This Verse sort technique is also found in our Bible Skills and Games Workshop "how to" forum.

A Verse Sort Game

The following simple "verse sort" game is particularly good for covering large stories that have several episodes and scenes such as Abraham and Sarah's story, Jacob and Esau's long set of stories, the Exodus, Joseph's story, and the story of Christ's crucifixion and resurrection.

In a lesson above in this topic, the lesson writer known as "St Elmo's Choir" has listed the main Abraham and Sarah episodes by chapter and verse. In the following game, after the class briefly reads those scriptures (or sees them in a video or hears them from an illustrated Bible), they can then sort key verses or phrases you have taken from each story's episode and put them into the correct "story episode basket."   Feel free to narrow down the number of story episodes you read, and thus the number of baskets you need to suit the ability of your students or the scope of the story you want to cover.
Keep reading for "how to " game details.

You can have students play this sorting game as individuals or teams. You can play it the first time so students get the idea, then play a second time and time them with your cellphone stopwatch  to create a bit of excitement. After sorting, the verse slips can be randomly retrieved and discussed for their life application potential. Examples below.

HOW TO PLAY

Ahead of time:
Write each story or episode's titles and chapters/verses on a sheet of paper and tape them to containers on the table (buckets, baskets, or boxes).

Then write 3 key verses/phrases from each story's scripture reading on slips of paper and place them in a pile on the table in front of the container.

Play:
Invite the class or teams to put the scripture slips in their correct story buckets. If you have more than one team, "time" them to see how fast they can sort the key verses into the correct buckets. (This game works for prereaders, too! Just read the slips to them - they can still remember the story and sort them into baskets - especially if you put some sort of clipart reminder of the story on the basket.)

Reflect:
Call a student forward to retrieve a verse slip from any bucket and have them explain its place in the story ("it's what Sarah did when the angel said she was going to have a baby"), then put themselves in the key character's role and ask them how THEY would have responded.

For example, by making Genesis 18:12 "Sarah Laughed" one of your key verse phrases, when the student retrieves that verse you can ask them "why" Sarah laughed, whether or not people "laugh" at God now, and what promise has God made to you that should fill you with joy?

Tip: In many lesson plans these reflection insights are found in the last step of the lesson. Pull them out of there and put them into the quiz game itself.