Jesus Teaches Me to Pray: Home Ideas

Can you pray at home without your mommy or daddy?  When I posed this question to the kiddos in my class yesterday, the overwhelming response was no.  Now of course children are still learning how to pray and need guidance and modelling from their parents, but begin to encourage your child to pray on their own.  At times ask them to pray for meal time prayers, bedtime prayers, prayers of repentance, etc.  Encourage them that they do not have to "say it just like you".  They can use their own words to talk to God, because God loves to hear them pray.  This is a way to help your child cultivate their own relationship with God.  Here are some more ideas to do with your child at home this week, reinforcing the concept of prayer and the letter 'P".

• Read Bible stories this week with your child about people such as Daniel and Hannah, who faithfully prayed, and saw their prayers answered. 

• Use a small photo album to make a prayer book for your child, with photos  and/or their drawings of people and things they are praying for. 

• Sing these songs with your child throughout the week.  Click on the song titles for words and actions.

• Read Your Bible and Pray Everyday - I also suggested this song a couple weeks ago with the lesson Jesus Teaches Me to Love God's Word.  Refer to this post if you would like to see a video of the song.

• This is the Way I Talk to God -the "Prayer Cup" craft we made in my class last night is a fun interactive visual for this song.  See my previous post for pictures, print outs and instructions for making the craft.

• When I'm Sad - This is an all-time favorite song to sing in my class!

• The Bible says our prayers are as sweet incense before the Lord. Bake cookies together.  While they are in the oven talk about the sweet aroma, and what our prayers are like to God. 

• The letter 'P' is for prayer. Write upper case and lower case 'P' in large font. Show your child how to roll out play dough and form the letter 'P'. 

• Give your child a pail and help them fill it with things around the house that begin with the letter 'P': pencil, paper, paperclip, puppy (stuffed animal), pony, etc.

• Eat snacks that begin with the letter 'P': pretzels, popcorn, peanut butter, pudding, pears, peaches...