- 1). Focus on love. While the Ten Commandments have been perceived by many to be restrictive in nature, they were actually written in order to express God's love to the world. For this reason, when teaching the commandments to children, help children to understand the loving premise behind the commandments by creating a heart-shaped puzzle designed from ten pieces of construction paper. Write a commandment on each piece of the puzzle, and let children glue the commandments together to create a complete heart.
- 2). Teach children a useful acronym. Memorization helps children to become familiar with new material. By associating each one of the Ten Commandments with the letters of an acronym, children can quickly learn each of the commandments by heart. A simple acronym that contains ten letters, such as "God loves us" is easy for children to understand. The letter "G" from the word "God" can be associated with the first commandment. For example, "God is number one" is a sentence that succinctly summarizes this commandment. Next, "o" from "God" can be associated with the second commandment. For example, "Other gods are not the same" may summarize the second commandment. Repeat accordingly.
- 3). Organize group presentations. Sometimes, the best way to teach children is to let them teach each other. Ideally, if you are teaching children a Bible study lesson on the Ten Commandments, 10 students will be present in your classroom. If so, you may assign each child a different commandment to learn about and summarize. Next, invite each child to share his or her commandment with the rest of the class. In reality, a class may contain either a greater number of children than ten or less than ten children. Presentations can be easily modified, by assigning each child more than one commandment, or by assigning each commandment to a group of children.
- 4). Show children how to count the Ten Commandments on the fingers of their hands. A tactile way to teach the commandments is described in "World Communion Sunday Worship Resources," compiled by Bruce and Carolyn Winfrey Gillete of the First Presbyterian Church in Pitman, New Jersey. Each finger can be used to represent one of the Ten Commandments, and children can be taught that all fingers can be united in a reverent prayer to God.
- 5). Encourage children to create handmade bookmarks listing the Ten Commandments. Writing enhances the learning process. Let children use crayons to create bookmarks that they can give to their parents as gifts. As a special touch, these bookmarks can be laminated by a teacher before being returned to the children. Each child can create a bookmark that is unique from all others. Parents and friends who receive the bookmark will become indirect participants of each child's Ten Commandments Bible study lesson.
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