Preschool Prayers Activity e-Book by Denise Oliveri - HTML preview

Table to Contents

Chapter 1: What is Prayer

 

Chapter 2: Understanding the Lord’s Prayer

 

Chapter 3: What is the ACTS Prayer Method

 

Chapter 4: Sample Prayers for Preschoolers

 

Chapter 5: Prayer Crafts

 

Chapter 6: Prayer Activities/Games

 

Chapter 7: Prayer Songs

 

Chapter 8: Prayer Activity/Book Resources

 

WHAT IS PRAYER?

When you talk to God, this is called prayer. Prayer is something that you should do when you are all by yourself. When you talk to God even though you cannot see Him, He can hear you every time that you pray. God can even hear what you think! God is good! You should talk to God when you are:

SAD ANGRY SCARED

 

HAPPY God loves you and He always listens to children. No matter what you have done wrong, God always hears His children.

God lives up in the sky, in a place called Heaven. No matter what, you must always trust God. He has a plan for each and every one of you and He already
knows what you will be doing when you are grown up like your mommy and
daddy. No matter where you are God is with you even though you can't see Him; you will be able to feel him inside your heart.

When you pray to God, He will bless you and He will answer your prayers. Have you ever been afraid? Have you ever been afraid at night when you are in your bed or when you woke up from a bad dream? God is always there to protect you even when you are scared.
When should you pray?
When you wake up Before you eat

Before you go to bed There is no right or wrong place to pray. You can pray in your bedroom or in your backyard. When you pray you should ask God to bless certain people and to watch over them for you. Who do you think that you should pray for?

Your family Your church

 

Your friends
UNDERSTANDING THE LORD’S PRAYER

Jesus is the Son of God. Back when Jesus was alive just like you and I are today, He used to pray a lot. Jesus had disciples. The Disciples were 12 special friends that Jesus picked to follow Him. Jesus taught His disciples to trust in His Father, God.

One day when the disciples saw Jesus praying they asked Him, “Lord, teach us to pray.” Jesus said to them, “When you pray, say:

Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be Your name,
Your kingdom come,
Your will be done

on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
Forgive us our debts,

as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from the evil one.

For yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.”

 

Matthew 6:9-13

 

Even though the disciples always saw Jesus praying, they still weren’t sure how to do it. That is why they asked Him.

Jesus says that we should keep our prayers simple and we don’t have to use big or fancy words. Sometimes people like to show off but Jesus says that we should never show off when we pray. It is our quiet time when we are

alone with God.

Let’s try to understand exactly what the Lord’s Prayer means.

Our Father in heaven: This means that we are praying to God. He likes it when we call Him Father. God is father to all of his children, whether you are very young or very old, or anywhere in-between.

Hallowed be Your name: Saying this is a way of saying the God is really special to you, and you know His name is holy.

Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven: We know that God lives in Heaven, right? Heaven is a pretty great place to live. God tells us that in Heaven no one will cry or be hungry and God will live with us. It is also a way of praying that people would live here on earth just like they would live in Heaven, honoring God always. Give us today our daily bread: This is asking God to give us everything that we need to live. Do you know what some of the things that we cannot live without are?

Water

 

Food

 

Shelter

Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors: This is when we ask God to forgive us for what we have done wrong. If we want to be forgiven then we have to be sorry for what we did wrong. We also have to be willing to forgive those that have been mean to us.

And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one: This is when we ask God to help us do the right thing. Sometimes we might want to tell a lie to our parents or we might want to hit another kid, or maybe you like one of

your friends toys and you think it is really cool, so you might want to take it. These things are wrong. So we ask God to keep us away from the very bad things that are in the world.

For yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever: This means that God is the best and that He will be in Heaven forever and ever. No matter whatever happens God will always win.

Amen: This means that we are 100% sure that this is the truth!
WHAT IS THE ACTS PRAYER METHOD?

The ACTS prayer method is pretty hard for young children to understand. It stands for adoration, confession, thanksgiving, and supplication. Do you know what any of those words mean? Probably not, but that’s okay because many grownups don’t know what they mean either.

Let’s try to look at it in a much easier way!

A doration means I Love You! Confession means I am sorry! Thanksgiving means Thank You! Supplication means Please!

