A good memory verse slide has one verse on it, in type big enough for the child at the back, with the reference small underneath. That’s most of it. Here’s how to make one in the app you already use, and how to get it on every room’s screen.

One verse, one picture

It’s tempting to fit the verse, the reference, the lesson title, a picture and the week’s theme onto one slide. Don’t. Children read slowly, and a crowded slide makes the verse the hardest thing to find.

Give the verse its own picture:

  • The verse, as large as it will go, broken into short lines at natural pauses.
  • The reference, smaller, underneath: “Psalm 23:1”.
  • A small label at the top, like “Memory verse”, so the leader can find it quickly.
A memory verse slide as the TV shows it: a small Memory verse label at the top, The Lord is my shepherd. in large white type on a dark background, and Psalm 23:1 small underneath.

If the verse is long, split it over two pictures rather than shrinking the type. The class can learn it in two halves.

Type that reaches the back row

The child at the back of the room, sitting on the floor, is who you’re designing for.

  • Use a plain, bold typeface. Decorative and handwritten fonts are hard for early readers, especially at a distance.
  • Keep the contrast high. Light letters on a dark background, or dark on light. Avoid text over a busy photo.
  • Leave space around the words. Margins make the words easier to find, not harder.
  • Make it wide. TVs are 16:9, so make your slide 16:9 too (1920 by 1080 pixels is a safe size), and it fills the screen with no bars.

Then test it the only way that counts: put it on the TV, go to the back of the room, crouch to a child’s eye height, and read it. If you squint, make it bigger.

Make it in the app you already use

You don’t need special software. Make the slide in Canva, PowerPoint or Keynote, then save it as a picture:

  • Canva: Share, then Download, and choose PNG. More than one page comes as a ZIP file: open it to get the pictures out.
  • PowerPoint: on a Mac, File, then Export, as PNG or JPEG. On Windows, File, then Save As, as PNG.
  • Keynote: File, then Export To, then Images.

Each step is in Add slides from Canva, PowerPoint or Keynote. Name the file so you can find it later, like “memory-verse-psalm-23.png”, not “Slide1.png”.

The same verse in every room

When every kids’ room shows the same memory verse that week, children who move between rooms, siblings in different classes and parents at pickup all see the same words. It also means one person makes one slide, not five.

Editing Sunday in Kids in Displayte, on the Elementary, Nursery and Preschool TVs: six pictures in order, from little-ones and the memory verse to lost-sheep and pick-up-time.

In Displayte, the verse goes into the week’s presentation with the rest of Sunday’s pictures, in the order you’ll use them. On Displays, give that presentation to every kids’ room TV at once with Manage Multiple Displays: tick the kids’ rooms, or Select all. Each TV has it within a minute, and its card shows the picture it’s on, so you can check from your phone.

In the room, the leader moves to the verse with the remote when it’s time: right for the next picture, left to go back. The verse stays up until they move on.

Keep last year’s verses

Memory verses come round again. Keep every verse slide you make in one place, so next year’s volunteer can find “Psalm 23” in seconds instead of making it again.

In Displayte, pictures live in the Library, and you can put them in folders, like one for memory verses. When you make next Sunday’s presentation, Choose from the Library takes a whole folder at once, so you only pick the new verse.

The Kids folder open in Displayte’s Library: its pictures, including memory-verse and lost-sheep, with the folders Café and Kids on the left and Add files at the top.

Putting it on the TV, start to finish

  1. Export the slide as a PNG or JPEG.
  2. In Displayte, go to Library and choose Add files. It’s ready for the TVs in about a minute.
  3. Add it to this Sunday’s presentation, where it belongs in the lesson.
  4. On Displays, check that the kids’ room TVs have that presentation.

That’s it. The verse is on every screen, readable from the back, and saved for next year.

You can see a memory verse slide in the Sunday in Kids presentation in the demo, and try moving it yourself.