Is David and Goliath too violent for a small child?

Goliath is killed, and the story says only that he fell and did not get up again. Some children ask what that means, and a plain answer is usually enough. It helps to add the story's own point: David did not step out because he was fierce, but because everyone else was too frightened to protect the people they loved.

Which order should we listen to them in?

The order on this page, starting with David the Shepherd Boy. It is shorter and calmer than the giant, and it sets up the reason David gives later for not being afraid. If your child already knows Goliath by heart, playing the shepherd story afterwards works nearly as well. David and Jonathan fits between Goliath and the cave, and David and Mephibosheth means far more to a child who has heard Jonathan's promise first.

Are these suitable for a three-year-old?

All five are written for ages 3 to 8, but the giant sits at the outer edge of that band. A three-year-old will enjoy the shepherd story and will probably drift during the standoff, which runs about nine minutes and spends a good deal of it on being afraid. The cave is tense rather than violent, and David Becomes King mentions in one sentence that Saul and Jonathan died in a battle, which its page has a note about. From four upwards children get much more out of the whole arc.

Do you have the rest of David's life, like becoming king or writing psalms?

Some of it. David Becomes King covers the crown at Hebron and the taking of Jerusalem, and David and Mephibosheth is from his years on the throne. A couple of lines of Psalm 23 sit inside the shepherd story, and David's song of grief for Saul and Jonathan is mentioned in the crown story. What is not here yet is the later life: bringing the ark into Jerusalem, Bathsheba, his son Absalom's rebellion, and most of the psalms.

David Bible stories for kids

Nearly everyone arrives at David through Goliath, which is a shame, because the giant is not the interesting part. The interesting part is what came before: a boy on a hillside at night, making up songs with nobody listening, counting sheep that were his responsibility, and once chasing a lion off the flock on his own. By the time he walked into the army camp he had already been brave several times over, in places where it counted for nothing and nobody saw.

There are five David stories here, about half an hour in all, running from 1 Samuel 16 to 2 Samuel 9, and all are told for ages 3 to 8. The shepherd boy and the giant are meant as a matched pair, the quiet one and the famous one. The other three follow what that courage turned into: mercy for the king who was hunting him, years of waiting for a crown he had been promised as a boy, and a promise kept to his best friend long after the friend had died.

5 stories, about 30 minutes of listening

David’s story, in order

David the Shepherd Boy

Before David faced giants or wore a crown, he was a shepherd boy under a wide night sky. This quiet story follows his songs, his sheep, and the courage he practiced when no one else was watching.

1 Samuel 16:1-13, 17:34-37, Psalm 23, 6 min, ages 3-8

David and Goliath

A young shepherd walks into a frightened camp carrying no armor, no sword, and one brave belief: the giant is not bigger than God. The familiar adventure is told with warmth, courage, and gentleness for young listeners.

1 Samuel 17, 9 min, ages 3-8

David Spares Saul in the Cave

David is hiding deep in a cave in the wilderness of En-gedi while King Saul hunts for him with three thousand soldiers. Then the king walks into that very cave, alone, and David's men whisper that this is his chance.

1 Samuel 24, 7 min, ages 3-8

David Becomes King

Samuel poured oil on David's head when he was just a shepherd boy, but the crown did not come for years and years. David has been a giant-slayer, a best friend and a runaway hiding in caves, and he is still waiting.

2 Samuel 5, 4 min, ages 3-8

David and Mephibosheth

Every night at the palace, one chair at the king's table stays empty. King David cannot stop thinking about his old friend Jonathan, and he asks his servants a question that surprises everyone.

2 Samuel 9, 4 min, ages 3-8

Listening through David’s life

Start with David the Shepherd Boy. It is a quiet six minutes under a wide night sky: the sounds of the fields, the songs he invents, and the plain work of keeping a frightened flock together in the dark. A lion comes, and later a bear, and both are over inside a sentence, because the story is not about the fight. It is about a boy noticing afterwards that God had helped him, and filing that away. It is also where Psalm 23 comes in, so "he makes me lie down in green pastures" reaches your child attached to an actual field with actual sheep in it.

Then David and Goliath, which at about nine minutes is the longest in his arc. It gives the giant his full height and gives the fear its full forty mornings, an entire army too frightened to move, day after day, before anybody does anything at all. David turns up carrying lunch for his brothers. The king's armor is offered and does not fit, so he puts it down and walks to the brook to pick up five smooth stones. The line that joins the pair sits inside this story and is quoted straight from 1 Samuel: the God who got him past the lion and the bear will get him past this Philistine. David is not braver than the soldiers, he simply has a longer memory than they do.

David and Jonathan comes next in the Bible, and it is filed under Jonathan, so you will find it in the full story list rather than below: the prince who gives David his robe and his bow, and the arrows in the field that tell David he has to run. David Spares Saul in the Cave picks him up years into that running, hiding at the back of a cave in En-gedi while Saul hunts him with three thousand soldiers. Saul walks into that very cave alone, David's men whisper that this is his chance, and David cuts a corner off the king's robe and then cannot bear even that. It runs about seven minutes. David Becomes King is four, and it is about waiting: the crown arrives at Hebron long after Samuel's oil, and the tribes do not call him warrior. They call him shepherd.

David and Mephibosheth ends it in four minutes, at a palace table with one empty chair. David asks whether anyone is left from Saul's family that he can be kind to for Jonathan's sake, and the answer is Jonathan's son, lame in both feet since he was five and hiding ever since. David gives him back his grandfather's land and a place at the king's table, always, like one of his own sons. On this website David the Shepherd Boy gives you its opening and keeps the rest of the narration for the app, and the other four are published here in full. Every one has a free audio preview, the memory verse, discussion questions and a prayer.

Common questions

Is David and Goliath too violent for a small child?: Goliath is killed, and the story says only that he fell and did not get up again. Some children ask what that means, and a plain answer is usually enough. It helps to add the story's own point: David did not step out because he was fierce, but because everyone else was too frightened to protect the people they loved.
Which order should we listen to them in?: The order on this page, starting with David the Shepherd Boy. It is shorter and calmer than the giant, and it sets up the reason David gives later for not being afraid. If your child already knows Goliath by heart, playing the shepherd story afterwards works nearly as well. David and Jonathan fits between Goliath and the cave, and David and Mephibosheth means far more to a child who has heard Jonathan's promise first.
Are these suitable for a three-year-old?: All five are written for ages 3 to 8, but the giant sits at the outer edge of that band. A three-year-old will enjoy the shepherd story and will probably drift during the standoff, which runs about nine minutes and spends a good deal of it on being afraid. The cave is tense rather than violent, and David Becomes King mentions in one sentence that Saul and Jonathan died in a battle, which its page has a note about. From four upwards children get much more out of the whole arc.
Do you have the rest of David's life, like becoming king or writing psalms?: Some of it. David Becomes King covers the crown at Hebron and the taking of Jerusalem, and David and Mephibosheth is from his years on the throne. A couple of lines of Psalm 23 sit inside the shepherd story, and David's song of grief for Saul and Jonathan is mentioned in the crown story. What is not here yet is the later life: bringing the ark into Jerusalem, Bathsheba, his son Absalom's rebellion, and most of the psalms.