It seems so long ago when our kids were little ones. One of the most important daily “trainings” we applied with our kids was the memorization of Bible verses placed in a binder.
Time spent studying, memorizing and applying God’s Word has provided not only memories but also a strong foundation.
For a Christian homeschool, we have made it our mission in parenting, teaching, and anything that we do, to place Bible verses all around to help memorize and hear a message from the Lord.
Ways to memorize Bible verses with kids
Surrounding yourself in God’s Word is always a good idea because we can never get enough!
Sometimes when the kiddos were younger, we placed a verse written on a mirror, a sticky note in a book or favorite item, or printed a verse on paper and placed on the wall in a frame or on the ceiling above their bed.
We’ve tried to be creative in this endeavor and still today as they are older we think of ways to remind them of God’s Word. Texts, notes, or a deep conversation are reminders even as adults.
We all need reminded that God loves us and desires a relationship with us.
While homeschooling, we had one daily activity to start the kid’s day reviewing Bible verses aloud together and talking about how we can apply each one in our life.
Each morning, we reviewed a Bible verse printed with a picture for a visual. To keep the paper from wrinkling, we placed each page in a page protector and in a binder.
Nothing fancy. Just simple paper and a binder.
We photocopied and enlarged pictures from a ridiculously tiny book (2inches x 2 inches) to a regular 8 1/2 x 11 page, and placed the printed black and white pages in a binder.
As moms, we loved the morning routine of that binder full of pictures and verses. Spending time going through them with the kids was so much fun, but it was also our purpose as parents!
It is the parents God given responsibility to teach a child the Word of God.
We were inspired by Moses’ words to the children of Israel in Deuteronomy 6:5-9.
“Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children.
Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. 9 Write them on the door frames of your houses and on your gates.”
In the beginning of this morning exercise, we began with learning and memorizing one picture Bible verse a week.
How to help a child memorize Bible verses
● Read and Discuss the Word
Week one, day one, we began with reading the verse. discussing what it means from God to us and how we can apply it in our life.
Each morning the first week, the verse would be read aloud and we worked on memorizing it. That was different each week depending on our creativity.
Example: “Keep me as the apple of your eye; hide me in the shadow of your wings.” Psalm 17:8
● Reinforcement activities
We found creative ways to eat apples, such as apple pie, apple sauce, apple juice and we looked at all the various kinds of apples and colors.
Any way we could get a reminder of that verse into our children’s hearts and minds…. we did it.
● Bible verse copy work
Copy verse work is a great kinesthetic way to memorize Bible verses. Writing the verse on paper helps the brain and hand muscles connect. Visit our freebie library for our Bible verse copy pages on the names of God.
● Bible verse illustration
Drawing the verse is a great way to illustrate what that verse means to each child. Some days, we would draw and illustrate the verse and it would become our “binder pages” along with fancier printable we found or made.
We still treasure those pages!
The next week, we would add a new verse to our morning routine and review the previous week’s verse.
If you do one a week, you’ll have 52 at the end of the year!
After weeks of reviewing, our kids could quote the verses just seeing the pictures or were able to finish the verse just by giving them the first word.
Eventually, they began to test their memorization skills by not looking at the picture or they would remember what verse was on the next page. As the kids all grew older, those verses were put to their memory, but we wanted more for them than just memorizing words.
We wanted to place God’s Word on their hearts and minds and apply them to their life.
Bible Verse Memorization alone is not enough, even Satan knew what God said.
We can memorize 100 verses about fear such as:
“When I am afraid, I will trust in you. In God, whose word I praise, in God I trust; I will not be afraid. What can mortal man do to me? ”
Psalm 56:3-4
But in the moment when fear enters our life through some event or even a small test, will we remember those verses and apply them to our situation?
Yes, when we pick up our sword of truth and practice using it.
Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. Ephesians 3:17
●Pick up the Sword.
●Practice training.
●Apply it to your life.
Pick up the sword of Truth!
