It’s so important that we help the kids we teach hide God’s Word in their hearts. These Bible memory games will help kids remember Scripture!
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Guest Post from Danika Cooley of Thinking Kids Press
We all have childhood experiences that change our lives, don’t we? Maybe your family was in a car accident, your dad brought home a new puppy, or your family moved to a new state at the beginning of your freshman year of high school. Good or bad, you’ve experienced things that changed your life.
My childhood was certainly full of life changing experiences. The thing that changed my life the most, though, was quiet, spread out over time, and didn’t seem all that impactful when I was a child. It was, however, intentional on the part of my Sunday School and Christian school teachers. I memorized Scripture–a lot of it. Now, I didn’t actually get saved until I was in my late 20s, married with three kids and a fourth on the way. I don’t really remember any of the Bible classes I attended or the teachers I had. It was all those verses from God’s Word that were hidden in my heart that called me gently, quietly, and impactfully to salvation in Jesus.
When you help a child hide God’s Word in their heart, you change their life.
Bible Memory Games
There are a lot of great ways to help kids memorize verses. In fact, in my book Help Your Kids Learn and Love the Bible (Bethany House, 2015), I included an entire chapter about how to develop Bible memory tools to help kids learn, teaching to the three primary learning modalities. In a classroom setting, Bible memory verse games can be a lot of fun.
- Some kids learn really well when they hear themselves say the words of a Bible verse. Chanting, rapping, marching while reciting, or creating a song from your verse can really help auditory learners. You could try standing your children in a semi-circle, assigning each one a word or phrase, and pointing to them in order. Once everyone has the verse down, have the kids trade places so they are responsible for saying a new word or phrase.
- Visual learners learn well through copying a verse by hand, by drawing (or seeing) a picture to go with each word, or through color-coding the Bible verse. If you have a big white board, write out your verse, then have each child draw a simple icon over a word until every word of the verse has a picture assigned to it. Practice saying the words, then cover the written verse, leaving only the pictures showing. See how many kids can say the verse using the pictures as memory aids.
- Kinesthetic learners do well when they move. You can assign hand or full body movements for words or phrases in your Bible memory verse, spread out, and chant or sing together, using the motions. Another fun Bible memory verse game that helps kinesthetic learners is to write each word of the verse on an index card. Have each child rearrange the cards until they are in the correct order.
And, there are even more Bible memory verse games you can play as a group!
Bible Memory Verse Games to Take Home
Bible puzzles may seem like they only apply to quiet table time or as take-home activities, but solving them as a group can be a lot of fun, especially when you are working with eight- to twelve-year-olds and everyone has their own copy. As the teacher, you can read the clues aloud, and everyone can brainstorm together. Here are some examples of Bible memory verse games that can help your students better understand the vocabulary and meaning of a verse, while helping them memorize it at the same time. In fact, I use all of these Bible puzzles in my book Bible Investigators: Creation (which has a link in it to allow you to print extra copies for students). As your children work these puzzles together, you have the wonderful opportunity to provide additional explanation about what the words in the verse mean.
- Word Searches | Word searches are a great way for kids to consider the individual words of a verse. As they search for each word individually, they are able to consider the meaning of the word and the intent of Scripture.
- Crosswords | Crosswords can be a great group activity. Children can brainstorm aloud about each set of clues, yell “pass” if they want to move on as a group to a new word, and confer with each other about what each word means.
- Rebus Puzzles | Rebus puzzles are great for visual kids, and each puzzle provides the opportunity to solve multiple small riddles.
- Missing Letter Puzzles | Missing letter puzzles are quick, fun, and help kids identify language patterns in each verse.
- Cryptograms | With cryptograms, kids will–again–begin to recognize language patterns in each verse. As they work to solve the clue for each letter, they will begin to recognize vocabulary and grammar the Bible uses.
- Word Scrambles | Word scrambles also allow children to really consider the individual words in a verse. Double word scrambles can be especially fun, as kids work to unscramble the letters of each word, then to arrange words to create the sentences of each verse.
The puzzles above are fun to work as a group and can lead to some great discussions as well. There are a number of other types of puzzles in Bible Investigators: Creation that students can work on their own at home to learn more about God’s Creation, along with some fun narrative to help kids learn more about our wonderful Creator God. Bible memory verse games are a great way to help kids hide God’s Word in their hearts. It’s an activity that can change a child’s life!
Danika Cooley’s Bible Investigators: Creation is the perfect puzzle-based Bible study for your 8-12 year olds. Your children will learn how to become effective Bible investigators using the inductive method, learn more about who God is and what the gospel means, and understand the doctrine of Creation! Danika is an award-winning children’s author and Bible curriculum developer. Her popular Bible Road Trip™ is used by tens of thousands of families. Learn more about Bible Investigators: Creation and grab your free sample pack here.
TEACH THE BIBLE SUCCESSFULLY!
