Grades 1-3
Introductory Activity— Communication
Materials: pencil, stone, megaphone, flashlight, scissors, whistle
Show each item in turn to the kids. Ask: “How can you use this to communicate with someone? Think of as many different ways as you can.” Tell kids to discuss their ideas with partners nearby. Then call for answers. Think of different ways that people communicate. List some other tools that kids use to communicate with others. Say: “Today we will talk about ways we communicate with God.”
Live It Out
Game—Escape Obstacle Course
Materials: items from your room
Set up an obstacle course in your room. You will want to give your children things to jump over, climb under, hop around, etc. Form two teams of kids and tell them they are Peter escaping from prison. Tell them they will compete to see which team can make it through the obstacle course the quickest, one at a time. The team that makes it through the fastest is the winner! Remind kids that people were praying for Peter and God heard their prayers and helped Peter escape from prison.
Craft—Prayer Hand
Materials: construction paper, pens, markers
Distribute the supplies to your children. At the top of the page, tell them to write the Life Point. They should place their hand on the paper and trace around it. Instruct them to write FAMILY on the thumb, FRIENDS on the pointer finger, THOSE IN NEED on the middle finger, CHURCH LEADERS on the ring finger, and MYSELF on the pinkie finger. Encourage your children to use this craft to remind them who they can pray for each day. Allow volunteers to pray for each specific finger at the end of the craft.
Grades 4-6
Introductory Activity— Prayer Definition
Materials: paper, markers, tape, scissors
Post signs that read Who?, What?, When?, Where?, Why?, How?. Give paper and markers to kids and instruct them to cut the paper into six strips. Tell them to think about prayer. They can write down answers to the questions about prayer. Who prays? Who do we pray to? What do we pray about? When do we pray? Where do we pray? Why do we pray? How do we pray?
After they write answers and ideas about prayer, they can tape them to the wall. Tell kids that they will explore praying to God today.
Live It Out
Game— Odd Man Out
Materials: chairs, one for every kid but one; Life Point printed on paper squares, one letter per square; bag; music
Mix the letters of the Life Point and put them in a bag. Say the Life Point. Place the chairs in a circle and play a game like musical chairs. Play music while kids walk around the chairs. Stop the music in an unexpected place. All the kids should try to sit down. Ask the kid without a chair to pull a letter from the bag. Place the letter on the wall. Start the music again. Repeat. As more letters added, try to place the letter in the correct position. To maintain interest, remove 1-2 other chairs and ask all children with no chair to pull letters. When the Life Point is complete, talk about people for whom kids could pray. Pray and ask God to help kids pray to Him this week.
Craft—Prayer Cup
Materials: plastic cups, markers, black permanent marker, craft sticks
Give each child one plastic cup, markers, and ten craft sticks. Instruct the children to use the permanent marker to write PRAYER CUP on the side of the cup. Next, direct them to write down ten people or situations they can pray for and put the sticks in the cup. Encourage them to place their Prayer Cup in their rooms and pull out a different stick each day so they can pray for that person or situation. Say the Life Point together.
Leave a Reply