Teaching kids about prayer

I teach a 4 to 6 year old Sunday School class and my class is about 45 minutes long.

I began a lesson last week on prayer and am planning on teaching on this topic all month, but last week's lesson didn't go very well. The kids seemed bored with my approach and didn't know the answer to the questions when we had review time. Last week was pretty much just an introduction with me doing more talking so it wasn't surprising that they weren't interested. How can I get them more involved in this weeks lesson on prayer. I made a poster with the title "I can pray to God anytime anywhere" and on the poster I put up pictures that the children colored. Showing that we can pray when we are happy, sad, mad, scared, when we get up, before meals, before bedtime, at church, school, home ect...

I have tried coming up a different approach to do this week, but I'm stuck with this. These are the only two ideas that I've came up with are:
1st Idea The five finger prayer
thumb- those closest to you
pointer -- school teachers and SS teachers
Middle -- president
Ring -- the sick
Pinky -- yourself
I need a craft or activity that the children would be able to do with this idea.

2nd idea is using the ACTS method, but not focusing on the words they mean. Just explaining that prayer should include you telling God how much you love Him, Asking Him to forgive you for doing something wrong, Thanking Him for what He has done for you and asking prayer for yourself and others.

The activity I have for this lesson would be having them go around and thank God for something before our closing circle at the end of class.
Let me know if anyone knows any other approach I can take with teaching prayer to this age. I will be needing three or four more lessons.

Sorry to hear about your lesson!
Try the prayer acronym

P praise
R repent
A ask
Y yeild (with your age group you could change it to 'yes to God')
E evangilize (a little tweak again could be 'Everyone they love')
R Rejoice

Hope this helps.

I LOVE the 5-finger prayer! My daughters have fleshed it out to the point where it takes some real time to pray it, but they enjoy it that way (example: for the middle finger, they pray for the Government, the President, Mayor, police, firemen, soldiers, pilots, postal workers and Govenors...I had started with just President! You don't even want to know how far the Ring finger has gone). Maybe encouraging the children to say what they feel they should pray for for each finger - keeping with the original concept, of course - would give it a little more meaning for them.

Hi God Servant! Welcome to Christian Forums!!!

I work with kids as a Guardian ad Litem. Very young children can be difficult to work with because, often, they want to move around and never seem to want to sit still. = /

It is interesting to note that Jews will sway while they pray. One of the philosophies behind this is the verse:

It is interesting to note that the philosophy extends further - going into quite some detail as to how we might envision our spirit as a candle flame - bound to a material "wick" (our body) but always, especially in moments of deep prayer, leaping higher and higher, struggling to seperate from this material realm and ascend to our Source.

Perhaps you might work with a prayer technique that involves some body movement? Praying off fingers is a fun method, but it can sometimes repetition can be tedious for lil 'uns. (And big 'uns!)

Here is a website a couple seconds of Googling pulled up - Creative Prayer Activities

I particularly like the outdoors/altar one.

L.

I hope it keeps going well -- prayer seems such a valuable focus for a lesson.

Kids are centered in themselves, and absorb loads of external input. But whatever makes them feel like they have done something they can be proud of, that really anchors in.

With young kids, I would keep it at "what do you think God could help with," and then one by one pray for each request. Take a talking break in between each prayer, or check one off a written list.

The older kids might want to write one word that helps everyone remember. Some groups/individuals will want to take charge -- if that happens, go with it! Anything that shows they have ownership of this talk between God and themselves.

Then next week, ask if God answered any prayers, and let them talk.

Hey I just found these sunday school lessons. Thought maybe it would help out!

Hello! I'm new to the forum. I am currently teaching the kids about prayer. I'm teaching them that prayer is a relationship. I used 6 balls to illustrate what I was talking about.
First I explained to them the relationship I have with my husband (who is my earthly best friend and he helps me teach the class) and showed them with the balls what it would be like if I always did all the talking. (prayer is talking to God) I threw the balls at my husband who was the catcher. I explained that he wanted to talk back (like Jesus wants to talk to us) but we have to give him the chance to talk back. Sometimes we need to be quiet before the Lord and let Him speak to us. Next I took all the balls away from my husband and explained what if all I wanted was to ask for something every time we talked, every time I grabbed a ball I said please give me some money, or wash the car etc.... I explained that we need to not only give Him requests but to tell Him how much we love Him and to pray for others. Then I said what if my husband is beside me and I ignore him. I started throwing the balls to random kids and turned my back to my husband. I explained sometimes we give other people way more attention than we give Jesus and He is our best friend.
My heart is to explain to the kids that prayer is relationship with Jesus - not just saying a poem prayer. Really talking to Him about everything. We made a bulletin board on the wall (hung low) we gather there at prayer time and I laminated some little hand cut outs. We wrote our prayer requests on them and prayed. I divided the board into two halves. One side is prayer requests and the other side is God answers. I'm so excited for the kids to see that God really does answer our prayers.

I hope this wasn't too long... I am so excited to find a place to share "teaching" tips.... I love this!

I'm going to digress just a little here (but I do feel it's still relevant):

A couple of years ago a dear friend, S, had to go to the hospital. When I heard this, I called my older daughter, who was about 5 at the time, over, told her, and asked if she would like to say a prayer for S. We prayed together.

A while later S called me herself. She told me that she was OK, and that she was going to be catching the same ride as me to something we were going to that night, so the driver would be a little early getting me. I told her about my daughter praying for her and she told me to thank her.

I once again called my daughter over. I said, "That was S on the phone. She said 'Thank you' for your prayers. She's home now and will be going with me tonight."

With eyes as big as saucers, my daughter simply said, "Wow!"

Sometimes practical application is the best lesson.

Here is another acronym that can be used for prayer.

ACTS

A- adoration, love and respect for God.
C- confess, you need to remember to confess your sins to God.
T- thanksgiving, give thanks to God.
S- supplication, ask God in a humble way to meet the needs of others and yourself.

I see you already have the 5 finger method of praying, I would have recommended that as well.

I don't teach sunday school, but I do have a 3 year old I am going to try these on

Great ideas !

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