When your children memorize Scripture, they gain a wealth of Biblical knowledge that they can draw on for the rest of their lives. As Charles Swindoll has written, “I know of no other single practice in the Christian life that’s more rewarding, practically speaking, than memorizing Scripture…No other single exercise pays greater spiritual dividends!”
To support you and your family as you seek to hide God’s Word in your hearts, we’ve put together this free Scripture Memory printable with a checklist of simple Bible verses to memorize for younger students and a list of more complex verses for older students to commit to memory, as well as flashcards for every verse mentioned. We hope it’s a help to you and your family!
Scripture memorization doesn’t need to be complicated or time-consuming. Here are a few ways to make Bible memory engaging and effective.
1. Make Scripture memorization a regular part of your family rhythm
Once or twice a day (before meals, before bed, during your homeschool Morning Time) read the new verse you are learning out loud as a family until everyone can recite it together.
2. Keep a light-hearted and encouraging tone
Scripture memory isn’t a contest or a race to see who can memorize the fastest. Hiding God’s word in your heart is a lifelong discipline, not a competition.
3. A few verses learned perfectly will serve you better than a multitude of verses learned poorly (or worse, learned and then forgotten)
Once a week (perhaps on Sunday) review all the verses you’ve memorized together. Periodic review is important to keep the content you’ve mastered sharp.
4. Engage all of your senses
Act the verse out, create motions to go along with the words (the sillier the better!), draw pictures of the verse, copy it into a journal, make up your own song or chant using the words of the verse, and tape it on the refrigerator or next to the bathroom sink. The more ways you can experience the verses the easier they will be to remember.
5. Discuss as a family what the verse means and how you can apply it to your life
Ideas that are relevant are easier to remember.
6. Play Bible memory games
Write the verse on a whiteboard and erase one word. Ask your children to say the verse to fill in the missing word. Erase more words each time.
Copy each word onto an index card. Hide the cards around the house and have your children find them. As they find the cards, have them put them in the correct order to complete the verse.
Toss a ball or stuffed animal around the group. Each time a person catches the item, have them say the next word in the verse.
Remember, in the words of Corrie ten Boom, “no one can take away from you those texts of the Bible which you have learned by heart.”
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