Ways to Memorize & Review Scripture with Children
Choose Verses to Memorize with Your Children
There are different ways to choose verses.I have a lot of verses in the Music section to get you started if you want some ideas. You can choose your favorite verses. Your own excitement and personal relationship with those verses can be a great motivation for your kids to want to memorize them too, especially if you tell your child how these verses have helped you. If they are longer verses, you can break them up over a few weeks or you can only focus on one part of the verse with your child while you focus on the longer, full version.
Choose short verses for very young children. I started when my son was almost two- years old with Matthew 28:20 ("I am with you always"). Many of the ones in the Music section below are pretty short.
If there is a particular issue you are working through, like bad dreams, you can start with verses that bring comfort. I will give examples of this below.
If there are family rules you have set up in your home, linking them with a Bible verse can be a great way to point your kids to His word in your everyday life. For example, one of our family rules is for our children to obey us so that they can learn to obey God, so my children learned Ephesian's 6:1-2 ("Children obey your children in the Lord..."). Similarly, if there is virtue you are working on as a family, such as kindness, you can find Scripture that matches with it. My children learned the first part of Ephesians 4:32 ("Be kind to one another...") while I learned the rest of the verse (... tenderhearted, forgiving one another just as God in Christ Jesus forgave you.")
You can listen through an album such as the many I mentioned in the music section below and choose the ones you think your child could learn, or just start with the first track and work your way down!
Some churches have verses they are working on as a community, so that would be a great way for your child to feel connected to the church body. If your child is in Sunday School, you can ask if there are Bible verses they care memorizing at church and you can use those at home too.
If you are planning on homeschooling, some Christian curriculums include Scripture memorization, such as Gentle and Classical Press and Peaceful Press. I have used many of their products (their preschool curriculums and holiday mini-curriculums) and have used a lot of their Bible verses while doing the curriculum or working through some in the summer. This makes it easy to choose verses to memorize, since the work is done for you, but it is absolutely not necessary if you aren't using a curriculum. If you aren't shopping for a curriculum, but are curious about which verses are included, the Gentle and Classical Press sell just their Preschool Bible verses for $3.99. You can print them off and post them on the fridge, wall, or on a memory statement board that has other things you are working on as a family to memorize. These are short verses that correspond with Dana Dirksen's Songs for Saplings album that I will discuss below, so it's an easy way to dive into Scripture memory for younger kids. Peaceful Press has a beautiful 26-week Bible curriculum called The Good Gospel that we've loved and there's a verse for every week. I am sure you can also find other free resources from reputable Christian homeschooling or Sunday school resources online that have lists of Bible verses if you have a company you prefer.
Keep it Short, Don't Force or Hurry It
Every child learns at a different rate, so I won't tell you how often to work through a new verse. On average, we learn a new verse every week, but sometimes two weeks for longer verses. But if it takes a month for a verse, don't rush it, just follow their speed. Also, don't pressure the child to memorize it right away. Model it by singing or saying the voice (you'll find lots of ways to do this below) the first few days you go over the verse, then invite them to participate by repeating after you.
Keep it short; a few minutes is all you need, sometimes even just a few seconds. Laboring over it for a long time will exhaust your child and make it feel more like work rather than a delight. Sure, some good things take work, and it wont always feel fun to work on Scripture memorization, but you also don't want to make it feel like a drudgery, never-ending repetition when a minute or two would have been just as (or even more) effective. Aim for working on it daily, to really work on the habit of memorizing, but even three or four days a week is still ample opportunity for retention of the verse.
If you are working on a longer verse or several verses in a passage, consider breaking it up, starting with the first few words of the verse. Once the child has memorized that, then move on to the next part of the verse(s) a few days later.
Use music to help memorize Scripture
Our favorite way to memorize Bible verses is through music. There are many Christian albums geared towards teaching children Bible verses through catchy tunes. Here are my favorites:
We've gone through this whole album: Songs for Saplings by Dana Dirksen. There is a verse for every letter of the alphabet. The songs are easy to memorize, short and repetitive, so they're great for young children.
Peaceful Press has a 26-week Bible curriculum called The Good Gospel that is wonderful. THESE are the songs on Youtube from the album. We adore this curriculum and these songs. The vocalist has the most amazing voice. You don't need the curriculum if you just want to memorize any of these verses.
The Scriptural Hymnal is a new and stunning collaboration of songwriters and singers who composed beautiful melodies for Bible verses. Here they are on Youtube. I have the beautiful hymnal as well, which has the sheet music to play along on piano or other instrument. I have been choosing the shorter verses for my kids and longer ones for myself. The kids and I sing The Lord Bless You and Keep You (Numbers 6:24-26) as a benediction/end to our Morning Blessing Time.
Psalty & Ernie Rettino have a ton. My favorite are Behold What Manner of Love (1 John 3:1-3) and Seek Ye First (Matt. 6:33).
