Draw to Learn - The Book of Acts

Intended as a Bible study for any age or skill level, Draw to Learn: The Book of Actsoffers 150 lessons to take readers through all of Acts. The layout is simple: each page presents the passage to be read at the top, instructions for what to draw at the bottom, and a large white field in the middle on which to compose one's picture. Drawing assignments range from depicting one of Jesus' miracles to showing good things we can do for other people.

Author Mary Evelyn Notgrass suggests using pencils and colored pencils to complete assignments. She offers brief ideas for integrating a variety of elements with the lessons found here to form a unit study of sorts, though there is little specific information included. Each lesson is to be completed the same way—students read the Acts passage, think about it, and draw the appropriate picture—and is ostensibly for all ages.

There is no drawing instruction included, and no Bible study tools are provided—students are simply to read the passage and meditate on it before drawing a picture unaided. While these are good exercises, one hardly needs to buy a book to put them into practice. Parents could just as easily read a Bible passage aloud to their kids and assign a picture relating to the theme or story.

A particularly odd element here is the trite nature of many of the assignments. For instance, in Acts 18:18-23 Paul leaves Aquila and Priscilla behind in Ephesus on his travels; the assignment instructs kids to draw Paul saying farewell, suggesting the picture can be as simple as that of a hand waving or tears on a face. How this is supposed to aid understanding and interpretation of the Bible is unclear.