Do you remember playing this game as a kid? I sure do! I loved it!
My sweet church here in Nashville started a children’s ministry a few months ago, and I have been blessed to get to teach some precious kids every few weeks. We spend a large amount of time on learning the verse for the week. I think teaching kids to internalize Scripture is of utmost importance and is a building block for a strong foundation grounded in the Word. Here are some ways to make Scripture memory fun:
1. Always write the verse on a piece of colored construction paper or posterboard. Visual learners need to see it. The more fun it is, the better!
2. Have kids stand in front of the poster (getting them up and moving to memorize the verse helps those kinesthetic learners… and makes it stand out from the rest of the lesson). Then, have them read the verse 4-5 times in different voices. Here are some examples: really quietly, really country, with a British accent, like they are under water (keep mouth in a bubble shape the whole time), while sticking out their tongue the whole time, etc.
3. Cut up the verse word by word. Have groups of 2-4 arrange it correctly. If you have a large class, you can divide them into groups and have them race.
4. Have kids line up across the room in a straight line (one behind the other). Give the first kid a white board marker. Have him run to the white board and write the first word on the board. He then will pass the marker to the next kid, who will run and write the next word on the board. Have them compete against their best time by doing the relay a few different times. (You also can do the verbally without writing, having each kid say one word. It gets confusing and really fun quickly, as kids accidentally say two words instead of one, etc)
5. Designate one area of the room to be where verse memorization happens. We call ours the “Memorization Corner.” It sounds corny, but kids LOVE it. Each week, we journey to the memorization corner and do something fun to remember the verse. My personal favorite is to have the kids make up motions to go with the verse to help them remember it. The bigger and more exaggerated the motions, the better.