Creative Ideas for Prayer Times with Children

In our intergenerational resource, the Lord, Teach Us To Pray Family Devotional Guide, author Sally Michael gives some excellent suggestions for varying your mode of prayer with children in order to keep them engaged. Most of these suggestions can be used in both the home and classroom:

• Pray “sentence prayers”—each person prays a sentence or two and prays at various times.
• Pray topically—pray about a certain topic; then mention another concern for prayer; pray through several requests.
• Place prayer requests on slips of paper and draw to determine who will pray for each request.
• Gather around a person, lay hands on him and pray for him.
• Pray in pairs.
• Take a prayer walk—stop at critical spots to pray.
• Pray over requests in missionary letters.
• Pray with a map.
• Pass out pictures of friends and family—each person can pray for the person pictured.
• Write out your prayers.
• Suggest a “prayer starter;” others finish (e.g., “Lord you are so good because…you send rain on the good and bad alike…while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us…”).
• Go outside and pray with your eyes open.

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