Teaching Children to Pray
Praying is an integral part of our walks with Christ. It is an intimate act that builds our faith and our relationship. As parents, we all want the best for our children and for believers, that means teaching them about the Lord and the importance of developing and maintaining a relationship with Christ. Of course, showing children a Christ-centered life by example is the most important way to show them the proper path in life, but here are a few other ways to help children develop their own prayer life.
The Lord’s Prayer
Teach children how to pray by introducing them to the perfect example given to us by Christ, known as “The Lord’s Prayer” (Matthew 6:9-13 ). Write the Lord’s Prayer on poster board using bright colored markers. Some preschool aged children may recognize some sight words in the prayer, but you are likely to have to read most it to younger kids. Give children paper and crayons and ask them to draw pictures that illustrate the prayer. You can even create a book based on the prayer and their illustrations. For instance, a child might draw an image of food to illustrate the phrase, “Give us this day, our daily bread.” Let the child make four or five pages and then combine the pages with a copy of the Lord’s Prayer and staple the edges to form a book.
Praying for the Sick
Teaching children to pray for the sick can not only teach them the practical lesson of prayer, but also teaches them empathy. Read Matthew 4:23-24 to preschool students or have an older child read it aloud. Ask the children to recall a time when they were really sick. Then lead the children to sing the song, “Jesus Loves the Little Children.” Tell the kids that Jesus loves them and therefore he wants to heal them from sickness just as he healed the leper and the blind. It might help younger kids understand what it means to be blind by blindfolding them and then asking them to identify items in a bag. Take prayer requests from the children and pray over the requests and all sick people in the church or their families. If a family member or friend is in the hospital, consider taking your children there to pray over the sick.
Praying at Mealtime
Praying at mealtime is often called, “Grace,” and is a great way to get children into the habit of praying. Allowing children to say the mealtime prayer occasionally is a practical way to get them used to praying out load. Teaching children that even Jesus thanked God for the food when he fed the 5,000 (John 26:1-14). If you aren’t familiar with the story, you should familiarize yourself with the miraculous story. In a nut shell. Jesus was speaking in front of a large and hungry crowd. A young boy offered to share his lunch of five loaves of bread and two fish with Jesus. Jesus thanked God and multiplied the food until there was enough for everyone to eat with some left over! Help children understand this story through a fun craft. Give each child an envelope and ask them to use a brown crayon to color it until it resembles a basket. Have children cut five loaves of bread out of brown construction paper and two fish out of blue construction paper to put into the envelope baskets. Share a snack with the kids after the lesson. Teaching children this story is a good way to introduce them to the idea of being thankful for food. But the best lessons will happen they see you leading by example.
Praying at Bedtime and in the Morning
The tradition of praying before bed is an effective way to instill the importance of prayer in your children. The tried-and-true “Now I lay me down to sleep” prayer is an old favorite, but it is also good to help children learn how to communicate with God about the things that are worrying them or that has been on their minds. Be sure to add an element of thankfulness to your prayer too, and thank God for his many blessings.
Other Ways to Teach About Prayer
Children love hands-on activities and crafts. These are great ways to help them learn too. Help preschoolers make a visual prayer journal by stapling colorful paper together to form a book. Let children draw a pair of praying hands on the front cover or use stickers to decorate. If they aren’t able to write their prayer requests in the journal, let them draw a picture in the book to represent a prayer request. Use the book to remind them of prayer requests and as a reference to show them when their prayers have been answered.
Training a child in the paths of the Lord at an early age is an important element in their spiritual development. But even older children teens and adults can develop a prayer life through developing healthy habits and being held accountable to other believers.
