How To Explain the Trinity To Your Child

Sometimes, even as adults it can be hard t understand biblical concepts – one of those being the Holy Trinity!

But today I want to share some simple, visual, and CREATIVE ways you can teach the trinity to kids, including what the Bible says and FUN activities they’ll love. 🙂

How To Teach The Trinity To Children

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As Christian parents, it can be hard to know how to tackle somewhat difficult concepts and things in the Bible, but they are so important!

For example, the concept of the trinity is such a beautiful picture of just the immeasurable sovereignty of God, and something that we as humans can’t really wrap our minds around.

But, it is something that is essential to our Christian faith, and it’s important to learn about the Holy trinity and teach that to our young children as well!

First, we need to make sure we open our Bibles and understand what God says about the trinity, and pray before we can teach it to our children, right?

I’m not planning on diving in TOO deep on the doctrine of the trinity, but let’s take a quick look at what the Bible says about this great mystery…

What is the Holy Trinity According To The Bible?

Where do we see the trinity in the Bible? Well, it’s actually kind of wild because you won’t technically see a verse that says “the persons of the trinity” is 3 in 1, Father, Son, and the Spirit of God.

So how is it biblical??

Well, let’s look at a few Bible verses that reference the trinity and each being fully God…

“May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.” 2 Corinthians 13:14 NIV
“I and the Father are one.” John 10:30 NIV
“But for us, There is one God, the Father, by whom all things were created, and for whom we live. And there is one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things were created, and through whom we live.” 1 Corinthians 8:6 NLT
“Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.” 2 Corinthians 3:17 NIV

Notice how they ALL reference the holy trinity without actually saying the word “trinity”?

Especially 2 Corinthians 13:14, when it actually does reference each in the trinity – the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

The trinity is 3 persons in ONE God.

That means that the Spirit is NOT the Father, the Father is NOT the Son, and the Son is NOT the Spirit.

The three persons of God are each is fully the true God, have very different roles, and they perfectly love each other, just as God perfectly loves us.

God IS the Father, God IS the Son, and God IS the Spirit. Makes sense, right?!

I saw this chart online somewhere and loved it so much I made one myself to use when teaching my daughter about God. Take a closer look at the following diagram:

That picture is actually one of my favorite illustrations and the best way I could think to describe the trinity to anyone, let alone my child.

It’s a great tool to refer to and does an excellent job of getting your kids to SEE who the trinity is (and isn’t) in a very visual way!

But what is the best age to teach your kids about the trinity? That’s a great question!

Best Age To Teach The Trinity To A Child

Any biblical concept honestly can be taught to your child from a very young age. You would be surprised at how much information our young kiddos can retain!

Think about it – ABC songs, short jingles from TV shows, etc… they know a lot more than we think!

When my daughter was almost 2, she could sing the “hotdog” song from the mickey mouse clubhouse, so how much MORE could I teach her the things of God to hide in her heart and recite?

Even though the understanding wasn’t there yet, God still used that time for us to lay the foundational truth of Him and His Word into her, and guess what?

That knowledge only grew as she got older and she actually remembered certain things!! So your kids are never too young for you to start teaching about God on a daily basis. 🙂

Something to KEEP IN MIND – we want to make sure we remember God can’t be confined in a small box or “something” to be figured out.

We aren’t trying to get our kids to see the full picture and 100% understand it, because it is a mysterious concept, and is that way for a reason.

Side note: These tips are also great for Sunday School teachers to use with object lessons as well!

4 Visual Ways To Explain The Trinity To A Child

So now that we understand what the Bible has to say about the trinity, and when we should start teaching it to our kids, how do we go about explaining it?

Here are 4 super FUN, creative, and VISUAL ways you can use to help you explain the different persons of the trinity to your children!

1. Read Books About The Trinity

Reading books are such a good way to learn things! After all, God gave us THE ultimate book of life – the Bible!

We retain the things we read and using picture books to teach our young kids different things, definitely helps too.

While these following books don’t replace the Bible, they do help explain biblical concepts to kids. These books are great for helping to teach your kids about the trinity.

I included an age range from babies up to 8 years old so you can find one that works for your family!

The Trinity: Little Seminary’s Guide to the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – Ryan McKenzie

Age Range: Infants – 4 yrs

This book is great to read to your very young infants and toddlers. It is a board book with bright illustrations and a short phrase on each page that explores the three persons of God in a simple way!

This would make for a great baby shower gift, Easter basket gift, or to have on your baby’s bookshelf by the crib.

The Beginner’s Gospel Story Bible – Jared Kennedy

Age Range: 3 – 6 yrs

We LOVE this book! We have it in our morning basket, and read a story each day or every other day.

It’s not all about the Holy Spirit, but an illustrated story Bible that introduces kids to biblical concepts in a great way!

It’s perfect for your preschool-aged children to dig a little deeper into God’s Word, but still incorporate great visuals and pictures for them to look at.

Here’s our personal copy, and a little except about the Holy Trinity…

As you can see, the illustrations are beautiful and these difficult concepts are made much more simple to teach to our children in an age-appropriate way – without sacrificing biblical truth!

We love this Bible story book and highly recommend it!

3 in 1: A Picture of God – Joanne Marxhausen

Age Range: 5 – 8 yrs

I actually heard about this book from Jenn at The Purposeful Mom, and we have really enjoyed it! It’s an excellent visual illustration to show your kids.

This book actually uses the analogy of an apple (peel, inside, core) to explain the trinity to children with simple terms and illustrations they will LOVE!

It goes through teaching kids “how God the Father creates and protects them, how God the Son saves, and how God the Holy Spirit plants faith in their hearts and causes it to grow.”

You can grab out a real apple and follow along!

2. Use Objects As Visual Aids

This is a SUPER simple way to explain the trinity to your child in a visual way that they can understand.

Just like we mentioned, you can grab the 3 in 1: A Picture of God book, grab an apple and go through each layer of it. There’s the peel, the apple itself, and the core – 3 distinct parts but ONE apple.

So easy!

Another food item you can grab is a hard boiled egg. It’s the same concept as before – there is the shell, the white, and the yolk. Again, three parts and ONE egg.

Not only are you helping your kids grasp this mysterious concept from the Vile… but you get a yummy snack out of it too! 🙂

3. Do Trinity Crafts/Printables

There are so many different crafts and printables surrounding the trinity, and a fun way to teach your kids.

In fact, I’ve got a special, free printable for your kids, just for this occasion!!

You can grab your free trinity coloring page below, and use all the above tips to teach your kids about this concept, while they have fun coloring. 🙂

Grab Your Free Printable Holy Trinity Coloring Sheet HERE!

Crafts are also a great way to teach kids as well, and using them to help explain the trinity to your kids is great as well!

This was a fun craft my daughter did at preschool for St. Patrick’s Day! So fun and easy, and we still have it hanging up as a visual reminder. 🙂

Here are some other free and fun trinity crafts you can check out and do with your children:

4. Read Bible Verses About The Holy Trinity

Reading those Bible verses I included earlier is a great way to explain the trinity to your children. What better way to teach them than from THE actual Word of God himself?

In fact, pray and ask Him to help you teach your child, and let those biblical foundations be laid in their heart. He will bless those efforts!

And also like we mentioned, even though the Trinity isn’t MEANT for us to 100% understand, it’s still an important truth from the Bible we want to teach our kids.

Reading Bible verses about the trinity is not only great to help teach them, but also can be easy to memorize with your kids as well!

Help Your Child Understand The Trinity

I hope this helps you when you are explaining the trinity to your kids! And maybe even gives all of us a little clarity as adults too, right??

Understanding what the Bible says about the trinity and using that as the foundation to teach our kids is so important!

Then, using the fun visual hands-on ways are always great to relate biblical concepts to them in a way they can understand. 🙂

Have you tried to explain the trinity to your kids? Which of these ways helped you the most? Let me know!

How To Explain the Trinity To Your Child – 4 Creative Ways