March 19, 2009

Toddler memory verses

I'm trying to come up with some sort of "system" for teaching Jack Bible verses. Seeing as how he repeats EVERYTHING (he just walked into my office and said "OH MY GOODNESS! MORE TOYS!"), I thought it would be good to get him repeating scripture.

I thought that surely someone online would have shortened toddler memory verses somewhere. But I've been searching and coming up short. Any ideas for resources on these things? Or have you done this already? I'd be glad for any advice/tips.

I did find these few another mom's blog (I don't know her . . . google just introduced us a few minutes ago):

God loves me. John 3:16
God made me. Psalm 139:13
I do good things because I love Jesus. John 14:15
Share what you have. It makes God happy. Hebrews 13:15
Be kind to one another. Ephesians 4:32

I know that I can take verses and shorten them, but I thought if someone else had already done the work, I'd borrow. I was really hoping to find some sort of curriculum that had stories and a verse for the week. Maybe I just need to write something. But that would be getting a little too close to actually using my master's degree . . .

7 comments:

Little Bird said...

Hey! Not sure how many she would have (or still remember) but back in the day, when I worked at SBC, Renee Smith used to do all the lessons for day camps. I remember her taking simple memory verses and wrapping an entire day's worth of activities around them. She also put them to music or made them into raps (very funny). I still remember, "I can do all things, all things, all things, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Phil. 4:13" (that's actually longer than the real verse, but it fits with the tune...) I sing that one to my boys all the time and they know it by heart now. Also, there was a rap... "submit to God, resist the devil and he will flee from you! James 4:7" Anyway, Renee might be a good resource. :)

Michelle said...

When I was living at Grace, I saw how Ben teaches Gina and Kelly (ages 4 and 3) Bible verses. He says verse in phrases and has them repeat each phrase
"Trust in the Lord"
"Trust in the Lord"
"With all your heart"
"With all your heart" etc.

Then he starts leaving things out until they can say the whole verse alone..sometimes it's every other word or whole sentences by themselves.

"Trust in the.."
"Lord"
"With all your.."
"heart. And lean not on your own understanding." etc.

Both girls have all of Psalm 23 memorized as well as a bunch of other verses.

Kyle Luke said...

Yeah, there's SO much out there for 3 - 5 year olds, but nothing for 18 - 36 month olds. Which is annoying because they can totally pick up on this stuff if it's presented for that level of development. I think I might check with Rene though to see if she knows of anything for toddlers.

Heather said...

Sara,
I'm so glad you stopped by my blog! I hope the memory verses work well for Jack. I'll try to post the melodies for the verses sometime soon.

God bless!
Heather

Xander said...

Don't forget "Jesus wept."

Our 2-year-old sunday school teachers have the kids say "Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and ye shall be saved." (Acts 16:33 I think) each week. After saying it once a week for a year, most learn it. Coolest part: Its the whole gospel message!

Smith Family Blog said...

Are you familiar with the AWANA program? We had that at our church growing up, and I think the "Cubbie" section was for 2-4 year olds. They had their own curriculum and memory verses.

Amanda May said...

I think it is great that you are working on this!! My friend taught me to put hand motions to the verses to teach them to two year olds.