Memorization Tips for Teaching Bible Verses

This page contains Bible memorization tips and ideas I have found effective over the years. Memorizing Bible verses is a rewarding endeavor for kids and adults alike. See my main Bible Memorization page for more information on the value of Bible memorization and how I use small groups to accomplish this during class time.

You can pick and choose from the memorization tips on this page, taking into account the size of your class, the age of your students, etc. You can try some different ideas for memorizing Bible verses to see what works best for you and your students.

The first step is, of course, to make sure your students understand what the words in the Bible verse mean and what the verse as a whole is saying. Understanding the verse will make memorization easier. Next try some of the following memorization tips and activities:

Erase a Word

Write the words of a Bible verse on a chalkboard or marker board. Say the verse together a few times. Then turn the board away from the class (or have the students close their eyes or turn around) while one student erases a word. The other students then guess which word is missing. Have the class say the verse together again. Repeat until all words have been erased and the class knows the verse.

Emphasize a Word

Write the verse on the board. Say the verse together, emphasizing a different word each time. For example, “IN the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.” “In THE beginning God created the heaven and the earth.” “In the BEGINNING God created the heaven and the earth.” Etc. Have a different student come up and point to the words each time as they are being read. (Get a pointer of some kind. Kids love using pointers. I have a telescoping one that I can make small when it’s not being used.)

Word Order Races

Print two sets of a Bible verse on cards, one word per card. As a class, read the verse aloud from your Bibles a few times. Then divide the class into two teams. Give each team a set of the printed Bible verse cards. Have them race to see which team can put the words in order first. Repeat several times. (If you have a large class, you will need to have several teams and therefore make more than two copies of the words of the verse.)

Variation: Use just one set of word cards. Distribute a word to each student in the class (or more than one word if you have a long verse or a small class). Start a timer. As the class calls out the words of the verse in order, the student with the appropriate word quickly comes to the front of the class and places the word in the correct position on a table (or the floor). Continue until the entire verse is constructed. Note the time. Repeat, challenging the class to beat their former time.

Concentration

Read a Bible verse aloud together several times and then play Concentration. (This memorization tip will probably not work well with a really long verse.) Print each word of the Bible verse on a separate piece of same-sized paper (i.e., all 3x5 cards or 8-1/2 x 11 sheets of cardstock). Make sure the kids can’t see through the back of the paper to read the word on the other side. Make two sets. Mix the two sets of words together and then lay them out in rows to create a grid on the floor. Have students take turns flipping over two words at a time, attempting to find a match. If the two words don’t match, have the student turn them back over in their original spots on the grid. If they do match, have the student remove the words from the grid and place them one on top of the other off to the side, where the verse can be constructed as the word pairs are found. After a student finds a match, you can either let him/her have another turn (as in traditional Concentration) or have the turn pass to another student. Continue until all matches have been found and the verse is complete.

Props

Find or make props that will enhance or reinforce memorizing a Bible verse. For example, bring a play sword and allow one student at a time to brandish it while the class reads or quotes: “Hebrews 4:12 - For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” Here are props I created for Romans 6:23:

Web of Words

Print each word of a Bible verse on a separate slip of paper. Use pushpins to attach the words in random order to a bulletin board. Tie a piece of yarn to the pushpin on the first word of the verse. (Make sure the yarn is long enough for the following purpose.) After reading through the verse several times in your Bibles, have students take turns wrapping the yarn around the pushpins on the words in the correct order.


Variations: Time students to see who can connect the words in the correct order the fastest, or make two sets of words and have two students race head to head.

Longer Passage

A memorization tip for learning a passage of several consecutive Bible verses is to read the passage together at a set time (i.e., the beginning of Bible Memory Work time) during each class period over the course of a month or an entire quarter.

Actions

Come up with actions that will help kids remember the words in the verse. For example, if you are learning Psalm 1:1 (“Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful”), walk, stand, and sit as the corresponding phrases are said.

Review Memorization Tip

Save any visuals or sets of printed Bible verses to reuse during later class times. Anything worth learning is worth reviewing and keeping fresh in the memory.


I hope you have found these Bible memorization tips, ideas, and activities helpful. I'm sure I will be adding more as I continue to organize my teaching materials and add to Creative-Sunday-School-Ideas.com. If you have any memorization tips you would like to share, please feel free to contact me via my Contact form.

For other memorization tips, be sure to visit my main Bible Memorization page. Also check out my page on Memorizing Bible Verses by setting them to music.

Remember Isaiah 55:10-11 and be encouraged: "For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater: So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it."


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