If helping your kids memorize scripture is important to you, you need to be intentional, and it needs to be enjoyable. Ask God to give you some creativity, and then think about some different ways you can learn the Shema together.
- Secret Message. White crayons + white paper = invisible secret message! Break out the water color paints and let your kiddo paint over the message. Want to make it a bit more complex? Try breaking the page up into a grid or using black crayon to draw wavy lines, and taking turns painting one area at a time. See if you can guess the word that's partially revealed.
- Make a game of it. Break the passage up into phrases, and write each phrase on an index card. Then:
Play a memory game: turn all the cards upside-down, and take turns flipping two over - looking for two phrases that go together. As you locate phrases that connect, put them all in order until you've turned over all the cards.
Scramble up the phrases, and work together to unscramble and put them into order. - Sing a song. You could learn one that's already out there (this one is based on the Shema), or make up your own. Be willing to be silly. Kids are good at this.
- Use Pictures. Write out the verse on paper, chalkboard or whiteboard, then substitute some of the words with a picture to represent it. The mind often recalls pictures better than words. Use an ear for "listen", a heart for "heart", a cloud for "soul", a strong arm or dumbbell for "strength", etc.
- Motions. Motions are so useful, especially if your kids tend to get rowdy when you'd rather they sat still. Make up motions to go with the words, or learn a few ASL signs. Here's a great resource for sign language.
- Fill in the Blank. Write the verse out on a whiteboard or chalkboard, say it a few times together, then start erasing words, replacing them with _______. Erase an easy word, then a hard one, saying the whole verse together again each time. Make it harder: start erasing the blanks!
- Sticky Note Mania. Just like fill-in-the-blanks, here's how I'm doing it: Yep, I'm dedicated to memorizing the Shema myself. I know the concept of course, but I don't have all of the words to all 6 verses memorized. I'm learning it word-for-word along with you guys, so I wrote out the verses on a bunch of colorful sticky-notes, which are now plastered on my wall. A couple of times each week, I read through it out loud, then remove a sticky. As I read through it again, I fill in the blank. By the end of this adventure, I'll know all of it. Will you?
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