LDS or Mormon memory matching games

Many of the polished games here on Match the Memory have been created by me, for the simple reason that I know how to use the site best and that I understand what’s needed to make an interesting and good-looking concentration game.  Because I’m a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (a.k.a. “I’m a Mormon“), a lot of the games that I’ve made have been for my own use in the LDS Church.  I’d like to share some of those games with you.

The second game ever created on Match the Memory (after my own sample game) was the LDS Apostles game.  It features the current First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve, and has a fun song that pops up after you win.  (Anytime there is a new member of the First Presidency or the Quorum of the Twelve, I will update this game.)  Every time that General Conference rolls around, I promote this game on Twitter, because it can help children familiarize themselves with the apostles before or during conference sessions.  For years, I’ve brought the printed version of this game to my Primary classes the week before General Conference, and the kids always like it.

A few months later, I created the Utah Temples and Venezuela Maracaibo Mission games.  The first shows several LDS temples throughout the state of Utah, while the second features some of the experiences I had on my mission in Venezuela between 2000 and 2002.

I also made a Presidents of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints game during that same time.  It helps with memorization of the Church’s prophets, from Joseph Smith and Brigham Young on down to Gordon B. Hinckley and Thomas S. Monson.  (And beyond — in the case of President Monson’s passing, it will be updated with his eventual successors.)  There’s also a cute YouTube video of a little girl singing the “Latter-day Prophets” song.

Several months later, I got to teach a Primary lesson about the power of the priesthood.  (Elijah Uses the Priesthood, from the Primary 6 lesson manual.)  The book suggests, “Ask the children to name some brethren they know who hold the priesthood…. Discuss with the children how each of these people could or does use the priesthood to bless their lives.”  I made a game called Priesthood Holders that lists several offices (e.g. Bishop or Missionary) and people (e.g. Father or Brother) and, when each match is found, asks how that person could use the priesthood.  I took my laptop to class and we played the game and talked about each person’s use of the priesthood.

At Christmastime that year, I made a game called Keep Christ in Christmas.  It has religious paintings and tells the story of Jesus Christ’s birth using the scriptures from the New Testament.  For example, on the Good Tidings of Great Joy picture, the match pop-up has the corresponding scriptures from Luke 2 about the angels visiting the shepherds in the fields.

This year, I got to teach the first lesson in the Primary 4 manual about the Book of Mormon and how we received it to a class of 11-year-olds.  I decided that I’d create a matching game that highlights some of the major people in the Book of Mormon (and the latter-day coming-forth of the Book of Mormon), using the paintings from the Church’s Gospel Art Picture Kit.  I called it Book of Mormon People.  Each match shares the abbreviated story from the picture and links to the full story on the Church’s site.  There’s also a cool video about the Book of Mormon that pops up when you finish the game.  When I told the kids in the class that we were going to play a game, one boy asked rather skeptically, “Does it involve technology?” and I told him, “Yes, it does,” and whipped out my iPad to play the game.  He was impressed.  They really enjoyed playing, and would have done it over and over if we’d had time.

I also made a game called Book of Mormon Languages that shows the covers of several language editions of the Book of Mormon, with the name of each language written on the card.  From plain old English and Spanish, to more exotic scripts like Vietnamese and Japanese, this is a fun introduction to the worldwide nature of missionary work using the Book of Mormon.

So that’s all that I’ve done with LDS-themed memory games.  What can you create on Match the Memory?  A memorization guide for seminary Mastery Scriptures?  A concentration game about the Young Women values?  A colorful game showing different kinds of bugs for your Cub Scout den?  Let us know in the comments.