The children, 6th grade and under, met in the Parish Hall and had a lesson on prayer. We had activity stations set up for the kids all focusing on prayer.

Station 1: The kids made prayer mats. The mats can be used to kneel on and pray OR when they see the mat, it can be a reminder to pray. They did learn that you don’t have to kneel in order to talk with God.

Station 2: The kids made prayer boxes and added prayer requests for either themselves or others.

Station 3: The kids each got a dice with a legend to show what to pray for when a certain number was rolled. 1-pray for others, 2-pray for animals…

Station 4: The kids received two prayer cubes. One for their meal times. Just roll the cube and pray what it lands on. The other prayer cube is has nighttime prayers. Again just roll the cube and pray what it lands on.

Station 5: The kids had to write a prayer request but there was a catch. They could not pray for them-selves. They had to pray for someone else. After their requests were made, they rolled their papers and placed them in a cross. You will find this cross in the Parish Hall. Made out of tissue boxes and toilet paper rolls, it looks pretty! Towards the end of the Sunday school year we will take the prayers and see how God has answered them. There we will have a lesson on answered prayers. Did God answer them yet? Did He answer them the way we wanted him to? Was the outcome better than what we were actually praying for?

Teaching our children how to pray is so important. Teaching them to pray not only for themselves but for others is a practice that is great to start when they are young. Over the years as their prayers grow, so will their faith.