Using Bible Trading Cards

• Use them as Flash Cards for memorizing characters.
• Lay out the cards graphic-side up. Read facts from the back and have students pick out the person you describe.
• Give students cards of a character in the story. Tell them to hold up the card when their character’s name is mentioned.
• Matching: Print the fronts on different pages that the backs. Have the students match the correct front to the back. (contributed by Cynthia)
• Who Has...And I Have? contributed by reader Paula.
  Pass out the cards. Tell students that have the info. cards to say, 'Who has the person that (said, did something, etc.)' The student that has the person says, 'I have (name the person).' The student who had the character can give info. if he/she has another card. If not, then go around until everyone is done. You can name things from easy to hard according to ages.
  
• For additional review activities, visit the Sunday School Sources at review.htm

• Have students sort the characters by when they lived using the time line.
• Have students sort the packs into categories, such as apostles, prophets, etc.
• Have students sort the people into their influence (for good or bad) on others

• Help students keep track of the cards by getting them clear plastic storage pages like they use for Pokemon^TM cards.
• If you come up with a great way to use the cards, and I'll share it here!

Students love to collect and will happily meet goals to obtain missing cards. Here's how a fellow teacher uses this desire to enhance her classes.

"You may have noticed this is my second recent order of some of the Old Testament cards. I teach a sixth grade School of Religion class in my Catholic parish. This year I have challenged my class to "Collect all 36".  The students need to complete one of a list of activities during the week to earn a card. These are things like read the related chapter in the Bible, or read a column in the Parish weekly, or bring in donations for the food kitchen. All the reading activities must be done with a parent! 

"The response has been phenomenal, hence the order for more cards!  I've been teaching this grade for four years, but this is the first year I've been able to get outside class things happening. Thanks for the wonderful resources you provide and you will be seeing card orders from me as long as I'm teaching this class."   Linda

The cards include a good deal of text, and readers get the most benefit from them. Grade school and lower middle school seem the most enthralled with the cards. But the preschoolers and early readers memorize the images on the front, and grow into the cards. We have had success with grades K-8. We've been thrilled with the enthusiasm that our grade school boys have shown for the cards.

These are printed and laminated physical cards rather than computer files. Some new cards are available exclusively in the printed sets. Some original cards have been split into separate cards. The layout of all cards has been improved, with some corrections made. Layout, graphic and font changes have been made to improve the overall quality of the cards. Each set comes with cover cards that provide a list of the set's cards, and tips on using the cards.

The cards are numbered so that students can track which cards they have. Not all numbers are currently in use; we left room for future additions. 0-100 is reserved for Old Testament cards. 101-200 is reserved for New Testament cards. See the card chart for all currently available cards.

There are several small sets covering both the New and Old Testament, and a smaller set of parables. Future expansions will probably include additional sets based on Biblical events, places, etc.

I use CorelDRAW to format and alter the clip art from Logos Bible Clips, a terrific clip art program featuring the art work of Gary Glover, who has graciously contributed his art to this project.

New sets are released as they are available. To receive updates when new sets are released, join the Sunday School Sources announcement list.

There are no plans to remove the free files from the site. They are still available for teachers who would like to make the cards themselves.