Jean Boonstra hosts story time for bored kids

Jean Boonstra, Associate Speaker of Voice of Prophecy and Executive Producer of Discovery Mountain, an audio adventure series for kids, is helping kids look at the positives during this period of self isolation. Starting this past Sabbath, every morning at 11:00 MDT, she’s gotten onto Facebook Live from home and read Christian stories for kids. 

Currently, she’s reading a chapter a day from the book Mary Jones and Her Bible, a classic children's story from the 1800s. “It was difficult to find books that weren’t subject to copyright rules for sharing. The first day, I read a story that the editors at Guide Magazine worked hard to contact the author of and gave me permission to share,” says Jean. “It was nice to work together to give kids something positive during this time when they’re feeling isolated from friends and their normal routines.” 

There’s a theme to the livestream each day, like pets, hobbies, or thankfulness. “In addition to the story, I give them practical ideas of positive things they can do that are focused around the theme of the day,” says Jean. When the theme was hobbies, Jean shared with them several ideas of hobbies they might want to learn, then showed them her own hobbies and gave them websites where they could learn more about them. Kids not only have story time at 11 to look forward to, but they can find inspiration to fill their whole days with creative fun. 

​“It can be kind of scary right now for kids, and I wanted to do something positive for them and give them something positive to look forward to when their normal routines are out the window,” Jean says. 
Naomi Boonstra, Student Editor

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