It is our job, purpose, and responsibility to impress His words upon the hearts of our children. God has blessed us with their life. They are dependent on us to teach and instruct them on how to use their “sword” for battle.
True warriors need to practice welding a sword daily to keep their body in shape and be prepared for an enemy attack.
Sword of Truth Practice and Training
In the same way, we have to practice welding our “sword of truth”, God’s words, so that we are in the best shape and prepared for an enemy attack. We all need to be ready for the event or situation that brings on fear, insecurities, sadness, rejection and such.
The best way we can truly trust God in these areas is to know and believe His Word.
Apply God's Truth in your daily lives
His Word reminds us that He is God. Unfortunately, we humans need to be reminded of this in our daily lives. We so quickly forget when the fear creeps in on us. That is why finding ways to impress His Word to our children is so important.
Finding ways to put Scripture into their daily routines is a great practice.
Anytime you can put multiple learning styles together, you have a better chance of remembering! We try to incorporate visual, auditory, and kinesthetic activities.
We pulled together some ways you too can help your children memorize Bible verses with a verse binder full of visuals to recite together.
Visit our Freebie Library for Bible verse coloring page, worksheets and printables to help you forget not the Lord!
A password email will arrive soon!
Create your own Bible verse memorization picture binder!
They say a picture is worth a thousand words….. for the visual learners, a picture added to Scripture will imprint in their minds for a lifetime!
Find pictures with Scripture, print them and place in page protectors. You can then store them in a binder.
Day 1:
Go over the verse and talk about what it means. Talk about the picture and how it relates to the verse.
Day 2:
Review the verse together aloud. If they have the verse memorized, add the next verse. Don’t move forward until they have the first verse memorized. As you continue to add a verse, always review the beginning verses up to the newly added one. This reaffirms the memorization!
Day 3-7:
Keep finding ways to help the memorization plant in their hearts and minds! Look for a word or theme from the Bible verse to pull out creative ideas. Food, crafts, things you can do will increase their knowledge of God’s Word and His world.
More creative ideas for Bible verse memorization
Our homeschool Bible verse memorization and creative learning curriculum We created an online course with coloring pages, AB See! Recite the Word!
ABSee Recite the Word contains coloring pages you can use in a Bible verse binder, handwriting and cursive practice pages, sight word locations, drawing pages, and lessons with activities and definitions for deeper understanding of each verse.
Illustrate your own pictures by drawing and coloring!
Read the verse together and have the children draw their own pictures to a create your Bible verse binder.
The addition of drawing and coloring your verse helps to write God’s Word on their hearts along with the reciting. Find multiple ways to help them remember!
As the years went on, we ran out of verses from that little book we had enlarged and copied. We had to get creative by having the kids draw their own verse illustration and sometimes we would find a drawing or photo that we could use. The importance was not really the pictures, but the time spent with the verses.
Add photographs or pictures to your Bible verse binder
Find things in God’s creation that represent what the verse you choose means. Work together and model what sharing or loving one another looks like. Snap a picture and add a verse for the binder and you have a perfect illustration to remind them from something in their everyday life.
Check out our website’s “Freebie Library“ for free coloring pages with Scripture. Many are flower drawings that can be colored with crayons, colored pencils, markers and don’t forget to try water colors! Print, color and add to your Bible Verse Memory Binder!
Also visit Kelli at 3boysandadog.com for Proverbs coloring pages for students and Bible verse copy pages.
When our kids were in high school and college, it became a little harder to find those daily times with everyone in different directions. We just had to be creative. Sometimes they would find sticky notes in their text books, hats, and wallets or they received a text and or Facebook message of Scripture.
Through the years, our binder method may have changed but our purpose has not.
We hope you too will find ways to daily impress God’s Word upon the hearts of your children. Remind them daily to forget not the Lord.
Forget Him Knot!
Some of our favorites to get you started on your Bible verse memorization binder! *affiliate links
