TOS Review: Christianity Cove

As the school year wraps up, we’ve been using/reviewing two products from Christianity Cove.  Both Bible Memory Games and  100 Simple Service Projects are really more about life than school and could be used any time of the year—with family devotions, in a homeschool setting, or by a Sunday School teacher. 

I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.

Psalms 119:11

This is one of the many Bible verses my Schnickelfritz has memorized over the years…and he’s had plenty of opportunity to do just that.  He gets memory verses in our inductive Bible study, Royal Rangers, Upwards Basketball, Centershot Archery, and Sunday School.   With so many verses to learn, we sometimes need to make learning a game to keep him motivated to continue.  Bible Memory Games is packed with games for all three learning styles: Visual, Auditory and Hands-On (or Kinesthetic). 
These games were clearly designed to be used with Sunday School class, but that doesn’t mean some of them can’t be adapted for families or even an individual student. You may not think rousing games should be done in church, but if there’s any way you could go outside for a brief game, you may find the more wiggly kids are able to then sit quietly during story or lesson time.  Since I’m the mother of an only, I’m highlighting the games where students work alone (most of these are the visual/worksheets) or can be adapted for an individual.  In some cases, like Scripture Hopscotch, the single student just doesn’t have the benefit of hearing the verse repeated over and over as others take their turns.  Other games need to be adapted to play against the clock for best time instead of against a competitor. 

Name of Game	Learning Style	Good with an only child
Unscramble the Words	Kinesthetic	1 could play against the clock
Follow the Path of Jesus	Kinesthetic	Played one at a time
Scripture Jump Rope	Auditory	Could jump rope by themselves
Fill in the Blank/Put Lines in Order	Visual	Work individually
Complete the Circle	Visual	Work individually
Scripture Bounce	Kinesthetic	1 could dribble alone w/o relay
Scripture Hopscotch	Auditory	Played one at a time
Spotlight on You	Auditory	Played one at a time
Hearts of Love Bracelets	Kinesthetic	Work individually
Connect the Hearts	Visual	Work individually
Hippity Hop Scotch	Kinesthetic	Played one at a time
Clothesline Relays	Kinesthetic	1 could play against the clock
Trumpet the Truth	Auditory	Played one at a time
Road to Jesus	Visual	Work individually
Unscramble the Truth	Visual	Work individually
Beatle Mania	Auditory	Could make up a song alone
Point it Out Mural Making	Visual	Work individually
Making Waves	Visual	Work individually
Index Card Treasure Hunt	Kinesthetic	1 person could do all the searching
Chinese Fire Drill	Kinesthetic	need a child for each word
Over the Rainbow	Visual	Work individually
Doll Chain for Scriptures	Visual	Work individually
Whirlpool Scriptures	Visual	Work individually
Snap Snap Walla Walla	Auditory	Can snap and clap alone
Breaking the Code	Visual	Work individually
North South East West	Visual	Work individually

Our visual sample shows the Point it Out Mural Making  game,  but Fritz is much better retaining things he learns kinesthetically.  We played our own version of Scripture Jump Rope using a mini-trampoline.  He got into quite a rhythm, emphasizing the words when he hit the tramp.  Another good game (and we’ve used something similar for Spanish vocabulary) was the Index Card Treasure hunt.  I’d place words all over the basement and he’d have to find them and put them in order.  
Each Bible Memory game comes with its own set of verses, but I substituted the verses Schnickelfritz needed to learn for Centershot Archery.  It must have worked because he got first place for memorizing the most scripture at his last meeting. 
Bible Memory games comes as a PDF Download (4.5 MB, 166 pgs) for $29.00.  There is no suggested age range (and I say start them memorizing as soon as you can), but for most of the games the kids would need to be able to read.
Our second product was based on Schnickelfritz’s need to perform service projects for his Leadership Merits.  This PDF download (689 KB, 56 pgs) is on sale for $19.95 for the first 250 customers and then the price goes up to $29.95.  Again, I can’t find a target age range  but kids should start learning early on that the world doesn’t revolve around them.  Even kids as young as 3 or 4 could begin with the helping mom or dad coupons.
This eBook starts with serving others in the home with coupons to help with chores or be kind to siblings.  The second level of service is within the neighborhood—helping neighbors and beautifying the surroundings.  Then we progress to the community and projects to help: the Elderly, Children, Animals, the Environment,  Wildlife and Community Shelters.   The final level of service is National and Overseas charities. 
As I mentioned we were specifically looking for service projects that could meet merit requirements, but that didn’t seem to be the focus of the book. Nothing in the family section would qualify, the national section was mostly fund-raising for well established charities (and we have rung the bell for Salvation Army).   Even the community section (which seemed our best hope) was filled with suggestions like visiting long-term sick children in the hospital  or trying to keep migratory birds from crashing into windows (by putting up silhouettes).  There were a few ideas (a book or art supply drive for a local shelter) that we may be able to try.  Of course not everyone is trying to earn a merit badge.  If your goal is helping your kids/students/Sunday School class focus on others rather than themselves, then there are plenty of ideas to go around.