Joshua’s House

Gather some paper and cut it into strips about 1-2 inches wide and about four inches long.  Write one word from your memory verse on each piece of paper until you’ve written out the whole verse.

Mix up all of the pieces of paper you used and work to see how fast you can put them all in order.

Try racing against some of your friends.  Can you do it in under a minute?

Modifications

Want something easier for younger children?

Draw a picture on a note card for each memory verse word, or of each tiny section of the memory verse.  When your child knows what part of the memory verse goes with each picture, have her put them in order.

In this activity, we are going to make a bit of a mess.  Once you’ve chosen your memory verse, write it out a few different ways.  First, write it with no punctuation, capitalization or spaces.  When you are done, it will look something like this:

goddidextraordinarymiraclesthroughpaulacts1911

Once you have that one written out, write your verse again, but scramble every third word.  This one is a bit tough, but when you are done, it should look a bit like this:

God did aaedinorrrtxy miracles through alup. Acts 19:11

Now do two more—one that has no vowels and one that has no consonants.

Gd dd xtrdnry mrcls thrgh Pl. cts 9:11

_o_    _i_   e_ _ _ ao_ _i_ a_y   _ i_a_ _ e_    _ _ _ ou_ _    _au_.    A_ _ _ 9:11

When you are finished lay the four verses in front of you.

Set a timer and see which one you can unscramble the fastest.  Record your times.  You can even see if you can beat your parents or your siblings.

Do this activity every day for a week to get faster and faster at it. You can even start to time yourself to see how long it will take to make the puzzles.

Modifications

Want something easier for younger children?

Say the memory verse with your child, and let her fill in the missing word.  If you are able, you can even draw one picture for each word in the memory verse on a notecard.  Practice laying them out with your child.  Take some of the pictures away and see if she can still say the verse.

This is a memory trick you’ve probably already heard of before, but it provides a lot of fun and is a huge booster to memorizing scripture.

Set your memory verse to music .  Maybe there is a tune you already know that fits well with your verse, or maybe you can make up your own tune.

You can also do a rhythm instead, like in a nursery rhyme.  Even if there is no tune, having a rhythm will make a huge difference—think of Humpty Dumpty.

Modifications

Want something easier for younger children?

Provide younger children with memory verse songs that are already written.  You can find some great resources in our online store.  If you’re working on a particular verse and you can’t seem to find a song that is already written, sing along to a familiar tune your chlid already knows like “The Farmer in the Dell” or “Jesus Loves Me.”  You may even have fun making up hand motions for the song.

It is important that we grow in every area of life: spiritually, mentally, physically . . . you get the idea      Here is a challenge that will give your physical, mental and spiritual health a jump start.

Pull out a jump rope and get hopping.  Every time you jump, say the next word in your memory verse.  Once you’ve got the hang of it, time yourself to see how fast you can get through the whole verse without messing up.