Teach The Books in the Old Testament (archives) with ease using this The Books in the Old Testament First Letters & Symbols idea! Introduce each book using one letter and a symbol that represents a theme for a unique memory aid!
The Books in the Old Testament First Letters & Symbols
As you begin your Come Follow Me Old Testament year, consider teaching The Books in the Old Testament! Learning all the books in the Old Testament can be a fun way to help your primary children get excited for the stories they’ll be studying throughout the year!
There are so many books in the Old Testament! If your primary children (and you!) need a helpful memory aid while learning this song, these first letter & symbols posters are a great tool!
I’ve created 5 mini posters with the first letter of each book, along with a symbol that represents a major theme or story from each book. I’ve also organized the books into a commonly used organization system for the Old Testament.
This activity can be used as an introduction or review idea! Begin by asking a few volunteers to share their favorite story from the Old Testament. The Old Testament has so many powerful lessons about Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ.
Does anyone know ALL The Books in the Old Testament? It’s a lot to remember! When we study The Old Testament, we like to organize the books by their genre. Let’s start with the first 5 books. These books are called, “The Laws”
Tape up the first poster on the board. At the beginning of The Old Testament, Heavenly Father created the earth. This book is called Genesis. Point to the next book and explain a little about what happens in Exodus.
After going through the first 5 books, begin singing the first five books in song acapella Can you try it with me?
Move on to the next section, “History” and sing each book in that section. Continue working through each first letters and symbols poster as you teach this song! You may also want to refer to our The Books in the Old Testament flip chart throughout.
Finish by sharing how excited you are to study the Old Testament! If you are excited about it, your primary children will be too.
First Letters & Symbols Examples:
Here are just a few examples of the first letters and symbols pairs used for this activity. I loved thumbing through each book to find stories and themes. Be sure to grab the full printable later in this post with all the first letters and symbols.
Can you guess what each symbol represents?
👩⚖️ = “Laws” – 5 Books
- 👩⚖️G🌎 = Genesis, 👩⚖️E🛣 = Exodus
📕 = “History” – 12 Books
- 📕R👩👧= Ruth, 📕Kx2👑 = Kings, 📕N👷♂️ = Nehemiah
❤ = “Poetry and Wisdom”
- ❤J🤒 = Job, ❤P🎵 = Psalms
👨🏫 = “Major Prophets”
- 👨🏫 I✝ = Isaiah, 👨🏫J📣 = Jeremiah, 👨🏫D🦁 = Daniel
📝= “Minor Prophets”
📝J🦗 = Joel, 📝J🐳 = Jonah, 📝Z👂 = Zechariah
Extension Activities:
- For a fun way to review, have the children use the emoji clues to guess each book. Pick a helper to point at each first letter/symbol pair as you sing.
- Divide the posters between classes. Have each class figure out which books they have and sing only their section!
- Cut out all the first letter/symbol pairs into word strips and mix them up on the board. Put them in the correct order as you sing! This might be the perfect challenge for your older primary children.
- Make a chart on the board with 5 columns. Title each column with one section of the Old Testament. Cut out the first letter/symbols into strips and organize all the books by genre.
- Write a list of some favorite Old Testament scripture stories. Then, guess which book each story belongs to. Some might surprise you!
For another fun similar activity, head over to see this Hark! The Herald Angels Sing First Letters singing time activity!
The Books in the Old Testament First Letters & Symbols Printable Song Helps
This free in-post printable includes one first letter & symbols mini-poster for each of the 5 genres in the Old Testament.
This activity has extended printables available including the individual books grouped with the larger section heading and sorting cards to put the books in the right group and/or order. It also includes black and white printables. You’ll find these bonus printables included in the INSTANT Primary Singing when The Books in the Old Testament is the featured song of the month.
Get more out of singing time with the INSTANT Primary Singing membership that includes printable lesson plans, tons of extended printables and an ad-free experience for each featured song of the month, or get immediate access to the entire song list for the year!
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You won’t want to miss this The Books in the Old Testament Melody Map idea as you teach the melody in primary!
What other fun ways will you use this first letters and symbols singing time activity in your Primary room?
