Do your kids memorize Scripture at home, church or school? Help them practice what they learn with these fun ways to review Bible verses.
How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to Your word.
I have stored up Your word in my heart, that I might not sin against You.
Psalm 119:9,11 (ESV)
Scripture memory is a wonderful way to get the Word of God into our kids’ hearts and minds. Once they’ve stored up God’s truth, the Holy Spirit can help them recall it to give them strength and encouragement in any life situation.
And there’s no getting around it – repetition is one of the main keys to learning. It doesn’t matter if you’re trying to learn a new skill or remember information, you’re going to have to do, see or say it repeatedly in order for it to become part of who you are or what you know.
Memorizing Scripture is no different. You have to repeat the words over and over in order to fix them in your mind, heart and soul. Usually this is done verbally. Some people find that hand-writing the verse multiple times helps.
Since our kids are opposed to excessive writing, we do a lot of verbal repetition. We use the following methods to help them learn and review Bible verses to keep the repetition from becoming too dull.
7 Fun Ways to Learn & Review Bible Verses
1. Draw Pictures or Symbols – illustrate the words of the verse
- Make it as simple or as complex as you want. My husband often illustrates Bible time for our kids, so this is easy for him to do! Your kids could have fun doing this on their own.
- Create the pictures when first memorizing the verse and you can visualize them in your mind when reviewing.
2. Use Hand Motions – a little kinesthetic learning
- If you know sign language, great; otherwise you can do what we do and make them up!
- If you incorporate these when you’re first memorizing a verse, they can become a simple prompt when reviewing.
3. Individual Word Cards – there are two ways to do this:
- Write each word of the verse on a separate index card. Don’t forget to include the reference! Shuffle the cards and give them to your kids to put in the correct order. Have them read the verse out loud once they’re finished and then say it again without looking.
- Write the whole verse, including the reference, on a piece of card stock or construction paper. Use a paper cutter (or ruler and scissors) to cut apart each word. Shuffle the pieces and let your child rearrange them into the correct order. Read and review as above.
4. Fill In The Blank – this is the classic I remember from my elementary schools days!
- Write the verse, including the reference, on a chalk board or white board. Read the verse out loud. Erase 1-2 words and read again. Continue until all significant words have been erased. You can leave little words like and, the, in, to, etc.
- Added challenge – draw an underline each place a word belongs. Give your child a word and let them write it in the correct space.
5. Make a Puzzle – super simple
- Write the whole verse, including the reference, on a piece of card stock or construction paper. Really, I just eyeball these things – sometimes they come out a little crooked – it doesn’t matter! Use your computer to print them if you’d rather. Cut into puzzle-style pieces. You can free-hand this or sketch lines to follow on the back. 9 pieces was easy (to cut out and put together!); try more for a trickier challenge. Have your child read the verse out loud once they’ve completed the puzzle and then say it again without looking.
6. Get Active – good for everyone, but boys especially like this; also works well for longer passages. Repeat verse(s) while doing something active such as:
- jogging in place or jumping jacks
- jumping on a trampoline or pogo stick
- swinging
- riding a ripstick in circles on the deck – my 11 year old son’s personal favorite!
7. Set It Up and Knock It Down – a unique use for Dominoes
- Write the words to the verse on sticky notes. Turn the pad (I used a standard-size square one) sideways so the sticky part is on the left. Depending on how large you write, you can probably get 3 words per note. Cut the notes apart so each word is on its own. Stick the words to dominoes. Let the kids set them up in the correct order. Have them read the verse then knock them down. Recite the verse again from memory.
Now you know my tricks!
What other fun ways do you like to help your kids review Bible verses?
Are your kids still young? Check out these thoughts on scripture memory for little ones!
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These are great ideas, Abi. Thanks for sharing with us. I’m definitely going to share these with others!
Thanks, Gail. I appreciate you sharing the ideas.
These are some really fun ideas! I think Mum used most of these when she was homeschooling us except the dominoes, and I’ve used a lot of these when teaching Sunday School. My other favourite is Colin Buchanan’s Scripture memory cds, he’s got over 50 verses set to great music, but most people not in Australia have never heard of him!
Verses to song are a great way to get God’s Word into our hearts. I don’t know Colin Buchanan, but we do like Steve Green’s Hide ‘Em In Your Heart.
Neat ideas. I think my girls will love these, especially the word card idea. When I served as a children’s pastor, we used hand-motions during our children’s church services. I saw this strategy work well for a lot of kiddos. Thanks for some new, scripture memory tips!
So glad you found some new ideas, Jed. Hand motions are great, and some kids do well with different things. Enjoy.
Great ideas here, Abi! I’m a musician, so my first instinct is always to make up a song for the Scripture we’re trying to memorize. I’ve found it so helpful to use car-time for memorizing. It’s a great way to make good use of the time while we’re out and about.
Yes, music is a wonderful learning tool. And car time is a great way to practice – we did that recently when we were temporarily stranded and had to wait for my husband to come rescue us!