Scripture study allows you to step away from the cares of the world and focus on God and his word. Helping your family understand the importance of scripture study comes from your example and practice. However, family scripture study can be a challenge. Not only may your children be uncooperative, they may not get much out of it.

Each child learns differently. By adapting a variety of methods to your scripture study each day, you can help your children and yourself get more from daily study.

1. Write information down

For many individuals, writing helps remember key details and events. If you have older children, enlist their help and create scripture notebooks. These notebooks can be used as a personal scripture journal for each child to write things she learns as well as writing summaries or thoughts while reading the scriptures. This can also be an excellent tool if you study the scriptures by topic. You can write down all of the scriptures you come across along with quotes and outside resources you may find. Additionally, if you have a younger child who is learning to write, this is an excellent way to help with his writing skills and teach him about God.

2. Draw

If your children are creative, give them a notebook and ask them to draw the stories and characters you are studying. In my scriptures, even though I'm an adult, I still have drawings. I use small sticky notes and draw the main event of a chapter then stick the image to the chapter heading. This helps me visualize the chapter and better understand the plot.

3. Create games

Children love games. They require more preparation, but they can help the child more fully understand the story and the characters. Here are a few easy games you can play:

20 Questions

Think of a person or story from your recent scripture study and have your children ask up to 20 questions to determine who or what you are thinking. When they guess correctly, have your children relay all the information they remember about that person or event.

Memory

Find pictures of several stories throughout the scriptures. On a separate card, find scriptures or key events that are associated with each image. Create a card game where you ask your child to match the image with the correct text by flipping over the correct cards.

Family Feud

Divide your family into teams and ask them questions about things you have recently studied in the scriptures. Each team then races to buzz in and answer correctly. The first team to reach a certain number of correctly answered questions can get a prize. This is a great addition at the end of each study session to urge family members to focus on the current readings.

Reading the scriptures as a family can be rewarding. Children learn best in their homes and from their family. Also, if scripture study is done on a consistent basis, it will be the basis of a strong and wonderful habit that will benefit you and your children.