Learning the Old Testament part 3

Each week I'm focusing on teaching the books of the Old Testament. In addition to practicing the song (see my blog "Learning the Old Testament part 1") and playing the game ("Learning the Old Testament part 2") I'm going to have the kids work in small groups to sort the books in each category of the Old Testament. By breaking down the parts into manageable chunks they will hopefully remember better. Here is a link to my free book sort. I'm going to do one category each week: law, history, poetry, major prophets, and then minor prophets, with a few weeks between to learn what those books are about. Here are a couple screenshots of what the cut-and-paste activities look like.

Learning the Old Testament part 2

As I begin my mission of teaching students the books of the Old Testament, we will start each week singing the OT Canon and end the lesson playing a game, called "I Have..., Who Has..."

To play, cut out the cards and pass out to kids. (If you have fewer kids than cards, give each child more than one.) Start with the beginning card, "Who has Genesis?" The person that has Genesis will read his card, "I have Genesis, who has Exodus?" and the game continues, with students taking turns reading the books in order. The game ends with "I have Malachi."

Download the game cards for free here

Here's an example of the pages. I recommend copying onto cardstock for durability.

Learning the Old Testament part 1

A goal I have in 2017 is to teach my church kids the books of the Bible. We're going to start out with the Old Testament, and then in July swap to the New Testament.

There are many versions of songs to teach the Old Testament books, but a favorite of mine is Rappin Rabbit's O.T. Canon. (Yes, it's incredibly lame and old and totally from my childhood!) I like it because in addition to learning the books in order, it also teaches categories. Here the Youtube video along with a copy of the lyrics. You can click on the image to save and print.

The O.T. Canon

The books of the Bible are split into two

testaments: the Old and New

In the OT there are 39 books

What are their names? Let’s take a look

The Book of the Law starts with Genesis

Exodus and Leviticus

Numbers and Deuteronomy

Next are the Books of History

Joshua, Judges, then you’ve got Ruth

First and Second Samuel, full of God’s truth

Next is the First and Second Kings

First and Second Chronicles telling ‘bout things

Ezra, Nehemiah come up next

Esther ends the Historical Text

Job is the first Book of Poetry

followed by Psalms and Proverbs, see

Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon

We’re over half way through all of ‘em!

Next are the prophets in the Major League,

Isaiah, Jeremiah, would you believe?

Lamentations, Ezekiel, Daniel all have tales to tell

The Minor Prophets are a little less famous

There’s Hosea, Joel, and Amos

Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, and Habakkuk

Funny name, huh?

Zephaniah and Haggai

Zechariah and Malachi

Check ‘em all out and see if you can

Start all over and say them again!