Teaching Scripture Marking for Kids

Reading and studying scriptures are essential to helping children grow in faith and increase their testimony of Christ. Not to mention, studying the scriptures with your children can bring peace and joy to your home.  

While knowledge of how to read scriptures may come easily, the pattern of how and what it means to study the scriptures can be a bit more elusive. Helping children learn scripture marking teaches them to move beyond just reading to actually studying their scriptures.  

Scripture marking for kids can begin at any age, so long as you are willing to work alongside them.  

1. Scripture Marking Preparation

When beginning to teach scripture marking to your child, you will want a few supplies to get started.  

First is a set of scriptures your child can mark in. Each child will need their own set.  Journal editions, with wider margins and thicker paper, are perfect for this.

Next, you will need the following colored pencils: red, blue, brown, purple, orange, green, and black.

Last, have a dictionary handy to look up unfamiliar words.

2. Tips for Teaching Scripture Marking to Kids

Each color will represent a different topic or person that appears in the scriptures.  

Red = words or teachings of Christ

Blue = teachings on the Holy Ghost or baptism

Brown = travel

Orange = dreams, prophecies, or teaching about angels

Purple =  births, marriages, and deaths

Green = words and teachings of prophets and apostles

Black = words or teachings about Satan

Using this color-coded approach to scripture marking helps kids recognize what is happening in each verse. Some verses will have more than one color.  Instruct kids to color a small square at either the beginning or the side of each verse based on what it contains.

While reading, encourage kids to underline or outline verses, words, or phrases that stick out to them.  Discourage them from underlining everything.  If it is a big passage and they wish to mark it all, suggest drawing a box around the entire passage.  

Doodling is another kid-prefered scripture marking tool.  For example, in Psalms 24, kids could doodle a heart and hands over versus 1-4.  Doodles, like the color-coded passages, serve to quickly prompt kids about what a passage contains.

3. Use LightSail Alongside Your Scripture Study

To increase the benefit of your kids’ scripture study, take advantage of scripture bookmarks and quotations within LightSail. Assign a specific verse or passage to your child. Once assigned, kids can mark the passage in their own scriptures and then work to memorize the quotation passage using LightSail’s Memory Work feature.

4. Benefits of Scripture Marking for Kids

Scripture marking for kids is a great way for them to delve deeper into the gospel.  Learning to mark their scriptures also teaches how to search out the most important information and take meaningful notes—both skills they will need throughout their academic career.