This is a guest post by the amazing Sami Cone of SamiCone.com and Tommy Nelson!

So many people ask me why my I create original Bible memory verse songs for my kids to learn, and the answer is simple:
I found God not long before I found my husband, so I knew early on I’d need mentors to help me with both! When you consider that my first child was due on our first wedding anniversary, you can see that I experienced a lot of life change in a shore amount of time.

I quickly surrounded myself with mentors who had different areas of expertise: homemaking, marriage, business, relationships, Bible study and yes, even scripture memorization.

Ms. Jane was a pastor’s wife in our church and was the first person who taught me the importance of memorizing passages of scripture instead of just individual verses.

She would print out chapters of the Bible on her computer, cut them into a 3 x 5 card size, then hole punch them and keep them in a mini-binder that she carried around with her everywhere. She started by memorizing one verse per week, and would just keep adding on and reviewing until she memorized an entire chapter.

Now this was profound: Though she often felt like she could have memorized more than one verse a week, she kept it to just one to ponder, learn about and solidify in her heart.

Once she memorized an entire chapter, she’d move on to another one. Sometimes she’d work on memorizing an entire New Testament book, while other times she’d switch it up and memorize something that was really speaking to her at that time. After she completed a chapter, she’d review it once a week (on the same day each week) before working on her current verse.

Though it may seem daunting at first, the one verse a week method is powerful and doable.

Once I had kids, I realized the words alone might not make enough of an impact in their young minds. So to aid in the memorization process, I started coming up with original tunes and my own sign language. I started singing these to them before they could even talk, and now the tunes are permanently stuck in our heads!

In their preschool years, I’ve kept mostly to verses I thought would teach them important lessons or character traits. Now that my kids are 5 & 7, we’ve just started work on memorizing our first full chapter (Philippians 2). It’s up to you to choose whatever works best for your family, but remember this: no child is too young to start memorizing scripture.

It teaches them a new vocabulary, a new language in a sense, that will stay with them the rest of their lives.

So where to start?

I’d suggest either Psalm 23 or Psalm 1. Both are relatively short, so not only will your kids see a relatively quick return on investment in terms of time spent memorizing, but they are also poignant live verses.

Here is my video teaching kids to memorize Psalm 23 (with signs, but no song):

An example of an original Bible Memory Verse song with Psalm 1:1-2:

The video for Psalm 1:3
The video for Psalm 1:4-6

I would also encourage you to think of a way to celebrate with your children once they reach a memorization goal. After all, if we pay kids to do side jobs around the house, why not invest in their heart condition as well??? Find out what really motivates them (whether it be money, staying up late, special time with friends, making a favorite meal, going out for ice cream, etc) and then set that as a reward once they reach their goal. This will help the process until it truly becomes a life-long habit for them.

I’m always working on new verses and songs for my kids – what verses would you like a memory song for?

:: :: ::

With a passion for teaching and mentoring others as her inspiration, Sami Cone began blogging in 2009 to encourage others to live their dream life and pursue their passions. A published author and seminar speaker, she draws on her experiences as a writer, editor, university professor, performer, professional athlete, and pageant winner to help women realize their full potential in life. She appears regularly on TV and morning radio as a Frugal Expert.  Sami and her husband of seven years, Rick, thrive in Nashville with their two children.

When I was at Blissdom this year I was sitting at a table of Crafty/DIY bloggers. A girl came up to me and said, “I think we are neighbors.” Now, this might be super weird anywhere else but I guess in the land of bloggers it’s only kinda weird. Anyway, after talking for a minute we discovered that we do in fact live less than 5 minutes from each other! Two Christian moms blogging about our kids, crafts and life! How cool is that?

I’d like to introduce you to my neighbor (and new bloggy friend), Cha Cha from Cha Cha’s Treasures and her blog, Sit Relax & Read! Cha Cha is partnering with Impress Your Kids and I’m so excited about this partnership because Cha Cha’s heart is the same as mine–to impress God’s Word on our kids. And one way Cha Cha does this is with Memory Verse Pillows!

Sound fun?

They are! And look how cute, too!

These pillow covers are gorgeous and are available in tons of fabrics (including some super cute boy patterns!) with a little pocket for your kids to slide in Memory Verse cards. Kids can keep them with them at night, read them before bed and just have a central location to find them all day!

I LOVE THIS.

It reminds me of a grown-up (and much cuter) version of My God Can! Not only is it a good way for kids to keep the verses they are learning close, it is another visual reminder that God’s Word is central to our lives! If you have a special pillow on your bed or in your room that houses Scriptures you are trying to learn–it just solidifies the fact that God’s Word is important!

I think these pillows would be excellent gifts for baptisms, dedications and EASTER BASKETS! If you have non-readers, it would be fun to put scriptures in that would be a prayer for your child. You could read them before bed or whenever they need them. It would be a visual of your prayer and God’s Word in their lives! Oooh, these make me so excited!

So, want one of these LOVELIES for yourself? For your kids? Cha Cha is offering ONE as a giveaway today! AND she’s giving ALL OF YOU a generous 30% off one item for the whole month of April with the code: IMPRESS. How great is that?!

Don’t forget to subscribe to Cha Cha’s blog, Sit Relax and Read, like her on facebook or follow her on twitter! You will love her!

Enter to win one pillow cover by Cha Cha’s Treasures (do one or all, leave a separate comment for each):

• Visit Cha Cha’s Treasures & tell me which pillow cover you’d get!
• Leave a comment. What verse would you put in your kids’ pillow?
• Tweet it! Hope I win this CUTE Easter basket gift from @impressyourkids & @sitrelaxandread: a Memory Verse Pillow! http://bit.ly/iykPillow
• Share on Facebook. It’s easy – just click the “Like” button at the bottom of this post!

Contest ends Sunday, April 10.

{our big huge Ultimate Blog Party giveaway is still going on! have you entered to win yet?}

Kids (well, all of us really) are continually compared to others–older siblings, peers in class, kids on their ball team. It can be very easy for children to think of themselves in terms of what they can’t do. 1 Peter 4:10 “Each of you has received a gift in order to serve others. You should use it faithfully.” It’s important for kids to learn and realize that God has given ALL of us gifts and talents. And these gifts are to affect others around us–we can serve others with them!

To help Lydia memorize this I made a cute little gift. I wrapped a shoebox with brown paper (my fave!), let her pick a ribbon (pink-of course!) then wrote the reference on the front…with a few dotted lines…which led to more of the scripture and more dotted lines…

We flipped the box around following the lines and saying the verse until she could say it by herself! I did have to draw some picture prompts to remind her of what the words said. It was the perfect visual tie-in since the verse is about gifts. But you could easily do this with any verse and I can see a long verse wrapping around the box several times. It would be a cross between a rubicks cube, a maze and scripture memory!