Ten Tips
On Teaching Your Child To Pray
by Sandy Galea
It’s never too early to begin to teach your child to pray. As you wrap them, cuddle them and put them down to sleep - pray. ‘Mummy loves you, Daddy loves, but most of all God loves you. Let’s thank him for today.’
Children are greatly helped by parents who regularly pray out loud with them. From a very young age, establish a daily routine where you read the Bible and pray with your child.
- Bath | Bible | Bed
Bring prayer into your regular family routines.
- Breakfast | Dinner | Bedtime
- Driving to school | Walking home from school
- On the way to holidays | On the way back from holidays
Pray as a family as you celebrate family traditions.
- Celebrating Christmas | Celebrating Easter
- Every birthday in the family
Never ask your child, ‘Do you want to pray?’ Instead ask, ‘What can we pray about?’ or ‘Who’s going to go first?’ or ‘Let’s talk to our awesome God.’
Download the Kidswise Family Prayer Cube (see Parent Resources). Copy and cut the pictures then attach each picture to a cube. Either roll the cube or turn the cube. Read the words on the picture rolled or chosen by your child. Encourage them to use these words to begin their prayer.
If your child is very young or unsure, pray a simple ‘copy prayer’ for your child to repeat (note: pray in short phrases so it’s easy for them to copy). One day they’ll say they don’t need to ‘copy prayer’ because they’re big enough to do it on their own.
Create a family prayer photo album, filled with family and friends to pray for. Use the family calendar to pray about upcoming events, and especially to pray for opportunities to share Jesus as a family.
Fill a container with paddle pop sticks. On the end of each paddle pop stick write a suggested prayer topic: school teacher, Kids Church leader, missionary family, church family, church leaders, coach, friends, grandparents, aunties, uncles, cousins... After children have prayed about their world, encourage them to choose a paddle pop stick and pray for others.
Read through a prayer in the Bible. Each member of the family takes a few verses of the prayer and puts them into their own words. Psalm 8, Psalm 105, Matthew 6:9-13, Ephesians 1:15-23, Philippians 1:3-11, Colossians 1:3-14
by Sandy Galea