How to Engage Your Kids in Verse Memorization

 

If you've never heard of Awana in Kids Ministry, you might be living under a rock. It is an extensive ministry development which took the Kids Ministry world by storm by its colorful media, large gym game catalogue, and engaging rewards system for children. Although many churches today have stepped away from the Awana system (as did mine), there is one thing that I feel those churches lack that Awana did so well: Bible verse memory.

How can we possibly engage our children in Memory Verses in today's world?

1. Make it Fun

Much like everything else in kids ministry, you have to make it fun! The easiest way to make memory verses fun for kids is by giving them rewards for completing them. Those rewards could be toys, stickers, merch... anything you can think of! Of course, candy is always an excellent reward. If you need help on deciding rewards for your Kids Ministry, click here to learn How to Reward your Kids in Kids Ministry.

Another way of making Memory Verses fun for the kids is by branding it to be fun. In my ministry, I've "branded" our memory verse activities under the logo, Memory Verse Challenge. Challenges are super relevant in today's world. Simple changes like these will help engage your kids and make it seem much more enjoyable that it usually would for them.

An example of a memory verse worksheet.

We also have our kids take home a Memory Verse Challenge Activity sheet each month filled with fun activities and useful resources. This is a simple way of helping your children memorize their Memory Verses while also making it more fun for them to do at home.

2. Make it Easy

Resist the temptation of having your kids learn long and complicated verses. Choose a simple verse (or half a verse!) from your Bible lesson or important verses like John 3:16 and Genesis 1:1. I would highly recommend having them learn these verses in kid friendly versions of the Bible, such as NIV, NLT, or CSB. I understand that each church may favor one over the other, but having kids memorize verses from the KJV can give them an added struggle which might keep them from continuing!

At my church, we only have our kids memorize one verse a month. Instead of having them memorize a new one each week, we've simplified it down for them. I've found that to be much more accessible to our younger kids, allowing them to join in on the fun.

3. Engage their Parents

Parents are the main discipler of their kids. They must be at the heart of everything we do in Kids Ministry. But how in the world do we engage their parents if we struggle engaging their kids? 

Parent signature sheet for Memory Verse Challenge.

My answer so far has been to get the parents to sign off on their child(ren) completing their memory verses. I had previously tried having the kids pass of their verses to their class leaders, but it became a game of everyone memorizing it that Wednesday and passing it off. They weren't really memorizing the verse, just saving it in their brain for an hour. By having their parents sign off on the memory verse, they have to learn it at home with their parents.

This only works if the kids are being rewarded for their efforts. No one is going to keep a piece of paper and go through all that work at home for nothing. That's what homework at school is for!

It takes Effort to Engage Kids

The bottom line is that, in order to grasp your kids attention, you must work to earn it. Make things fun, easy, and get their parents involved to fully capture their eyes and mind! But remember, it is all worth it for the Kingdom of God and their eternal salvation.