Do you know why these are so important? God loves each one of you so very much so it is very important to tell Him that you love Him every chance that you can. You know how important it is to say that you are sorry right?

You should always tell God that you are sorry if you did something that might make Him sad. Tell God “thank you” a hundred times a day! Can you think of some things that you are thankful for? Name just a few of the most important things that you should thank God for.
Your Parents Your brothers and sisters
Your Pets God
When you draw a special picture for your mommy or you do something nice to help someone, do you like it when people say, “Thank you” to you? God likes it too and it makes Him feel so happy to know that you are thinking about Him.

Draw a picture for someone you love very much right now!

SAMPLE PRAYERS FOR PRESCHOOLERS

We learned earlier that we should pray for certain people such as our family, our church, and our friends. Do you know some prayers that you could say to pray for these people? We also learned that we should pray when we wake up in the morning, before we eat, and before bed. Let’s look at some prayers that we could say for each time.

When we wake up

Lord, you made today, thank you. Please watch over me today and bless everyone that I love. I am sorry if I did anything wrong. I love you. Amen

This prayer is very small but you said please and thank you, you said I love you, and you said you were sorry. Good job!

Before we eat
Lord, thank you for the food that we are about to eat. Bless the people around the world that do not have any food to eat. I love you. Amen

Before we go to sleep
Lord, I am going to sleep now. Please watch over my house while we are sleeping. Thank you for this day. I love you. Amen

PRAYER CRAFTS
Lord’s Prayer Angel Craft
Materials:

• White paper or cardstock
• Colored paper for wings
• Scraps of colored paper for hair (optional)
• Markers, crayons, or colored pencils
• Scissors
• Glue
• Pencil
• Ribbon or yarn
• Tape

Head and Body Directions:

1. Print the template of the angel head, hands, and body provided on the next page. You may want the children to color the head and hands a flesh color, but that is optional.

2. Cut out the pieces provided in the template.
3. Draw a face on the angel using markers, crayons, or colored pencils.
4. Glue the head and hands to the angel body.
5. Cut hair for the angel from a scrap of colored paper, or draw hair on the angel’s head.
Angel Wings Directions:

1. Place the child’s hands on a piece of paper with the fingers together for easier cutting. Trace the child’s hands using a pencil. For a Sunday school class, you may want to have the kids pair up and trace each other’s hands.

2. Cut out the paper hands. Flip them over so the pencil marks won’t show.
3. Glue the wrist ends of the paper hands to the back of the angel body to make the wings.

To hang up the angel, cut a piece of ribbon or yarn about 6 inches long. Tape both ends of the ribbon or yarn to the back of the prayer angel’s head. Now the kids can hang up the angel on a doorknob or other easy to see place at home, so they can practice remembering this important prayer.

The Lord’s Prayer Angel Craft Template Prayer Chain

Materials

Construction Paper
Markers
Glue sticks

Directions

Cut paper strips of construction paper about 2” in width and 6” in length. You can have many colors of paper or just a few. Have all the children give a prayer request out loud in class. They can pray about someone who is ill, a trip they may be taking, or any other prayer request that comes to mind. Write each child’s request on a separate strip. Have the children each make a paper chain out of the requests. Have the children take them home and hang them in their room or somewhere in their house so they can remember to pray over each requests each night.

Prayer Sticks
Materials

Craft sticks Markers Empty container (frosting, coffee tin, etc.) Construction paper
Stickers

Directions

Take craft sticks and write different prayers on them with markers. Decorate an empty container with construction paper and stickers. Place the prayer sticks inside of the container. At the beginning of class have preschoolers pick a prayer from the container, you read the prayer aloud, and everyone in the class prays it together. You only need one container for the whole class to share.

Prayer Pockets

Materials

Two paper plates
Stapler
Hole punch
7-inch lengths of yarn Colored index cards (6 per child) Crayons

Directions

Cut one of the paper plates in half and staple it to the whole paper plate, which will create a pocket. Print at the bottom of each pocket, “I will pray.” Give each child 6 index cards. Help the child to print on each card the name of someone they can pray for. Decorate the prayer reminder pocket and place the cards in the pocket. Punch a hole in the top of each pocket and thread a length of yarn through the hole. Find somewhere to hang the prayer reminder pocket.