How to Teach Kids Bible Verses (Even if They Aren’t Interested)

Inside: Your ultimate guide of memory verses for kids. Everything you need to learn alongside your kids 26 bible verses in 26 weeks. This post contains a tried and true method with songs and games for kids ages 5-12.

How Bible Verses Saved My Family

It had been over a year since my divorce. My children were young at the time, ages 6 and 7, and we still couldn’t seem to get our footing during bedtime.

After working long hours, I was too exhausted for all that my young children demanded of me: cooking, cleaning, homework, routines. By evening, no energy or brainwaves remained.

These were the days when my children would find me scrolling through my iPad while they ran around the house minutes before bedtime.

Never soon enough, the clock would strike bedtime, I’d yell for sleep, and fighting and crying would ensue.

Something Needed to Change

During one of my evenings of mindless scrolling on the iPad, I came across a fellow mom blog where she was singing Bible verses with her children.

She began a series connected to the alphabet. For the letter A, she had a verse and a song she made up. She recorded her children and encouraged others to teach their children to learn the song and thus the bible verse as well.

I grabbed a running child and played the song for him. He was intrigued. That week we listened to the song every night before bed until we had learned the first verse.

Related: 23 Bible Verses all Youth Need

The next week, my other child joined in. Suddenly I had a routine with my children they looked forward to. I would record them singing the bible verse on my iPad and send it to the grandparents. Sometimes they would act goofy and put on wigs from our pop-up photo booth.

We were now enjoying each others company every night before bed as a family. Learning Bible verses was merely a side benefit.

We continued this routine for five weeks until the blog I was following quit providing the resources. I was frantic. I emailed the writer and asked for more. She replied she didn’t have time to devote to it anymore.

What Did I Do?

I didn’t want to give up the connection my little family of 3 was experiencing. I would create the materials myself. Our goal was to learn one verse for each letter of the alphabet so in 26 weeks we could learn 26 bible verses.

Our routine looked like this:

• Each Sunday, I would prepare for the next letter of the alphabet.
• I’m no songwriter, so instead, I’d search on YouTube for a kids video that puts a bible verse in its song for the letter of the week.
• I’d write out the verse of the week on a piece of paper, for my kids to have a visual reminder of the Bible verse.
• Each Sunday evening before bed we’d begin learning our verse for the week.
• I’d read the Bible verse and explain it’s meaning. I’d try my best to find materials online for a Sunday school lesson to would help me explain it.
• We’d watch the YouTube video as many times as necessary and begin singing it. Most of the videos I found were of cartoons or other young children, so my kids found them fun to watch.
• At the end of the week, I’d take a video of them. The videos I took reinforced our learning, but more so, they loved watching themselves on video, especially when they were acting goofy.
• Every few days, I’d ask them to sing a verse we already learned to ensure they hadn’t forgotten it.

Time Commitment

Some evenings we would work on learning bible verses for a few minutes and sometimes we’d have fun so it’d last longer on purpose.  We completed all 26 Bible verses in 26 weeks. Not because I had the kids on a strict schedule, but because we all looked forward to it each evening.

What Was Missing

If we were missing one thing, it was a tangible way to reinforce the learning to bring it all together. I didn’t have access to anything to correspond to the videos I found.

Each Sunday I scrambled to find a verse, video, and story all beginning with the same letter. I certainly didn’t have time to create any learning sheets. And the Bible verse I wrote with a sharpie on a piece of paper each week wasn’t worth framing.

Since then, I created the exact thing we didn’t have.

ABC Memory Verse Series

1. Full ABC Series of Posts

At the bottom of this post, you will find an index of 26 memory verses for kids. Each post contains:

• Memory verse for each letter of the alphabet.
• Printable to hang the memory verse up where everyone can see it.
• YouTube video to go along with the verse and set it to a tune.
• A background story or easy lesson plan, when possible, in a child’s terms to help them understand what they are learning.

2. ABC Memory Verse Cards

In my resource library, you can print off a small deck of 26 Bible Verses for free. This deck of cards contains all 26 Bible Verses and folds together into a small book for your child. They can keep this next to their bedside table and step through them as you learn each verse each week.

Also in the resource library is the option to print an 8×10 version of the Bible Verse if you want to frame it or put the verse on the fridge for the whole family to memorize.

To download all 26 Bible Scripture cards, click here to get free access to my resource library.

3. ABC Memory Verse Workbook

Another valuable resource I wish I would have had is fun games to play throughout the week with my kids instead of singing the verse each night. Something tangible to reinforce the learning of the verse with my children in other ways.

This is why I created the ABC Memory Verse Workbook. This workbook contains 5 pages for each verse (letter) and gives your child one activity to do for each day of the week. Each day you will sing the song but also while singing the song your child can work through these sheets:

• A cut out of each letter of the verse, then your child can try to put the verse together. You can reuse this throughout the week.
• A print-friendly version of the verse to hang up nearby where your kids will see it during the week.
• A word search that contains the words in the verse.
• A page for your child to write the verse out to say what it means to them.
• A page for your child to draw out the verse and write what books of the Bible this verse is found in.

