Teaching kids to memorize Scripture is a one of the most important parts of a Sunday School class. But kids can quickly grow bored with the same old memory verse learning techniques such as repeating the memory verse out loud over and over again or simply writing it. If you want to liven up your Sunday School class and bring a fresh, new energy to teaching kids to memorize their memory verse, try one of these easy memory verse games.
Memory Verse Game for Kids #1 – Memory Verse Basketball
Memory Verse Basketball is great because it lets kids be active but allow them to learn their memory verse at the same time. Write each word of your memory verse onto a post-it note, then stick the post-it note onto a larger piece of paper and wad it up into a mini-basketball. Make enough so that each team has their own set of memory verse “basketballs”.
Divide your class into teams and place a child-sized basketball hoop at the front of the class. If you don’t have a basketball hoop available, you can also use a wastebasket or some other type of basket. Have the kids take turns making “baskets”. When they make a basket, the team opens up the basketball to reveal a word from the memory verse. First team to complete their memory verse and place it in the correct order wins.
Memory Verse Game for Kids #2 – Memory Verse Tic-Tac-Toe
Memory Verse Tic-Tac-Toe is super-easy to play and requires absolutely no advance planning. To play line up 3 rows of 3 chairs in the center of your classroom to use as your Tic-Tac-Toe board. If you don’t use chairs in your classroom, you can place paper plates or construction paper on the floor to use as your Tic-Tac-Toe board.
As each team member repeats their memory verse correctly, have them choose a space on the Tic-Tac-Toe board and sit or stand there. The first team to get Tic-Tac-Toe wins. You can play this several times and mix up the teams if your class needs extra time to learn the verse.
Memory Verse Game for Kids #3 – Memory Verse Hot Potato
Memory Verse Hot Potato is another fun, yet simple game that will help your kids learn their memory verses. I use a colored paper bag as my hot potato. Inside the paper bag I place slips of paper with the individual words to the memory verse written on them.
Have the kids sit in one large circle and start the music. When the music stop, that child pulls out one slip of paper from the paper bag. They can either tape it up to the board or just place it on the floor in the middle of the circle. Have the kids work together to put the memory verse in the correct order. You can also have the kids repeat the memory verse instead of using music and stop the hot potato on a different word from the memory verse each time.
The possibilities for fun and easy memory verse games for kids are endless. Almost any traditional game can be tweaked to help kids learn their memory verse. So have fun playing!
