The Kings of Israel and Judah

This year in Sunday school, the kids are all studying from the end of David's reign until the birth of Christ. The kids are to learn their Sunday School lesson ahead of time and then come to class prepared to discuss it. I have to admit, it's been pretty neat, seeing the kids soak in this information. I was never much good at remembering the kings of Israel and Judah. It seemed like a hopeless tangle of names and with the account in I and II Kings jumping back and forth between the two, keeping everyone straight seemed harder than ever. That is, until I thought, "I should write it down!" Where do I come up with these ideas? What a novel concept-writing something down. I am and probably always have been a very visual learner. Give me a picture and I'll remember better and longer than any verbal information. Chris gave me a hand and we have since gotten down the information in timeline fashion. Well, at least up to Asa and Ahab. Now that we have that, it shouldn't take too much to add the kings as we read through the book of Kings with the kids each evening. In addition to the picture timeline, we've started playing "Guess what Bible character I am." or "Guess what King of Israel or Judah I am." We are going to have to learn more kings to effectively play that game, though. With only 14 kings to pick from, the game goes pretty fast and David and Byron always pick Solomon or David anyway.