Grades 1-3
Introductory Activity – Ring Toss
Materials: cardboard tubes, chenille craft stems, marker, tape (optional)
Print the letters P, R, A, Y on cardboard tubes. Make several sets of letters. Arrange the tubes, spacing them out so a ring will fit over it. You may want to use a small strip of tape to secure the tube to the floor. Make rings by twisting 2 chenille stems together at one end and then bending it into a ring. (Test the ring. If it seems so small that tossing it onto the tubes is too challenging, use 3 chenille stems instead.) Kids can take turns tossing rings onto the tubes. Challenge them to ring the letters in order to spell pray or to ring three of the same letter. Comment that kids will learn that the church prays for people’s needs.
Live It Out
Game – Follow Your Thumb
Materials: beach ball or other ball with colored sections, church prayer list (if available)
Guide kids to stand in a circle. Toss the ball back and forth across the circle. Call: “Stop.” Tell the child holding the ball to look at his right thumb. If his thumb is on a colored section, ask a review question. If his thumb is on a white section, lead him to say the Bible verse. (Adjust the thumb placement to match your ball.) After the question is answered or the verse repeated, start tossing again. Talk about how your church prays for people’s needs. If available, show your church’s prayer list or talk about ways your church makes needs known so members can pray. Say the Life Point.
Craft – Door Reminder
Materials: heavyweight paper, markers, stickers, ribbon, glue, collage materials, scissors
Lead kids to cut circles or other shapes from heavyweight paper. Help a child cut a length of ribbon, fold it, and glue the ends to the back of her shape to create a hanger. Tell her to write Pray for others and their needs in the middle of the shape. She can use the art materials to decorate around the statement. Talk about the Bible story and the Life Point. Suggest kids print the Bible verse on the backs of their shapes. Tell kids to hang the reminder on the doorknobs to their rooms. They can be reminded to pray when they see the doorknob reminder.
Grades 4-6
Introductory Activity – Prayer Chain
Materials: construction paper, pencils, scissors, markers, staplers with staples
On a piece of paper, write Prayer Requests. Tape the paper to a wall. Tell kids they can think about people or things for which they would like prayer. They can trace their hands on paper and cut the hands out; each child can make several hand shapes. Tell kids to write a prayer request on the hand shapes. After they have written on all the hands, tell kids to staple their hands into a long chain. Tell kids they will hear about the church praying in today’s Bible story. As circumstances permit, encourage kids to quietly pray for requests.
Live It Out
Game – Bible Search
Materials: Bibles
Help kids find today’s Bible story in their Bibles. Ask a review question and lead kids to look in the Bible passage to find the answer. Each kid should point in his Bible where the answer is located. No one can answer the question until everyone has found it in the Bible. Encourage kids to work together and assist one another as needed. Call on a volunteer to answer the question and read the verse where the answer is located. Ask another review question and start the search again. Say that the church prayed together for Peter. Talk about ways your church prays for the needs of others.
Craft – Prayer Board
Materials: large plastic plates, colored and decorative tape, scissors, permanent markers, magnetic tape (or yarn and hole punch)
Tell kids they can use the plastic plates to create dry erase prayer boards for home. They can decorate around the edges of the plate with the tape. Tell them to make sure and leave space in the middle of the plates for writing prayer requests or lists. As they work, talk about the Bible story and the Life Point. Tell kids they can use permanent markers to write the Bible Verse on their tape designs or along the edge of the plates. Help them add strips of magnetic tape to the back. (Or punch holes and use yarn for a hanger.) Pray and ask God to help each of you pray to for others in your church and community.
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