I thought it might be fun to show you the idea behind my book lived out by my grandson, Oliver (aka Ollie). I was blessed with a wonderful week in Rhode Island due to the generosity of my sweet husband. He stayed back in Birmingham and took care of my mother. What a husband!! Anyway, while I was in Rhode Island, we went to a beautiful island called 'Newport' (I recommend it for a weekend away at a cute Bed & Breakfast). On this island, we decided to learn a Bible verse in the Hide and Seek Scripture way! Have a look and try it with your kids :) HERE IS HOW IT IS DONE: 1. Hide one part of the verse (e.g. 'I AM'). 2. Make sure your child is not looking then yell 'GO'. 3. Once they find the verse, have they say it to you over and over in different fun ways (jumping, spinning, clapping it, etc.). 4. Now on to the second part of the verse....have them close their eyes again and hide the next part of the verse. Once the second part is found (like the one above... 'THE WAY') here is what you do: 1. Help your child to learn the 2nd part of the verse. Be creative and have fun while they repeat it many times (can be a great time of exercise for both parent and child if you march or do jumping jacks while you say it together). 2. Now add it to the 1st part of the verse, saying together, 'I AM THE WAY'. again, repeat it with them a few times then let them try alone. 3. Have them close their eyes as you hide the next part of the verse. Now you have the idea! Hide the verse portions, your child/grandchild run to find them and then they work on memorization. Don't forget that once you see they have gotten the new part of the verse memorized, then go back and put it with the other parts into a partial or whole sentence. In the picture above, Ollie found 'THE TRUTH'. We worked on memorizing it, then we said all together, 'I AM THE WAY, THE TRUTH'. Now there is one more part to go until we have the whole verse! Have you noticed his face throughout this process. He can hardly contain his joy!!! I love that memorizing God's Word can be such a lovely experience for children and precious time spent together with their family. We are almost done! Ollie and I worked hard on learning 'AND THE LIFE', while having a blast running up and down the sandy path. Once we had it, we put it all together, 'I AM THE WAY, THE TRUTH AND THE LIFE'. I carefully explained to Ollie about the person who made that statement. It was Jesus who said this as found in John chapter 14. It was in the context of a crucial and meaningful conversation with his disciples. He had just correctly predicted his own betrayal and Peter's denial, and he was trying to comfort his disciples by detailing their eternal hope of heaven. In this midst of this conversation, Thomas asks him, 5 “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?” 6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7 If you really know me, you will know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.” John 14: 5-6 (NIV) Finally Ollie found the Bible reference for the verse....JOHN 14:6. This is an important piece in the puzzle. Make sure your child not only knows that this verse is from the Bible, but help them to understand the important place this verse holds in the big story of God's redemption of man. God created and loves all people. Man was separated from God by his sin, God made a way to remedy that separation through his precious Messiah, now when man receives that gracious and free gift of salvation (which was uniquely provided by God himself), then he finally has the promise of ETERNAL LIFE! You may be wondering why I chose this verse, and why it was only a portion of the whole passage. I picked this one with a few things in mind: 1. The age of my grandson (he turned 4 in May). I felt he could handle this size verse. 2. The conversation we could have surrounding this verse (about the way that God provided a way of salvation for him through Jesus the Messiah/Savior). 3. Make sure the size and the content of the verse are palatable for the age of your child. Do not be afraid to challenge them as they get older, but also be careful not too frustrate them when they are younger. Another thought before the grand finale of hearing Ollie say the verse....you can incorporate this memorization technique for things beside the Bible. You can: ---hide numbers to practice counting in order ---hide letters of the alphabet to learn their names or say them in order ---hide portions of a poem or song to learn them in a fun way ---hide site words to help them with reading fluency, etc., etc., etc.... HE DID IT!! WELL DONE, OLIVER!!!!
LORD, HELP US TO GUIDE OUR CHILDREN IN YOUR WORD AND IN YOUR WAYS. MAY WE ALL, AS A FAMILY, HIDE YOUR WORD IN OUR HEARTS THAT WE MIGHT NOT SIN AGAINST YOU!! P.S. The next P.S.S. was in the last blog, but I changed my mine and do this one first...a woman's perogitive. In two weeks I really will blog about ‘How To Have Healthy Boundaries For Your Children’. I WILL TAKE NEXT WEEK OFF BECAUSE MY DAUGHTER AND GRANDSONS ARE VISITING. WHOO HOO!!!! P.S.S. Stay tuned for a blog in two weeks! I will write about ‘How To Have Healthy Boundaries For Your Children’. It’s hard to do phonics games if you children will not even sit down if you ask them. This aspect of parenting was a huge learning curve for me, but my husband’s wisdom encompassed strong love and clear boundaries... taught with calm discipline. I learned from the best, and I hope some of my thoughts will help you if you struggle in this area. SEE YOU NEXT WEEK! P.S.S.S. Don't forget to sign-up to be reminded when new blogs have been posted!
3 Comments
Ruth Frizzell
10/1/2019 12:44:34 pm
What a great idea!! What a fun way for children to learn memory verses. I think I could modify this technique for the middle school girls I teach in Sunday school. I could have a girl go outside the room while the rest of us hide the parts of the scripture in hard to find places in the room. When the girl returned, we would tell her she was getting "hot" when she got close to where we hid a part of the scripture and would tell her she was "cold" otherwise.
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Diane STOUGH
10/1/2019 08:43:22 pm
What a creative way to teach our children (my grandchildren) Scripture. I enjoyed just reading about this fun activity and just think how much the children will love it!
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Alice A Pence
10/1/2019 10:44:00 pm
This is great! And what wonderful boys! We love you all <3
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