Steve Green's Hide 'Em In Your Heart album has some great ones (our favorite for when my kids are afraid is When I Am Afraid (Psalm 56:3, 6) and Think About Such Things (Phil. 4:8)
The Corner Room's Remember and Proclaim is a more recent album full of Scripture songs that I have picked verses from. My favorites are Isaiah 9:6-7, Galatians 2:20, Romans 8:38-39, and Zechariah 9:9
I also love Ellie Holcomb's Memory Mondays that she posts on YouTube Shorts. My son and I memorized her short song to John 10:10 (The thief comes only to steal, kill, and destroy...) and her song May the Words (based on Psalm 19) and Thy Word ( based on Psalm 119)
I create playlists for the verses I want to work on over the course of several months, though you can definitely start with a few and keep adding as you work through your list. I use Amazon Prime, but any platform works, including YouTube. I play the particular song several days a week during breakfast when we have our Morning Time (where we have Bible, Scripture memory, catechism, calendar, etc). When I first introduce the verse, I play it once one its own, then I play it again and sing along. I repeat that a few days that week, inviting my children to join me. As we both remember the tune, we can sing it without the track. We use the playlists for reviewing the songs as well, which I will discuss more below.
I also found it added fun to the Scripture memory time to have a few musical instruments like a toy guitar, harmonica, bells, xylophone, or rattle for children to play along to the music. It keeps them engaged and makes it interactive and fun. We don't do this often anymore, since we learn our verses while we eat breakfast and the instruments got sticky, but it's a great idea if you are learning the verses without food involved!
Have the Verse Posted Somewhere
The visual reminder of a notecard, post-it, or more artsy printout of the current verse is a great way to help you remember to work on that verse. Even when my son couldn't read, having the verse where I could see it (on our memory statement board with other things we were working on during Morning Time, such as our catechism statement, manners, and virtues) helped both of us stay on track with practicing the verse. Now that he can read, it is even more helpful to have the verse written on a notecard so he can read and follow along. If you have string and some clothespins, you can easily hang them up in a high-traffic area of the home, like the kitchen. Or write it on a chalkboard or with letters on a felt board if that's what you have at home. Don't feel like you need to buy anything, just work with what you have. If your child can write, invite them to write the verse on cardstock or a notecard and decorate it and post it somewhere. Find a way that works for you and your family.
Our current system is to have all of our Bible verses on notecards in a box where we can review our new verses as well as the old ones. I will explain this more below.
Schedule Time for Memory Work . . . But Also Be Spontaneous
I am not trying to contradict myself here; both are important. First, having a time of day that you work on a Bible verse can help develop that habit so that it takes less brain power to remember to work on it. It also makes Scripture memorization an important part of your day that you prioritize if you carve out time in your week when your family knows you are going to briefly work on Scripture memorization. For us, this is done in the mornings, but maybe dinner is a better time for your family, especially if Dad wants to be learning the verses alongside mom and the kids.
Reviewing the song during random times of the day is also great, because it helps their brain make connections in other times of day than just that allotted time, helping that verse dig deeper in their memory. For us, this looks like me occasionally playing our Scripture and Catechism playlist during car rides and I will recite a random verse that pops in my mind while I brush my daughter's hair in the morning.
Find Ways to Understand and Apply the Verse
The more the Bible verse comes alive and is applied to the child's life, the deeper it will be planted in their hearts and minds. When my son struggled with bad dreams and nighttime fear, I started singing six short Bible verses over him every night and that hasn't stopped even though the bad dreams have (read more about this HERE). The verses, all of which he had memorized in the months prior, came alive to him and became his weapons against fear. That's literally what we call them: his weapons. He says "I am read for my weapons now, Mommy" and he's not talking about play guns or a bow and arrow. The verses, sung in the darkness of his room during a vulnerable time when he's about to be on his own all night, prepared and empowered him to hold onto God's truth as he drifted off to sleep.
It also has helped my son to know which verses help me personally. We both love Steve Green's When I Am Afraid (Psalm 56:3, 6) and I have told him that I sing myself that song when I am anxious some nights. It builds a special camaraderie between parent and child when you can share honestly how Scripture is bolstering you and guiding you both towards God's truth.
Ultimately it's not just about being able to recall a verse, you want your child to be able to believe it is true and apply it to their lives, therefore actually learning the verse along with memorizing. Having casual conversation about that verse, not a long sermon but little thoughts here and there, helps bury this truth deeper in their hearts and minds. Sometimes giving a little context can help better understand the verse. For example, when I recite part of Matthew 28:20 ("I am with you always"), I often preface it with explaining that Jesus was comforting his disciples that He would be with them through the Holy Spirit even though He was ascending to heaven and they wouldn't see His physical body anymore.
