In ‘Adventures of a Qur’anic Family’ – a book designed to help children learn and apply different Quranic verses in their lives through stories – there is a section at the end devoted to memorisation.
In it, is a section on games to help them learn! This is a great way to make learning fun, as opposed to boring and heavy. Indeed, children learn best when they’re having fun 🙂
Traffic Lights: Concentrating on the verse that you’re teaching them that day, get them to run around when you say ‘Green’, then freeze when you say ‘Red.’ They can only ‘Go’ again if they recite the verse. Again, they race around, and you say ‘Red’, etc. If more than one child, say it to them individually so as one is still moving around, the other is stopped; that way, if they’re each working on different chapters, they can each get a turn to say their line.
Tag: Same concept as above, but this time try and catch them. When you do, hug them tight. They can only get out of your ‘hug’ if they recite the verse correctly. If they get it wrong, squeeze them even tighter!
Supermarket Game: Can be played with parent and child, or with any number of children. The longer the chapter, the better! The first person recites one verse of a chapter of their choice. Then the second recites the first AND the second, then the third recites the first two AND the third, etc… going round and round in circles. This really drums it into them!
Turn, Turn: If more than one child, or for longer chapters, turns can be taken to recite the verses. If they have to be prompted or they get it wrong, they get a forfeit (e.g. jump up and down 5 times).
Reverse Psychology: Challenge the reluctant child, “’Bet you can’t recite Chapter Lahab.” Chances are, he’ll say, ‘Just watch me!’, and he’ll recite it! Make a big deal of it, saying, “Oh I’m wrong again, not fair!” Then challenge him with another, etc…
Push Mummy Over: This is especially nice to teach them their 4 Quls. Tell them the Chapters are like a force field around them, where if they recite it they’re super-protected and Allah makes them really strong. First, sit cross-legged on the floor and get them to try and push you over, while you’re resisting really hard. Then, get them to recite one of their chapters and then try. Allow them to push you very easily, making a big dramatic scene of falling over of course, and exclaiming, “Not fair, you became all strong!”
Teacher, Teacher: Make them the teacher. Recite your chapters with mistakes here and there and get them to point out the corrections. Alternatively, get them to recite it correctly as you repeat after them.
P.S. To check out the book, see link below: