The 5 finger prayer is a great visual aid to help us remember who to pray for. It's also fantastic for teaching small children how to pray.
A simple prayer activity and tips on teaching a child to pray. On more than one occasion my little girl has expressed to me her desire to pray more frequently. However, she’s also confessed that
The 5 finger prayer is a great visual aid to help us remember who to pray for. It's also fantastic for teaching small children how to pray.
Looking for some fun lessons for teaching children (and getting them excited!) about Jesus, can kind of be difficult. Especially when you have children in your classroom that can range in age from three months to almost 6th grade. I found this on Pinterest- Fizzy Forgiveness Prayer Station. What I really loved about this was the fact that you can take something relatively easy to find (fizzy tablets) and turned it into something really cool! Kids LOVE fizz. Even I as an adult, feel child like exuberance when I see fizz. There is something just so awesome about effervescence. I took this fizz idea and made it my own. Sometimes to come up with a cool idea, we just need a little help from above-and others! My lesson was to teach children about prayer. I don't think you can stress enough, the importance of building a strong relationship with our Lord. Prayer does this along with reading His word. Welcome to the lesson of: "Jesus Gets Excited When You Pray!" I used 1 Timothy 2:1-6 (NLT). I wanted to stress that Jesus hears all prayers, not just prayers that come from adults, and we should pray for everyone! Also, I wanted the children to understand what praying actually means. I looked up and printed out the definition, and some easier words, to help describe what it means to pray. After we took turns reading and discussion what prayer means and how it applies to the verse I showed the kids what happens when we pray. I used two glasses and filled them with some regular tap water and for extra "fizz" some sparkling water. I went to our local City Market and bought these Alka Seltzer generic tablets. We got 30 tables for roughly $2. I wanted to make sure we had enough for two child, at the very least. I allowed the children to pick what color we would make the water-they chose green, purple. My children at home chose orange. I had them gather around and I said, "Tell me how this makes you feel." I dropped a tablet into the water and it immediately began to fizz. The excitement on their faces was extremely evident and also, they said it was pretty cool. I asked them if it was exciting to watch the fizz, and they all said, "Yes!" I told them, that every time we pray to Jesus, that's how he feels. He feels excited, because we're building a relationship with him. We're talking to him, we're including him in our lives. Jesus loves us so much and he wants to be a part of our lives. I handed each kid two tablets (there are two in each pack) and said that each one of us could pray together for someone or about something in their lives. I also gave them personal discretion that if they didn't feel comfortable praying out loud, we would just pray in agreement silently with them. To watch the kids pray with excitement was just amazing! I know it partly had to do with the fizzy tablets they got to play with, but we also got to watch them gain understanding that praying is a good thing. Praying can be fun! If it's fun to go to the movies, shouldn't it be fun to spend time praying to God too? I think so! Also, I told the kids, after we had gotten into a few prayers, that we needed to be quiet and listen. They could hear the fizzing noise in action. I said sometimes that's how God works. He answers our prayers, but sometimes we have to be quiet and listen. God is a gentleman and he never forces us to do anything. At the end of the class, I allowed the kids to save up their fizzes and they all dropped their remaining ones in together to see if they could over flow the water (which of course they managed to do! I'm pretty sure that was the one silent prayer we had!!). We finished up the lesson with another coloring page from TwistyNoodle! I mentioned them before in our Lamb of God lesson we did over Resurrection Sunday. I hope you found this fun and can some how use it to teach your kids about how awesome and amazing Jesus Christ is! Just an FYI-I have a few left over tablets and I kept the orange glass out for our kids, and when they pray I let them drop a fizz into the water. Make sure to monitor your kids too! If you use the alka seltzer tablets, make sure they don't eat them or drink the water that you use. I'm not sure what exactly could happen, but we don't need to try to imagine it either! Have fun sharing and learning about God! I'd love to hear your ideas or how you've incorporated this into your own lessons and teaching! Do you follow me on Facebook? Do you follow me on Pinterest? You should! Stick around and check out some of my other blog posts! Leave a comment, too! Pin It
Prayer games provide a way for kids to learn about prayer and grow in their faith. Kids' prayers typically come in different games designed for different age ranges, but all students should be
Teach kids how to pray.Document without prompts is listed for FREE.
My husband - bless his kind, patient soul - puts our boys to bed most every night. We've been having an "interesting" time having our youngest (4) say his prayers. For a while, Todd said a very brief prayer which they'd repeat verbatim. Somewhere along the line, Todd decided to prod the boys for some spontaneous, unscripted
The Lord’s prayer is the one prayer that Jesus taught us specifically to pray. This cute Lord’s prayer bracelet craft (which can also be a keychain craft) is a great way to teach kids to pray the Lord’s prayer and also a great tool for teaching how to pray. You can use this craft for… Read More »The Lord’s Prayer Bracelet (or Keychain) Craft for Kids
If your child often says, "But I don't know what to pray," these printable prayer prompt cards will guide him or her through what the Bible says about prayer as well as what to say.
With Lent and Easter just around the bend, I thought it was a great time to re-share my friend's Prayer Hands with a free printable. It's a simple way to remind your kids of what is important and remind them of all that they have to be thankful for, not only during this time of
Teach Your Kids to Pray with a Prayer Prompts - My hope is that in prayer our children will see that God cares about everything that goes on in their life.
It is so important that we encourage kids to pray. Giving them tools and language for prayer can help it feel less scary.
Praying for our children should always be a priority. Use these powerful prayers to pray over your children.
Do you want to know how to pray? Want to pray more effectively? Look no further than the Lord's Prayer where Jesus teaches us to pray in 10 key lessons.
Prayer games provide a way for kids to learn about prayer and grow in their faith. Kids' prayers typically come in different games designed for different age ranges, but all students should be
This lapbook is an awesome tool to teach Catholic kids how to pray the Rosary.
Teaching your child to pray may seem like a daunting task, but it doesn’t have to be! Prayer brings us closer to God and can give children much needed contentment when they’re experiencing big emotions. How often have you felt worried or scared, but immediately felt more peaceful after saying a quick Hail Mary? Teaching […]
You can teach your kids how to pray the Word with the ACTS Acronym for Prayer! It can be hard to know how to teach children how to pray. Often, you and I struggle with it ourselves. Far too often, we repeat the same shallow prayers over and over again. We know that’s not true […]
The Prayer Bucket: A Tool to Help Children Learn How to Pray I came across a a great tool to help teach my children to learn how to pray: the Prayer Bucket.
Teach your students 6 different ways to pray with this Catholic Prayers Bulletin Board. The perfect interactive bulletin board for Catholic classrooms
Looking for Scriptures to teach your children? Use these Scriptures to teach your children the power of God's Word, and teach your children God's truth!
Games can be fun to teach about the purpose of prayer and how to pray. Games about prayer help teach kids and teens the purpose of prayer
Prayer prompts for kids are a practical tool to help little ones understand how to pray and what to pray about. We've organized some prayer prompts to help guide...
Games can be fun to teach about the purpose of prayer and how to pray. Games about prayer help teach kids and teens the purpose of prayer
Help your students pray and connect home and school with Prayer Buddies. The free printables give kids ideas for how to pray to God while Prayer Buddy is visiting them at home. #catholic #prayer #catholickids
Transform your preschool day with effective transitions. Explore how music, chants, and stories can engage and guide children through different activities.
Of course you want the kids in your church to know God. Struggling with how to teach them, though? It's not hard--especially with this method for teaching kids about knowing God! Discover 3 reasons to use this method, plus 3 practical tips for fun ways to teach children about God, so they trust Him personally.
This is a really colourful way to pray for people and situations where you'd like to see God's power breaking through. Visual pray-er...
One of my favorite ways to pray with kids is using our special prayer ball. It gets the kids a little bit of activity while spending ti...
Last year, I was asked to lead a session at our church’s womens retreat about teaching children to pray. I was really challenged as I prepared to teach. This can be a daunting subject. It can…
A simple prayer activity and tips on teaching a child to pray. On more than one occasion my little girl has expressed to me her desire to pray more frequently. However, she’s also confessed that
Help children learn to pray the Rosary in a fun and engaging way. Walkable rosaries are a great way to get students up and moving whether inside or outside.
An object lesson about the offering teaches children about cheerful giving. Here are 10 Bible-based, kid-friendly lessons about generosity and stewardship.
It is so important that we encourage kids to pray. Giving them tools and language for prayer can help it feel less scary.
How can I make prayers more meaningful? If you don't know that I love donuts yet, I think I might be doing something wrong. ;) I just think they are so cute-it's just a bonus they are fun to eat too! So that I hadn't used donuts yet in a lesson or handout was pretty shocking to me. So I decided to change that! And this YW lesson topic was perfect for that! I want the girls to get use to writing in their journals so I encouraged them to take them out right at the starting of class and write down impressions or promptings they get throughout the lesson. I started with asking them some questions I just wanted them to think about: Are my prayers sincere? Do I say prayers that are repetitive or without meaning? Do I treat prayers like a wish list? I told the girls to remember that Heavenly Father is our Father, He wants to help us and loves us so much. He knows our needs and desires. He wants us to communicate with Him, He's always just a prayer away. I hope we pray as if He's there and is listening because He is! As we make a habit of approaching God in prayer, we will come to know Him and draw ever nearer to Him. Our desires will become more like His, we will be able to secure for ourselves and for others-blessings that He is ready to give if we will but ask in faith. We talked about how we can make our prayers more meaningful so I passed out a little sheet of paper that is the perfect size for them to put in their journals and to read! Here's how you can add some SPRINKLES to your prayers and make them more meaningful! We talked about what we could add to this list like: preparing our minds, listening, faithful effort, praying out loud, pause, ask forgiveness, ask questions, keep a prayer journal, traits we'd like to work on, who can we serve or help-someone who is sad/sick or in need, gospel topics we are trying to understand, family concerns, etc. We also talked about meaningful experiences we have had with prayer. Sometimes when we pray, it's like we're picking up a phone, ordering groceries, and then we hang up the phone-we put in our our order, and we don't think any more about it than that. But if we take a few minutes just to think about our particular need in a given moment, then prayer becomes more meaningful. President Gordon B. Hinckley I've learned that when I make a habit of praying it becomes natural and more meaningful for me. I encouraged the class to make a habit of praying. Prayer isn't just for times when we are in trouble or in need. We should have constant communication with our Father in Heaven. We always need to be in connection with him and know what He'd like us to do. The next activity we did is A Dozen of Meaningful Prayers. I told the girls to think of something or someone that has been on their minds lately. I wanted them to write it or the persons name under the donut. Once you pray and ACT/do something to help with your prayer, you can color it in. The goal being a whole dozen prayers that you've prayed about and can see how you have helped with those prayers. Which brought us into the next topic of acting and helping with our prayers. We usually wait entirely on our Heavenly Father for answers to our prayers and I think we forget that we can do our part and help. Often, the answerr to our prayer does not come while we're on our knees but while we're on our feet serving the Lord and serving those around us. Selfless acts of service and consecration refine our spirits , remove the scales from our spiritual eyes, and open the windows of heaven. By becoming the answer to someone's prayer, we often find the answer to our own. President Spencer W. Kimball taught this concept when he said: "God does notice us, and he watches over us. But it is usually through another person that he meets our needs." Elder Uchtdorf I have seen this SO many times in my life. Especially when it's something simple but incredibly kind, usually it just makes my day brighter-so hopefully we can be in a position to make others happier and make life more enjoyable for them! We talked about how our prayers can be answered in a different way than we expected and shared stories. Heavenly Father hears your prayers. He may not always answer as you expect, but he does answer-in His own time and according to His will. Because He knows what is best for you, He may sometimes answer no, even when your petitions are sincere. True to the Faith God is eagerly waiting for the chance to answer your prayers and fulfill your dream, just as He always has. But He can't if you don't pray, and He can't if you don't dream. In short, He can't if you don't believe. Elder Holland Our Heavenly Father wants to help and bless us. Those blessings require effort and work on our part. The first being to pray! So DONUT forget to pray! As you can tell I got really into this lesson! I gave little 'DONUT forget to Pray' tags with a donut eraser along with the Dozen of Meaningful Prayers activity, a 'Donut forget to pray!' sticker for them to put in their journals, how to make their prayers more meaningful paper, and a quote page (which makes it super easy to get anyone to read quotes out loud during the lesson and skip quotes if necessary, I also love that they get to keep all the quotes/scriptures/etc. for later pondering and study), and of course for a treat I gave Donettes! I have LOADS of donut decorations from Olivia's birthday party so I just pulled a few out of our donut party box. I made some donuts out of cardboard and painted them to look like donuts, then used them for the chalkboard decoration, I had mini popsicle sticks painted to look like sprinkles, a small picture of Christ with a small girl is always ideal for Young Women lessons I think, a small donut decoration from the Target Dollar Bins and a super cute cake stand full of a variety of the Donettes. I love to keep all my supplies or handouts all in one place so THIS tray was the perfect size for that. I also love to do something fun and memorable on the chalkboard. Even if it's simple I know that I look at the board a lot during class so this is a great way to give some inspiration for what they can put in their journals and to keep their mind on the topic at hand. Even if you don't teach or are in YW, feel free to do this for a primary, FHE, a summer activity or ministering handout/love note! There are so many options with these lesson ideas. If you'd like any of these FREE printables feel free to find them below: 'DONUT forget to PRAY' tag [page 1] 'A Dozen of Meaningful Prayers' activity 'DONUT forget to keep your prayers meaningful!' print [page 3] 'Donut forget to pray!' stickers (Need to print on sticker paper!) [page 2] DONUT forget to Pray Quote Page If you are interested in more Young Women lessons, I have several you can find HERE! This post may contain affiliate links, but all opinions are my own.
Printable Prayer Stations- Great for Youth Ministries, Sunday School, Outreach, and Home! Teach Kids How to Pray in a Fun Way!