The ABC Memory Verse Workbook is the perfect companion to use while learning the verses. Or, you can choose to purchase this workbook after you have learned all 26 verses then use this workbook to reinforce your child’s (or your) learning.

The workbook is available HERE.

7 Tips for Success: How to Use the Memory Verses with Your Kids

What is learned with song is remembered long.

1. Review the verses daily – consistency is vital.

   

2. Learn with a song. Similar to how we remember all the words to our favorite songs, studies show when we learn a Bible verse to a catchy tune, we’re more likely to remember it.
3. Make it fun. If not, no one will want to do it. I found recording my kids while they sang the verses made it exciting for the kids. They loved to watch themselves. I also let them sing in funny voices if they felt like it. They thought this was hilarious.
4. Hang the verse up so everyone can see it throughout the day. If your kids can’t read yet, then read it aloud whenever you walk by it. You can print these verses off from the resource library.
5. Put the verse in context. Explain the story around the verse. Kids love stories.
6. Create a game out of it. We memorized one bible verse for each letter of the alphabet. This way the kids knew we had a goal and an endpoint. Each week they knew we were going to work on the next letter. Since we had a plan, with a beginning and an end, the ABC memory verses weren’t “just another verse” to learn.
7. Quiz them. As an added incentive I create a game to quiz your kids over the verses at the end of the year. Could they recite (or sing) all 26 verses? Bonus points for memorizing the references.

The Ultimate Guide to Teaching Memory Verses for Kids

If you follow these proven steps, you’ll not only establish a bonding experience each night, but you’ll also equip your child with 26 scriptures to fall back on for the rest of their lives.

Five More Tips for Success

1. Bookmark this page and work through each of the ABC Verses below with your kids.

2. Visit the resource library for each letter and download your Bible Verse.

3. Use the companion ABC Workbook to enhance learning.

4. Take it one letter at a time and go at your child’s pace. Then check back here when you’re ready for the next verse.

5. Have fun. This process isn’t about learning a ton of verses. It’s about the connection with your child and God.

Which Verses are Included? Index & Links to Bookmark

• A Verse: Joshua 24:15 “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord”.
• B Verse: Ephesians 4:32 “Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other just as Christ forgave you.”
• C Verse: Ephesians 6:1 “Children obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.”
• D Verse: Philippians 2:14-15 “Do everything without complaining, do everything without arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure children of God.”
• E Verse: Proverbs 20:11 “Even a child is known by his actions by whether his conduct is pure and right.”
• F Verse: Matthew 12:34: “For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks.”
• G Verse: Psalm 136:1 “Give thanks to The Lord for he is good. His love endures forever.”
• H Verse: Matthew 21:9: “Hosanna to the Son of David. Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest.”
• I Verse: Psalm 119:11: “I have hidden your word in my heart. So that I might not sin against you.”
• J Verse: John 8:12: “I am the light of the world, whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life.”
• K Verse: Hebrews 13:5 “Keep your life free from the love of money and be content with what you have because God has said, “Never will I leave you, never will I forsake you.”
• L Verse: Mark 12:30: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.”
• M Verse: Psalm 100:1-2: “Make a joyful noise to the Lord all the earth. We’re gonna make a joyful noise to the Lord all the earth. Serve the Lord with gladness! Come into his presence with singing!”
• N Verse: Romans 8:38: “Nothing shall separate us from the love of God.”
• O Verse: Psalm 63:1: “Oh God, you are my God. Earnestly I seek you. My soul thirsts for you…..”
• P Verse: Psalm 148:1-5: “Praise the Lord from the Heavens; Praise Him in the heights above…”
• Q Verse: James 1:19: “Quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to become angry.”
• R Verse: 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18: “Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”
• S Verse: Matthew 6:20-2: “Store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and rust do not…”
• T Verse: 2 Corinthians 5:17 “Therefore if anyone is in Christ he is a new creation; the old has passed away behold the new has come.”
• U Verse: Psalm 123:1: “Unto You I lift up my eyes, O You who dwell in the heavens.” 
• V Verse: John 6:47: “Verily, Verily, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life.”
• W Verse: Psalm 56:3-4: “When I am afraid, I will trust in you. In God, whose word I praise, in God I trust.”
• X Verse: Psalm 99:5: “eXalt the Lord our God and worship at his footstool; Holy is He.”
• Y Verse: Matthew 22:37-39: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind…”
• Z Verse: Psalm 97:8: “Zion hears and rejoices.”

In the End

Seven years later, my preteens are in the car quarreling about who knows what when I start singing, “Do everything without complaining” and immediately I hear in response sing-song voices “do everything without arguing….”

The conversation quickly turns to, “Mom do you remember the “F” verse? How did it go again?”

No, we don’t have all 26 verses memorized still, and it isn’t a cure for all fighting amongst siblings. But there are moments when I’m thankful for 26 weeks chose to hide God’s word in our hearts.