Memorizing Scripture should be an important part of every Christian’s life, starting from a very early age. These 7 ideas will help your kids memorize scripture more easily!
When I was a little girl, I committed many, many verses to memory and loved every minute of it. Vacation Bible School, Church Camp, Awana, and Sunday School all played a part in those, but memorizing Scripture at home, with my family, was probably the most influential.
From a very early age, children are capable of memorizing more Scripture than you might realize. I remember being part of a Family Bible Challenge my Church was putting on when I was nine years old, and memorizing the entire second chapter of Jonah. I did this on my own and loved every second of it!
When I was younger, before I had children of my own, I taught Kindergarten at a local Christian school. I remember thinking there was no way that children aged four and five years old would be able to remember the entire Armor of God section from Ephesians, but they could and they did!
Helping Kids Memorize Scripture
I’m going to share with you the methods I’ve learned to memorize Scripture, methods that worked for me as a child, and methods that have worked with children I’ve taught. There may be a day that we don’t have access to a physical Bible, and if that day comes, we should all have as much Scripture in our minds as possible.
I have a big list of 16 short and important Bible verses for kids to memorize with a free printable set of cards to help you!
1. Songs
Children love music, and there are so many fun little songs that teach them Scripture without them realizing it. Utilize these, or if you’re musically inclined, set a verse you want them to memorize to a tune.
You will be surprised at how easily they memorize Scripture this way! I have a whole post with the best Bible verse songs for kids that you can watch right now!
2. Repetition
The easiest way I learned Scripture as a child was simply by reading the same passage over, and over, and over. Some children may be bored by this, so know their personality before attempting this method. It worked for me, and I still enjoy doing it this way!
If your child is a visual learner, this may be one of the most effective ways to try.
3. Actions
If your child is a hands-on learner, setting some actions to the Scripture may best instill it in their minds. When I taught Kindergarten students an entire chapter of Scripture, every few words there was an action to accompany it.
If you’re not creative, maybe just allow them to use sign language to accompany it as well. They don’t have to be fancy or require coordination but can be as simple as pointing to their head when they say the word, “know”, or something similar.
4. Incentives
I’m very competitive. As a kid, the absolute easiest way to motivate me to memorize Scripture was to give me competitive incentives. Even if it was just assigning a number of points to each verse, it made me feel like I was accomplishing more than just memorizing words.
If you use a point system, maybe allow your children to shop from a little “store” you create at the end of each week or month using the points they’ve earned. This is exactly what the Awana system uses for motivation too!
You could also give them goals to meet with incentives at the completion of the goal etc. Get creative!
5. Daily/Weekly/Monthly Verses
Have a daily, weekly, or monthly verse you set for your family to memorize. If it’s daily, keep it simple. If it’s weekly, keep it short. If it’s monthly, make sure it’s long enough to keep them working all month but short enough that they don’t feel overwhelmed.
Set aside time each day or week for you and your kids to work on this so it’s part of your consistent routine.
6. Visual Aids
No matter how your children learn, having visual aids of the Scripture they’re memorizing is incredibly helpful. Whether you write it on a chalkboard or dry erase board, or print this free set of Bible verse flashcards and hang it up having something they see and can read multiple times a day is helpful.
You can also have them write it out several times throughout the time period of their memorization.
7. Consistency
Whatever methods you choose to use, be sure to remain consistent. If you have a verse you want them to memorize for the month of May, for example, don’t introduce it on May 1st, talk about it once on May 15th, and expect them to have it memorized on May 31st.
Establish a plan, and then stick with it consistently. If you need to change up your methods, do that, but be sure that memorization is an active part of your routine on a regular basis, or none of the methods we talked about will work!
Even More Christian Ideas
- 16 Bible Verses for Kids to Memorize (Free Printable!)
- Best Bible Verse Songs for Kids
- Days of Creation Activity Printable
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