Making Prayer Fun for Children

INTENTIONAL PRAYER

(NKJV) says, “Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.” The time to teach your children to pray is now. “No matter how old they are it is never too early or too late to start being more intentional with your child’s faith development,” shares Stephanie.

What you teach your kids at home will have a lasting impact on how they practice faith as a young person and an adult. To equip parents in their journey Stephanie shares different categories of prayer activities:

• Prayer games – fun and simple games that require little to no preparation. Stephanie often plays the grateful game in the car with her kids while driving. Her kids take turns shouting out something they want to thank God for. For example, “Thank you, Jesus, for this sunny day.” This game teaches kids to give thanks because God is good not because circumstances are good. Another activity Stephanie likes to do with her children is the nature prayer walk. She enjoys it and her kids do too because it is a way to get outside and casually incorporate prayer and talking to God into an everyday activity. Kids are asked to collect items in nature (ex. pine cones or feathers) then pray and thank God for each item. Stephanie will also read aloud scriptures (For example: Psalm 8) with her kids that reference God’s creation.
• Focused prayers – easy and approachable but takes a little more time. Memorized prayers can come in handy when you don’t know what to pray. Stephanie recalls struggling with postpartum anxiety when her middle child, Griffin, was just a baby. Some days she would be curled up in her bedroom closet, crying. It was debilitating and on those days she often could not find the words or the strength to pray, but she could recite the Lord’s Prayer. It was a simple, short prayer, but God knew her heart and that she longed for connection with Him even in difficult times. Another way to incorporate prayer with your children is through Christian art. Turn on worship music, gather your art supplies and instruct your kids to think about God, what He has done for you, and what you love about Him. Then let your children draw whatever comes to mind and discuss their drawings with you when they are done.
• Contemplative prayers – require more practice and patience from parents and kids. The Prayer of Examen – is an Ignatian spiritual discipline that involves reflecting on your day as well as God’s involvement and action in it. At dinnertime each evening, Stephanie asks her kids, “What were the best and worst parts of your day, and how did you see God today?” This discipline teaches kids to reflect on God’s presence in their daily activities. The practice of divine reading or lectio divina goes back to early European Christianity when literacy rates were low. Since written word was not readily available, this practice allowed believers access to God’s Word whether they could read or not. During their reading time, monks would go to a quiet place, read a passage of Scripture, meditate on a word or phrase from that scripture and turn it into a prayer. You can do the same with your children today. Read part of the Bible (ex. Psalm 23) to your child as they are lying down. Have them close their eyes and really listen to the words you are saying. When you are done ask your child what the scriptures tell them about Jesus and how did it make them feel. Pray with your child afterwards.

“Being prayerful in these ways has become such a habit that our kids don’t always realize they are praying, because it comes naturally,” shares Stephanie.

ALL DAY PRAYER

Despite the busyness of life, prayer can happen at any time and it doesn’t have to be formal. Stephanie loves to pray when she is unloading the dishwasher. Although she doesn’t love the task she has found praying helps to pass the time and make the work more meaningful. You can ask your kids to help. By doing so, you are showing them that God can be included in every part of their day. She offers the following suggestions on how to incorporate prayer into your daily activities:

• Bath time – Create in me a clean heart, Lord.
• Picking up toys – You are the God of joy. Thank you for the joy in our home.
• Breaking up a fight – You are the God of reconciliation. Thank you for forgiving us and help us to forgive others.
• Stop and pray out loud when you are stressed or angry and your kids are watching. Cry out to Jesus instead of reacting in a negative way.

Our first job as parents is to love Jesus in a way that points our kids toward Him. It is impossible to be good parents in our own strength. Ask Jesus for help and lean on Him for guidance in parenting. If nothing else gets done in the day surround your kids in prayer.

STEPHANIE’S INFO

Stephanie knows firsthand how difficult it is to find time and energy to focus on our children’s faith formation at home. When her three kids were three and under, her main priority was to keep her kids alive and fed, manage the meltdowns, and try to get some sleep. But as her kids grew, Stephanie realized that she had been uniquely teaching her kids about Jesus and encouraging them to pray in creative ways by using the tools she had collected over the years in her work in congregational youth ministry. She is passionate about the idea that communicating with Jesus can and should be part of the everyday moments in our lives.