The Best Way to Explain the Trinity to Kids

Teaching the Trinity to children doesn’t have to be confusing and complicated! Here’s a simple lesson that can help you explain the Trinity in an easy to understand way.

We’ve all seen the pictures of St. Patrick holding the three-leaved shamrock…and it’s supposed to represent the Trinity. 

But it’s not always easy for kids to understand just HOW a small green clover relates to Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Plus, the shamrock really isn’t the best way to describe this relationship between the persons of God.

To be fair, there’s still a good lesson to be learned from Patrick and his decision to use the shamrock to explain the Trinity: we can use every day objects to point to our Creator, connecting faith to tangible things we can see and understand.

There’s a more accurate way to explain the Trinity to your kids.

Use an apple.

Why? Because an apple is truly a three-in-one object. And unlike the symbol of a shamrock, which simply shows that something can be both three AND one, an apple can actually provide an explanation for yet another characteristic of the Trinity: the uniqueness of each divine Person. 

Each of the three persons in the godhead (Father, Son and Holy Spirit) possesses the same eternal and infinite divine nature.

Three distinct persons. One God.

It’s an unbelievably easy object lesson for teaching young kids about the Trinity. And honestly, even older kids can have an “aha” moment reading this book.

I’ll walk you through the simple lesson below the photo.

How to Teach Kids the Trinity with an Apple Object Lesson

Grab an apple and share these five truths with your kids:

• An apple has three parts: the seeds, the flesh, and the skin. When you cut an apple in half, you can see that each of these three parts are different (at this point, you can cut the apple open for your kids!).
• The skin is like God the Father because He protects us. 
• The flesh is like God the Son because Jesus Christ took on human flesh. 
• The seeds are like God the Holy Spirit because He through His power, we grow in faith. 
• Each of the parts of an apple are different, but they are ALL apple.
• So are the persons of God all different (Father, Son and Holy Spirit), yet they are ALL God.

It’s a simple, no-prep Biblical lesson, but it’s really effective, especially when you don’t have a lot of time to devote to a long lesson, but really want to help your kids drive this faith lesson home into their hearts! 

Need some extra help in teaching about the Trinity?

A few years ago, our school librarian introduced me to what I believe is the BEST book for reading to your kids that can make the Trinity easier to understand. 

This book is best for ages 4 and up, because that’s really when the concept of Father, Son and Holy Spirit starts to roll around in our kids’ minds.

It’s called 3-in-1: A Picture of God.

It goes really well with the apple object lesson, because it explains in detail how the Trinity can be understood. It also provides an easy way to share the gospel with your kids.

Here are some pics of the inside pages of 3 in 1.

We absolutely LOVE this book and it is the perfect teaching tool that your kids can refer back to again and again!

Plus, the last few pages give you a tool as a parent to share the gospel with your children: our sin and our need for a Savior to make us whole.

I hope this lesson and book are helpful to you in teaching the concept of the Trinity to your children–without a shamrock! ;)

 Purchase 3 in 1: A Picture of God HERE!

(Available on Amazon!)

Photo by Fischer Twins on Unsplash