Good verses to memorize for younger children

I was wondering if anyone could suggest good verses to start with for younger children (age 4 and 6) - the 6 yr old particularly? She has learnt a couple in Sunday School but I would like to encourage more regular/systematic memorization. Many of my favourite verses are quite long or complex and I think she would struggle with them at this stage. And should I use her own bible translation (International Children's Bible - which is the NCV translation) or go straight to the NIV which we use in church and I use at home? Thanks for any advice - I'm pretty new to memorizing scripture myself and it has already been an enormous blessing.

I would suggest trying simple verses, like John 3:16, Genesis 1:1, and for the versions, do you think she is ready to read it yet? If they intend to do the bible bee I would not start them on the NIV, as headquarters has eliminated it.

While the NIV wouldn't be my version of choice, I would not recommend starting with a child's version. Since she will be wanting to use the verses throughout her life, the child's version would be difficult to re-memorize. As you help her memorize scripture, make sure you help her understand what the verses mean. 1 Cor. 6:20 is relatively simple but powerful.

Thanks for the responses - we're in the UK so won't be doing the Bible Bee - I'll probably go with the NIV as that is what we use in church. I've ended up using a mixture of the NIV and ESV myself as I have several of the "Hide the Word" series of CDs which use the ESV.

i would agree that simple verses would be good but you could also do chapters like psalm 23 or psalm 1

When my lil sis was four she memorized 1 Samuel 12. So really if you work with a child they can memorize a lot more then you might think they can.

Children obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.

Just to report back - our first few verses were Genesis 1:1, John1:1-2, Psalm 23:1-2, John 3 :16, Romans 3:23, Colossians 3:20, Psalm145:18.

I decided to start her off on regular structured memorisation using the scripturetyper app on my tablet using my email address as I thought it was more straightforward for a 7 yr old to work out and she can graduate to memverse when she is older :)

I've also found a suggested list here from Desiring God http://fighterverses.com/the-verses/foundation-verses/ if it is helpful for anyone else.