Here are several ways that my children use to help them memorize their verses each week. Maybe one of these ways will help youJ
[Parents & Workers: We use many of these ideas in a group setting. Please feel free to use these ideas on club night.]
- Say the verse at least 5 times every morning and 5 times before you go to bed.
- Put the verse on a card and tape it on your bathroom mirror. While you are brushing your teeth, combing your hair, or washing your hands read through it several times.
- Say the verse in as many funny ways as you can think of. Say it real loud, real soft, real high, real low, sound like a mouse, sound like a bear, etc. (you get the idea.) [Parents & Workers: this can be done in a group setting by having the children repeat the phrase or verse just as you say it. We call this "You Say What I Say" and it is basically a verbal Simon Says Game.]
- Have a brother, sister, friend or parent read the verse and stop before saying a word or phrase…you fill in the blank. Have them make longer and longer blank or you fill in more and more of the verse when they stop.
- Make up signs for different words or phrases in the verse. [Parents & Workers: We allow the children to choose signs as a group. We rarely use traditional sign language for this.]
- Sing the verse. (you can sing it normal, high, low, opera style, western style, country style, bluegrass style, formally, etc.)
- Say the verse in a rhyme fashion.
- Hop on one leg and say the verse…now march around the room and say the verse…waddlelike a duck…swim like a fish… leap like a frog... Make this even more fun by making your voice sound like the animal you are immitating as you say the verse.
- Ask your parents to ask you the verses/questions at breakfast time, supper time or bed time. Even better try to have them do this with you more than one time a dayJ
- Using a dry erase board or a dry erase marker on a sliding glass door (ask your mom first – if it is a dry erase marker it will erase) write the verse out…start by erasing a few words…Now say the verse…try erasing a few more words and say it again…keep going until you have erased all the words and can say the entire verse. (I learned the sliding glass door trick from one of my children's teachers...and it really does work.)
- Make an audio tape or cd of yourself or someone else reading the "Memorize It" sections over and over. Play this while you are playing, doing chores, or before you go to bed. (My children like to go to sleep listening to their memory work.)
Find the way the works best for you…and use it often. Have fun doing it.