My journey in Christian education began in an unexpected place—a delivery room in Louisiana’s East Baton Rouge Parish in the 1980s.

The moment I held our daughter for the first time, I whispered a prayer that God would capture her heart and mind at an early age. Twenty months later, I prayed the same prayer for our son: that he would come to know and follow Jesus and never let go.

Those prayers launched me into a lifelong adventure of learning how faith is formed in the earliest years. As a young mom in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, I was blessed by a church family, preschool teachers, and faithful mentors who helped me nurture faith in our little ones. I will always be grateful for those who poured into both me and my children.

Author James Fowler, in Stages of Faith, describes the years from infancy to age two as a season of “Undifferentiated Faith.” During this time, children begin forming their earliest impressions of God through the people who care for them.

For toddlers and twos, the foundational truths are beautifully simple: God made you. Jesus loves you.

Long before children can read, they are learning. They watch, listen, imitate, and absorb the values and virtues of the people they trust most. Through loving relationships, they begin to experience God’s love, forgiveness, generosity, and care.

Faith is learned not only through words, but through actions, gestures, movements, and special (sacred) items. Folded hands. Bowed heads. Bedtime prayers. Sharing toys. Saying “I’m sorry.” Giving hugs.

As Christian educator, author, and theologian Craig Dykstra reminds us, “The practice of Christian faith is a lot more physical than we usually recognize or let on.” We learn faith by practicing faith.

That’s why I was delighted to discover Faithful Beginnings, a free resource from the Georgia Preschool Association designed specifically for infants, toddlers, preschoolers, and the adults who love them. Through simple lessons and activities, families, churches nurseries, grandparents, and childcare providers can help young children take their first steps in faith.

Resources for elementary-aged children are plentiful, but materials designed specifically for infants and preschoolers are often limited. Yet these early years matter deeply. Children learn to trust, love, pray, serve, and wonder way before they learn to read.

One of my favorite lessons from Faithful Beginnings especially for the littlest of littles is the Little Hands, Big Heart Lesson using family photos and a mirror. We have a digital photo album at our house which is a favorite ‘go to’ of our youngest grandchildren, so that would work, too. The extension activities included several that we did with our children and with our grandchildren. Check it out under the ‘Gratitude’ tab.

And because music is especially sticky for littles, one of my favorite toddler songs is sung to the tune of Baby Shark:

God loves you, do do do do do do…
God loves you, do do do do do do…
God loves you, do do do do do do…
God loves you.

Jesus, too, do do do do do do…
Jesus, too, do do do do do do…
Jesus, too, do do do do do do…
Jesus, too.

Every faithful journey begins with a faithful beginning.

“Through the praise of children and infants you have established a stronghold against your enemies, to silence the foe and the avenger.” Psalm 8:2