Memory Cookie Challenge for Sunday School

This is a Sunday School memory work project we've been doing. All the credit goes to my mother who came up with this great motivator. Each child gets a chart with 12 things to memorize, and they are allowed to recite a maximum of one thing per week after the class lesson (or coffee hour if we run out of time). When you learn all your memory work, you get your own personal cookie, that looks like the chart, but is about 12" around. The kids get excited about the prospect of their own giant cookie, and its a good reward for all the hard work. Of course, to make this work, you have to have someone committed to making the cookies whenever someone finishes the chart. When my mom was doing it, she made it easier on herself by using store bought cookie dough, icing and m&m's delivered on cake boards. That recipe is below.

In our church school, all the kids ages 5-12 are in one class, so everyone is advancing at different rates, and that's just fine. We're cheering each other on, not racing, and they can take as much time as they need to finish. My mom teaches at a bigger church, where she just has one grade level for a year, so her list of memory work would be adjusted for the age group and for the limited time span.

COOKIE

Pillsbury sugar cookie dough + 1/3 cup flour (so that it doesn't spread as much)

bake on 12" pizza pan at 325 for 24 minutes.

cool completely.

Decorate with store bought icing and m&m's.

Our Memory List (with references to look them up)
1. Our Father (Matthew 5:3-12, prayer book pg. 5, 6)
2. O Heavenly King May be sung or recited (prayer book pg. 5 )
3. The Creed (prayer book pg. 7, 8)
4. Troparion of St. Nicholas* or the Beatitudes May be sung or recited (Matthew 5:3-12)
5. The 12 Great Feasts (prayer book pg. 32, 33)
6. The 12 Apostles May be sung (Gigi Shadid song) or recited (Mark 3:16-19, Acts 1:21-26)
7. “Rejoice O Virgin” May be sung or recited (prayer book pg. 14, from Luke 1:28,43)
8. “Christ is Risen!” May be sung or recited, any version 
9. Prayer before Communion (prayer book pg. 52)
10. Books of the Old Testament May be sung or recited 
11. Books of the New Testament May be sung or recited 
12. Prayer of St. Ephraim (can be found here: http://antiochian.org/saint_ephraim)

This is our list. Because we have a wide age range, we also have a wide range of difficulty levels for the memory work. The idea is that the little ones can participate now and move on to the harder ones as they get older. The first Sunday we started almost all of the kids wanted to sing, "Christ is risen" to earn their first sticker, and, honestly, having 12 small children sing it to you is the best ever. [*St. Nicholas is our church's patron saint, so you might want to use your patronal hymn - or if you sing the Beatitudes, that would be a lovely choice, too. I gave my kids the option of either one.]

Download my Cookie PDF