Making Memory Work Fun
Memorizing God's Word is hugely beneficial for followers of Jesus and I don't know if you've noticed this, but kids can memorize things like it's their job. Their young minds are little sponges - soaking things up and retaining with minimal effort. This is why it's best to start foreign languages and piano lessons and reading when you are a child - and it is also why we have our children memorize scripture.
Certain weeks/months out of the year we put a lot of effort into learning new verses - usually around the breakfast table. But most of the year we are simply trying to review and maintain what we have already learned. And this doesn't have to feel monotonous - it can be fun! Here are a five ways we enjoy reviewing our ABC verses. (download your free set here)
Have the youngest child call out the letter, then have the second youngest recite the first "A" verse, the third oldest recites the second "A" verse and so forth. Our 3 year old is learning her letters and thinks she's big stuff when she gets to hold the cards and lead the review. (When we use this review method we usually only do about 7 letters at a time.)
Ask your oldest child to quiz you! When my kids aren't in the mood to review memory verses I have them quiz me instead. We usually do this in the car. My oldest (who can read well) holds the cards and calls out the letters and I recite as many as I can remember. All of my children are more than happy to chime in when I make a mistake or can't recall a certain passage. Sneaky...
Make a video of your child saying as many verses as they can recall and let them watch the video as many times as they'd like. My daughter loves to watch herself on my phone and I love that she is hearing the scriptures repeated over and over again.
Say/sing the verse in as many musical styles or accents you can imagine. My husband comes up with all sorts of fun stuff on the fly and this was one of his ideas. We were reviewing a memory verse out loud and he started singing it like a country song. This of course resulted in lots of laughter and then we wondered what other genres would work - we tried rap, rock, and Gregorian chant. It was ridiculous but the kids had fun and ended up saying and hearing the verse MANY times.
Listen to scripture set to music. Did you know music is associated with long-term memory? Think of all the song lyrics you could still sing from back in the day! Anytime you can set something to music you have a much better chance of retaining that info long-term. You can write your own songs, of course, but there are a lot of resources available for purchase as well. We have easily learned dozens of verses by listening to these fun Cds.
Do you have other fun ways to keep those memory verses fresh? If so, I'd love to hear them!
To download a variety of scripture sets, including the ABC verses pictured above, click here.
Psalm 119:11
I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.
