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Annette's Notes, Issue #007 -- Fun Review Ideas
July 21, 2014


Fun Review Ideas

“I will delight myself in thy statutes: I will not forget thy word.”
Psalm 119:16

We want our students to retain the valuable things we have invested our time in teaching. And there is nothing more valuable than God’s Word.

“The law of thy mouth is better unto me than thousands of gold and silver.”
Psalm 119:72

Here are some practical and fun ideas to help you review the Bible lessons you teach your students:

QUESTIONS

  • Come up with a list of five to ten review questions for each lesson you teach.
  • Make sure most questions do not have a “yes” or “no” answer.
  • Make some questions easy and some more difficult, taking into account the ages and abilities of your students.
  • Make your list of review questions cumulative, adding to it each week over the course of your quarter or year.
GAMES
Use your list of review questions to play fun games. Here are some I have used:

Tic-Tac-Toe: Draw a grid (#) on a marker board. Divide the class into two teams, assigning one “X’s” and the other as “O’s.” Trade off asking a review question to each team. Students on each team take turns answering questions, but they can ask for help from their fellow teammates as needed. If a team answers correctly, the answering student writes the team’s “X” or “O” in the chosen spot on the tic-tac-toe grid. The first to get three “X’s” or “O’s” in a row wins.

Musical Chairs: Set out chairs back to back with one less chair than students. Play music for a few seconds. When you stop the music, everyone must quickly find a seat. The student left standing would usually be out of the game. Instead, ask him a review question. If he answers correctly, he is not out of the game. If he answers incorrectly, he is out. Be sure to remove a chair before beginning the next round. The student who is out can ask the other students questions or help with the music. Some weeks we have gone rounds and rounds without anyone being out and have gotten in a good review in the process.

Baseball: Make four bases (I usually just set pieces of paper on the floor): Home, 1st, 2nd, and 3rd. Divide the class into two teams. Choose a team to “go to bat” first and have them line up near home plate. Ask the first student in line a review question. If she answers correctly, she may go to first base; if incorrectly, record one out. As questions are answered correctly, students move around the bases, until finally one reaches home, thus scoring a run for the team. When the team has three incorrect answers (outs). It is the other team’s turn. NOTE: You may wish to go through your questions and rate them as worthy of a single, double, triple, or home run, depending on their difficulty. The student would then advance 1, 2, 3, or 4 bases accordingly.

BINGO: Take bits of information that you have learned over several weeks and place them onto a BINGO grid. You can use a site like Print-Bingo to help you with this. I have used this site to make a grid of the titles and adjectives of Jesus when we are studying our Jesus is...A through Z curriculum . I have also made a BINGO grid with pictures of parables. Make sure each grid is unique. Print call words (or pictures) on small slips of paper that you can place into a container and randomly pull and call. You can purchase bingo markers, but I usually let my students use small pieces of cereal and/or candy as markers. I let them nibble on their markers as they play. The first student to cover five words or pictures in a row (vertically, horizontally, or diagonally) wins. P.S. My students really enjoy being the caller. I usually let them take turns during the game. It gives them even more practice reading and saying the words/concepts they have been learning.

SONGS
Turn Bible verses, key concepts, or lists of items (e.g., disciples, parables, commandments, titles, etc.) into songs. Use familiar tunes to make it simpler for kids to learn the songs. Sing regularly and add more verses as you learn more items. Music is a wonderful aid to memory!

MISCELLANEOUS
  • Quickly ask as many questions as possible, tossing small pieces of candy or fruit snacks as a prize for each correct answer.
  • Bring props used in previous lessons and ask students to remember what the prop is associated with. Ask review questions and discuss as a class, attempting to remember as much of the lesson as possible.
  • Bring snacks associated with previous lessons (e.g., lentil soup for Esau trading his birthright, fish crackers and water for crossing the Red Sea, grapes and milk for the spies exploring Canaan, etc.). Before or as they are eating their snacks, ask students to remember as much as they can from the lessons.
  • Cut up the list of review questions and have students pull them randomly from a fun container and ask their classmates. Whoever gets the answer correct, gets to pull and ask the next question.
  • At the end of the quarter, take one entire class period to play games and eat reminder snacks and remember and celebrate all you have learned.

NOTE:
I work with young kids (6- to 10-year-olds mainly), so
I often give hints or let kids help each other or count
close answers (clarifying them). The point is to remind
the students and help them remember what we have
been learning. Talking about the questions does this.

Think About It

Ask yourself:
  • How could I begin incorporating more review into my class time to help my students retain more of what they have learned?
  • What are some games, songs, or activities I could easily use to make review more fun?
  • What is something I have learned that I should take the time to review for myself?
If you have some great review ideas and would like to share them, I would love to hear from you. I am always looking for fun ways to engage my students in learning and retaining more of what they learn from God's Word.

Blessings,
Annette
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