Add Some Fun Into It
I don't do these super often, but here are some fun methods to occasionally sprinkle in with Scripture memory work, especially when you first start out:
Scripture Hop/Walk
This is a fun idea I learned from Jenifer Pepito's Peaceful Press curriculums. Basically, you write out the verse on notecards, one word per card. Spread the cards out on the floor in a line so that the cards are organized in the order of the verse. Then you model for your child how you say the word on each card. For example, for John 3:16, the first card is FOR, so when you step on it, you say "FOR!", then the next card says GOD, so you say "GOD!", and so on until the end of the verse cards. Then you do it with your child. This works even if your child can't read since they are hearing you say the verse as you are stepping on the card, though you may be surprised by your young child visually recognizing some of the words even if they can't actually read! They may recognize the letters or symbols on the card (especially if there is a doodle you can add to help with recall) or they may just memorize because of hearing the verse and the physical movement of their bodies with each word. It's pretty amazing how the whole body works together with this fun activity to help with memory! You can hop or dance or do whatever action you want rather than walking to make it more lively.
Using funny voices and props
I did this a lot more when my son was a toddler. I would grab whatever toy or stuffed animal was nearby and create a funny voice as I recited the verse. Then I would ask him to help me. The more goofy the voice, the better chance they'll want to join in.
Write out the verse on a white board
Read the full verse together, then erase a word or two, then recite it again. Repeat this process until the whole verse is erased and your child can say it. With a non-reader, you can still do this, reading the verse aloud and then pausing when there is an erased word and asking your child to say what that erased word was. For example, I would say "for God so ......." and point to the blank/erased spot and he'd respond "loved", then I would continue with "that He gave His only..." and he'd say "son", and so on. Even though he's not expected to read the words as I am pointing to them on the board, it visually helps to see me pointing to one word at a time and then pointing to the empty spot, which is his cue to jump in. As he learns the verse more, he joins in for my part (the written verse) as well as the erased words, so that he is basically saying the whole verse little by little.
First Letter Method
I learned this method from Jennifer Pepito of Peaceful Press and use it mainly for my own Bible memory work, but it's great for kids too, especially those who read or at least have letter recognition. You write the first letter of each word on a notecard and the full verse on the opposite side. So, again using John 3:16, one side would have the full verse and the other side would have these letters in all capitals: F.G.S.L.T.W.T.H.G.H.O.S.T.W.B.I.H.S.N.P.B.H.E.L. It looks like a code or like my child just took over my keypad for a minute, but can you decipher it? For God So Loved The World.... and so on! I don't know the science behind it, but the visual cue of that first letter helps your brain recall the verse. It's such a neat method to try out! I honestly have only tried it once with my son and now that I am thinking about it, he is totally ready to use use it together with me more consistently.
Coloring pages are also a fun way to visually memorize Scripture together. You can google the specific verse you are working on to see if there are free downloads available, or you can create your own by hand or on a computer if you are digitally savvy. A friend of mine created her own coloring pages for her child using a computer program and eventually created so many pages, she designed a book that is now available on Amazon (see HERE), so that's definitely an option if you want a coloring book all ready for you!
Review Review Review
Raise your hand if you forgot the verses you memorized a few years ago . . . or even a month ago? Me too. Unless I return to the verses every few months to quickly review them, they are only saved in my short-term memory and not down deep in my long-term memory, so review is essential! This is easy if you have the verses on a notecard you can save somewhere for easy retrieval.
When we first started memorizing Bible verses and I only had a handful of verses, this method worked well for review. I hole-punched and placed our completed verses together with a ring so I could flip through the verses every few months. I am sure there are other fun ways to memorize too. I will sometimes make a fun surprise, like popsicles or ice-cream while we review, so it's a delightful experience rather than a test. Speaking of tests, please, please, please, don't make your child feel they are being quizzed as you work on the verses!
Scripture Memory System
This is the current way that I work on our Bible verses and I actually have one for my own personal verses too. Sonia Shafer of Simply Charlotte Mason explains it very well HERE, but I will give a quick summary. You'll need a box that holds index cards, index cards to write your verses on, and the dividers that are free on the website above. The dividers help with the review process. The verse card that goes after the Daily divider is your current week's verse. Then there is Odd and Even, the seven days of the week, and numbers 1-31. It takes a few minutes to cut the dividers out whenever you print them off, but it is such a useful method. Whatever verses you recently learned will go in the Odd, Even, and days of the week, while verses your kids (or you) feel confident about, then they go in the 1-31 dividers. So, for example, on Saturday, May 9th, I will pull out my verse card in the Daily divider area and recite that one. I choose to skip the Odd/Even dividers, so I move on to the Saturday divider and grab the cards that are in there and review them. Lastly, we review the verses in the divider with the number 9, since it is May 9th. So I am reviewing some verses weekly and others are being reviewed once a month. We have ____ verse cards in our box and using this system, we only spend 2-3 minutes on the new verse and review. I love this system, which is why I use it personally for my own verses I am memorizing apart from the kids verses.
Pray About Scripture Memorization
Pray that you and your family will develop a deep thirst for God's Word and that your minds would recall, apply, and treasure the verses you work on. Pray for wisdom regarding with verses to learn together. Pray for humility to share how the verse is ministering to your heart. Cover this spiritual discipline of Scripture memorization with prayer that God would empower, enable, and bless your efforts, not because it makes you more holy or loved by God. But because this is such a powerful and beautiful way to treasure God's Word in our own hearts and minds as well as our children.
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If you already memorize Scripture with your child, what would you add to this list?
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Elle Alice