How to Teach Kids to PRAY

From the mundane to the serious, kids have many needs to bring to God. If you work with or have children, you may hear prayer requests ranging all the way from asking for help with a school project or for a new toy, to praying for sick family members or that their parents won’t get a divorce. As our direct line of communication with God, God delights in hearing the needs of children—big or small. But prayer is so much more than bringing needs. Learn how to teach kids to pray by using the acronym P-R-A-Y!

P is for “Praise”

“Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise!” — Psalm 100:4

It’s easy when we start praying to jump right into the need we want to bring before God, but doing this can often lead to a selfish, vending-machine type of view of God and prayer. It’s important, when we learn how to teach kids to pray, that we teach kids to spend part of their prayer time praising and thanking God for who He is and what He’s done. By praising God first and reviewing His attributes, it helps to get us in the right mindset and perspective about God, helping us to pray more correctly about other things and to see His big picture.

As the idea of praise might be a bit vague for a child, a great way how to teach kids to pray is to make it practical by modeling praise for them. Here are a few activities you can try:

How to Teach Kids to Pray with Praise

1) Use a Praise Prop

To start, pass a ball around the circle. When the ball comes to you, say “God, I praise you because you are ____” and fill in the blank with one of God’s attributes. (You may need to help the children think of truths they know about God, such as He is holy, loving, patient, kind, etc.)

2) Pray from Head to Toe

Another idea is to pray from head to toe! Have kids start at the top of their heads and work their way down their body, thanking God for the amazing way He made them; praising Him for things like “God, thank you for a mind that can think”, “Thank you for eyes that can see all the beautiful colors in the world”, “Thank you for a nose that can smell delicious food,” etc.

3) Pray Scripture

 Finally, pray with scripture. Teach through a Psalm (such as Psalm 23) one verse at a time, pausing after each verse to thank God for the truth it teaches, such as, “God, thank you that you are the Good Shepherd who gives us everything we need.” 

Notice the word “thank you” came up a lot in praise time. Gratitude is a natural outpouring of praise!

R is for “Repent”

Next, after praise, when learning how to teach kids to pray, we want to be sure we approach God with a clear conscience and an honest heart. Encourage the saved kids in your class to get into the habit of regularly confessing their sin to God, seeking His help to turn from their sin and to do the right thing. But don’t stop there with just repentance—remind them of His promise to forgive! 1 John 1:9 says, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

For some kids, this might be hard to do. It’s human nature to defend ourselves and not even think about how we might have sinned, so talk about how hard it is and how we need to take time before the Lord to let His Holy Spirit convict our sin. Don’t forget to thank God for giving the conviction and strength to repent, because without repentance, life becomes a big mess as a result of our sin! Repentance is not the part of prayer to dread, it’s actually a blessing. If you’re wondering how to teach kids to pray, encourage kids to lie in bed before going to sleep at night and talk over their day with God. As we review all that happened or was said, while in God’s presence, He gives us insight on unfinished business, as well as things for which to be thankful.

A is for “Ask for Others”

Next, when learning how to teach kids to pray, challenge kids to intercede for the needs of others. Like all of us, kids are naturally selfish and tend to focus on their own needs first. But God calls us to be selfless people and to use prayer as a time of intercession—not only for ourselves, but for others too.

To help kids start thinking about the people around them and how those people might be struggling, give prompts and ask questions like, “Who do you know that’s sick?” or “Who do you know who doesn’t know Jesus as their Savior?” After children have supplied an answer and have spent time in prayer about them, if you really want to learn how to teach kids to pray in an active way, encourage them to write down who they prayed for and the date, so they can keep track of how God answers those prayers. You may want to help them in this and keep an active prayer journal for them or for your class that you can return to every week.

Y is for “Your Own Needs”

Last on the acronym for how to teach kids to pray, we have the child’s needs. While prayer should never just be a laundry list of our own needs and concerns, let kids know that God does care deeply about their problems and worries. 1 Peter 5:7 encourages them to be “casting all your anxieties on him, because He cares for you.” When learning how to teach kids to pray, let them know that no worry is too small for God to care about and no trial is too big for Him to handle. Exemplify His love and compassion by making your home or class a safe place for kids to share personal prayer requests. Every child’s prayer life can be deeply enriched when you learn how to teach kids to pray with Praise, Repentance, Asking for Others, and Your own needs (P-R-A-Y)!