When I was young, the Summer Bible School I attended was actually summer catechism -- we spent the morning memorizing Westminister Shorter Catechism, Book of John, several others. By the time a child went through our entire VBS, they would have memorized all of John, Romans, and Psalms if they passed all the "blue ribbon" requirements.

The pastor and his wife who ran the VBS were very creative and when they couldn't find a useful mnemonic-oriented song to borrow, they ended up writing their own songs for the tasks they thought important. Thus, some of these I've heard from other kids, but many are original to my particular VBS/Sunday School.

Every day we sang the intro to VBS -- a little four line chorus...

Come and bring your friends to Summer Bible School
Learning more of Jesus, that will be the rule
Come, come to Summer Bible School.

(as kids, we would yodel out the last "School")

////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

The pastor's wife wrote the geography song to the melody of "Oh Tannenbaum". Older kids would take their turns at the big map up front, showing with a pointer the points where the lyric was referring...

Now first the line of coast we make (the mediterranean coast)
And here and next, the Marshy Lake
And then comes dear old Galillee
Directly east of Carmel, see?

The Jordan River flows through both
Into the Dead Sea on the south
Meanwhile the great sea westward lies
Outsretched as far as sunset skies.

There was a verse for the major cities. I don't remember the words.

///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

We sang a variation of the Disciples song, to the tune of "Bringing In The Sheaves":


There were twelve disciples, Jesus called to help him
Simon Peter, Andrew, James, his brother John
Philip, Thomas, Matthew, James the son of Alpheus
Thadeus, Simon, Judas, and Bartholemew.

He has called us too, he has called us too
We are his disciples, I am one and you
He has called us too, he has called us too
We are his disciples, we his work must do

///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

And the Books of the Bible song (to the tune of "Have you Ever Seen a Lassie?":

Let us sing the books of Moses, of Moses, of Moses,
Let us sing the books of Moses, for he wrote the law.
First, Genesis; second, Exodus; third, Leviticus; fourth, Numbers;
And the fifth is Deuteronomy, the last of them all.

Let us sing the books of history, of history, of history,
Let us sing the books of history, which tell of the Jews.
There's Joshua; and Judges; and the story of Ruth;
Then First and Second Samuel; and First and Second Kings;

Then First and Second Chronicles, which give us the records;
Then Ezra; Nehemiah; and Esther, the Queen.

Let us sing the books of poetry, of poetry, of poetry,
Let us sing the books of poetry, The songs the Jews sang.
Job the patient, Psalms of David, and the Proverbs of a wise one;
And then Ecclesiastes, and the Song of Solomon.

Let us sing the Major Prophets, Major Prophets, Major Prophets,
Let us sing the Major Prophets, there are five of them all.
Isaiah; Jeremiah, who wrote Lamentations;
Then Ezekiel; and Daniel, the last of them all.

Let us sing the Minor Prophets, Minor Prophets, Minor Prophets,
Let us sing the Minor Prophets, there are twelve of them all.
Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk,
Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi.