeschool Bible curriculum comparison puts the major options side by side on cost, age range, and prep time.

What Websites Should Christian Parents Bookmark?

Bookmark two or three, not twenty. These are the sites that answer questions rather than generate more of them.

• Focus on the Family (focusonthefamily.com) -- the largest evangelical family ministry; free articles, a counseling referral line, and content on nearly every parenting question.
• Plugged In (pluggedin.com) -- Focus's media review site, updated weekly, telling you exactly what's in a movie, show, or game before your kid watches it.
• Common Sense Media (commonsensemedia.org) -- secular, nonprofit, and the best age-rating database anywhere. Pair it with Plugged In: one tells you what's in it, the other tells you what a Christian reviewer thought.
• Axis (axis.org) -- the Culture Translator newsletter is free and is the fastest way to understand what your teenager saw this week; Parent Guides are paid.
• Christian Parenting (christianparenting.org) -- articles, podcasts, and devotionals from a grace-forward, non-perfectionist angle.
• The Gospel Coalition parenting section -- theologically substantial essays; Reformed lean throughout.
• Connected Families (connectedfamilies.org) -- a free article library plus paid courses on discipline without yelling.
• Rooted Ministry (rootedministry.com) -- built for parents of teenagers and the youth workers who serve them.
• Ministry-to-Children (ministry-to-children.com) -- thousands of free Sunday school lessons and printables, useful for homeschool and midweek too.
• Blue Letter Bible (blueletterbible.org) -- entirely free study tools for when your ten-year-old asks a question you can't answer.

What Church and Offline Resources Are Worth It?

The offline resources matter more than the digital ones, because they put other believing adults in your child's life -- which is the single highest-return thing a Christian parent can arrange.

• AWANA (awana.org) -- Scripture memory, games, and small groups for ages 2-18, run through local churches. Whether it's available depends entirely on whether your church runs a club.
• Vacation Bible School -- the main publishers are Lifeway, Group Publishing, and Answers in Genesis, each with a new theme every year. Cheap childcare and real discipleship at the same time.
• The Action Bible (David C Cook) -- the Bible in graphic-novel form, illustrated by Sergio Cariello. Still the best single purchase for a reluctant reader ages 8-14.
• New City Catechism cards and book -- 52 questions your family can work through at dinner, one per week, for a year.
• Big Truths for Young Hearts (Bruce Ware) -- systematic theology written for ages 6-14 in short daily readings; published in 2009 and still the clearest thing in its lane.
• Tiny Theologians ABCs of God's Attributes -- a card deck teaching one attribute of God per letter, with a companion podcast. Small direct-to-consumer brand, so order from their site.
• Seeds Kids Worship -- Scripture set to music, word for word, across 20-plus albums. The fastest memorization tool most families ever find. (Formerly Seeds Family Worship.)
• Slugs & Bugs (Randall Goodgame) -- Scripture songs that are genuinely funny, which is why kids request them.
• Rain for Roots -- gentler, folk-styled Scripture songs; excellent for bedtime and quiet time.
• ChildDiscipleship.com (Awana) -- Awana's free at-home resources, including a weekly family email, for families whose church doesn't run a club.

Printables belong in this category too, because a page on the fridge outlasts an app. Our free Bedtime Bible Kit gives you seven nights of short readings, one question to talk about, and a goodnight prayer -- no sign-up, no account, just print it and start tonight.

How Do You Choose Without Buying Everything?

Pick one resource per category and give it 30 days before adding anything else. Most families who feel like nothing is working don't have a resource problem -- they have four half-started systems.

A workable starter set for a family with elementary-age kids looks like this: one book for you (Habits of the Household), one free app for them (Bible App for Kids), one weekly rhythm (family Bible time or a devotional like Long Story Short), and one printable on the fridge. That's it. Add the podcast when the book is finished, add the curriculum when the rhythm is stable, and let the rest sit on this page until you need it.

For the principles underneath all of this -- what Scripture actually asks of parents, apart from any product -- start with our guide to Christian parenting and biblical principles.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the single most useful Christian parenting resource?

A repeatable weekly rhythm beats any product. If you need something to buy, Habits of the Household by Justin Whitmel Earley is the book most likely to change what actually happens in your home, because every chapter attaches a practice to a moment you already have -- bedtime, dinner, the drive to school.

Are there good free Christian parenting resources?

Yes, and several of the best things on this list cost nothing. The Bible App for Kids, the Superbook app, BibleProject, Blue Letter Bible, Ministry-to-Children's lesson library, Axis's Culture Translator newsletter, and the free printables from ministries like ours are all genuinely free with no account required in most cases.

What Christian app should I get my kids first?

Start with the free Bible App for Kids from YouVersion for ages 4-8, or Superbook for ages 6-10. Both are free, ad-free, and require no subscription. Move to a paid platform -- Minno, Yippee, or our own Faithful Kids -- only once you know your kids will use it and you want more structure than a story library provides.

Do I need a Bible curriculum, or is a devotional enough?

A devotional is enough for most families, and it's the right place to start. Buy a curriculum when you want a sequence -- you're homeschooling, you want your kids to cover the whole Bible in order, or you keep abandoning devotions because there's no clear next thing. Long Story Short sits between the two and satisfies most families.

How do I know if a Christian parenting resource is trustworthy?

Look at who publishes it, read or watch two full pieces yourself, and notice where it teaches Scripture versus where it teaches a preference. Everything on this page comes from an established organization, but they disagree with each other on discipline, creation, gender, and church involvement -- so choose the ones that fit your convictions rather than assuming "Christian" means "neutral."

What if my church doesn't offer kids' programs?

Build the two things a program provides: consistency and other adults. A weekly family Bible rhythm at home covers the first, and inviting one or two trusted believing adults -- grandparents, neighbors, a mentor -- into your child's life covers the second. Awana's free ChildDiscipleship.com resources and a curriculum like Grapevine Studies can fill the gap in the meantime.