Verse Memorization Games

Think of creative ways to make memorizing Bible verses fun for kids.

Memorizing Bible passages or verses is a favorite activity among parents and children in families of many different Christian churches. Help your children view verse memorization not as a burden but as something fun by turning the memorization activity into a game with a goal or a reward at the end. These ideas can help parents practice Bible verse memorization with their children at home or can help Sunday School teachers who want to make verse memorization time in class more than just a rote exercise.

Musical Colors

Musical Colors is a good verse memorization game for young children. Arrange a circle of chairs so that each child has a chair to sit in. Tape four different colors of paper to the chairs so that each chair has a piece of colored paper taped to it. Explain to the children that you will play musical chairs as a way of reciting the Bible verses they are memorizing. Play the music, and when it stops, instruct children to sit down where they are. Name a color and instruct each child sitting in the chair with that color to stand and recite the memory verse. Play again, naming a different color each time until all of the children have had one or two opportunities to recite the memory verse.

Disappearing Words

Disappearing Words is a verse memorization game that can work well with young children and older children, up to junior high school age. Write the memory verse on a chalkboard or whiteboard. Ask the children to read the entire verse together out loud, once. Erase one or two words and ask the children to repeat the verse again, this time without the two words visible. Continue removing words and asking children to recite the verse until the final time where they recite the verse completely from memory.

Verse Hunt

Elementary school children enjoy hunting for hidden objects, which makes Verse Hunt a good game for school children to use to memorize Bible verses. Write each word of the memory verse you are working on together on a piece of paper and hide the pieces around the classroom. Or, if you are a parent doing this with your children, hide the pieces around the house. Ask the children to find the pieces and arrange them in the correct order on the table and then recite the memory verse out loud three times together once they believe they have it in the correct order.

Pizza Frisbee

Pizza Frisbee is a fun game to play to incorporate verse memorization into a pizza party or other fun classroom time together. Use clean paper plates for Frisbees and clean pizza boxes to catch them in. Divide the children into pairs or teams, depending on how many pizza boxes and paper plates you have. Instruct one student to hold the pizza box while others line up and try to throw the Frisbee into the pizza box. Before throwing the Frisbee, the children must correctly recite their memory verse. The team with the most plates in the box at the end of the allotted time wins first crack at dessert.

References

• Sunday School Resources: Memory Verse