7 Impactful Ways to Teach Your Child to Pray
As Christians, we know how VITAL prayer is when it comes to our relationship with the Lord.
And we want the same for our children too! We want to make sure we are teaching our kids how to pray so that they can come before the Lord with boldness and confidence.
But where do you start?
Check out these 7 impactful ways you can start teaching your kids to pray!!
How To Teach Your Child To Pray Powerful Prayers
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One day not too long ago, my mom wasn’t feeling well. It was just a small headache, but my very sensitive and sweet daughter said these words to me…
“Mommy, can we pray for Grandma?”
Cue the tears right??
It made my momma heart SO happy that those were the first words out of her mouth. Like I wasn’t doing EVERYTHING wrong in this whole parenting deal.
How amazing would it be if our children’s first response to situations was to pray?
Life would be completely different for your family! But sometimes it’s hard to know where to start. Or maybe you have asked your child to pray and they don’t know what to say. So what’s the first step?
For YOU to pray.
Pray and ask God to HELP you teach your child to pray, just as you teach them about the Bible. Once you have done that, here are some super practical ways you can teach your child to pray IMPACTFUL prayers!
Let’s get right into it…
1. Start Teaching Your Kids To Pray When They Are Young
God says that when we don’t know what to pray, the Spirit intercedes for us (Romans 8:26). Doesn’t that apply to little toddler babbles and sentences that may not make sense?
Our kids don’t receive a baby Holy Spirit. They receive the living Spirit of God when they come to know Him. And our kids are never too young to start learning to pray!
Keep it simple; start with meal times, bed time, morning, thank you’s, etc.
For example, if you pray from the time your child is a baby, then once they are able to say a few words, you’ll be able to teach them some simple prayers such as:
- “Good morning God!”
- “Thank you for today.”
- “Thank you for our food.”
- “Protect us as we sleep.”
- “I love you, God.”
The Bible says very clearly to train them up… that means starting when they are small! You’d be amazed at the kinds of things kids take in even in the infant/toddler years.
Especially when they see YOU praying which leads us to the next point…
2. Let Them See You Praying
You definitely want to model prayer for your kids. They learn to pray from you praying. You teach them by doing yourself what you are teaching!
Say that 5x fast!!!
Just like we mentioned before, make it a habit to pray in the morning, before meals, at bedtime, etc.
But also for the little everyday things. Did you find a beautiful flower outside while exploring? Thank God for it and encourage your child to do so too! There are so many ways you can teach your child about God daily.
It’s not only important for kids to see you praying, but for them to see you reading your Bible as well! This opens up the door for more spiritual conversation especially during your family Bible time!
3. Encourage Your Kids To Pray Out Loud
Now that they have seen you pray, and learned some simple prayers themselves, it’s time to get them to say those prayers out loud!
It’s definitely important for our kids to know they can talk to God ANYTIME and that He loves hearing from them.
Just the other day, my daughter was nervous about going to her Mother’s Day out… I encouraged her that she can ALWAYS talk to God, whether it’s a whisper or out loud.
Sometimes kids can feel embarrassed or not know what to say… that’s why we can encourage them by praying with them whenever these situations arise, so they can know how to pray when they are by themselves!
Here are a couple of great points to reiterate to your kids when it comes to prayer:
- Don’t feel embarrassed – you can talk to God about anything!
- Tell God how you feel, whether it’s a happy feeling or not happy feeling – He wants to know
- Nothing is too big for God to handle
- When Mommy and Daddy aren’t there, you can talk to God
- God loves you and wants to help you
When kids know and understand these things, they will remember them during the times they need it most!
4. When In Doubt, Give Thanks!
Building off of our last point, sometimes we don’t know what to pray. A suuuuper important point to teach your kids how to pray… when in doubt, give thanks!
Encourage your child to always give thanks to God!
Some ideas could be the food we eat, playing at the park, our pets, our home, for coloring, or any other activity you’ve done that day… it can be anything!
When we pray at night with our daughter, sometimes she knows EXACTLY what she wants to say to God. When she doesn’t, we encourage her to tell God a couple of things she is thankful for that day.
This then leads to Mommy, Daddy, Grandma, Papaw….. and 10 minutes later she’s still going and thanking God for her great aunts and uncles hah!
You get the idea. 😉
5. Memorize Scriptures To Help Guide Prayers
What better way to learn how to pray than to pray through the scriptures?
This will not only help teach them to pray in a very straightforward way but help them memorize scripture at the same time!
YOU MAY LIKE: 30 Easy Bible Verses For Toddlers To Memorize
They can have God’s words in their hearts so when situations come up, they are ready to pray over it, through it, and remember what God says about it.
Here are some great storybook Bibles to start reading with your kids and help teach them to pray through!
Use Prayer Cards/Prayer Prompts
We use a ton of prayer prompts/cards that can be easily read throughout the day.
For young kids, read the prayers to them and help them associate the pictures with them. For older kids, they can read these prayers themselves to grow closer to God, and even keep them in their backpack to have them whenever they need them.
These are some great prayer cards for kids to use!
Here are a couple of other great prayer tools you can use…
First, a prayer sheet that uses “prayer” as an acronym to help kids learn how to pray with these simple action steps.
Second, a printable kid’s gratitude journal with encouraging scripture verses for them to look over, and be reminded to be thankful. 🙂
Both of these can be found in my FREE printables library!!
They can write it out, or if they are younger, you can write it for them and read it with them!
Want to learn how to use visual learning when teaching your kids to pray? Keep reading…
Let Them Write Or Draw In A Prayer Journal
I am a huge believer in visual learning when it comes to young kids! This is a great way to not only help teach your child to pray, but also let them get a little creative!
You can buy them a cute prayer journal or notebook, and let them draw out their prayers. You can look back through them after a week or month and see how God has answered them, and remind your children what they prayed.
If they are older, encourage them to start journaling their prayers, which makes a great habit for their future spiritual growth!!
Simple Ways To Teach Your Child To Pray On Their Own
I hope these super practical and impactful ways have given you the tools you need to teach your child to pray!!
Now you can rest assured that your child is learning to come before the Lord with confidence, and that prayer doesn’t have to be a confusing or scary thing at all. 😉
Which tip stuck out the most to you? Do you have any other tips for teaching your kids to pray? Let me know in the comments!!
Thanks for the tips Mindy !! Something my mom got for my daughters was a prayer bear . When you push the palms of the praying bear , it says a bedtime prayer with the kids !! Maybe your daughter would enjoy one 🙂
Oh I love that idea!! My daughter loves stuffed animals, I will definitely have to look into that. She had something like that when she was little, but it’s been so long! I’m so glad you enjoyed the article. 🙂
Thank you for the tips! We never prayed out loud, or regularly when I was growing up, and it is something I am trying to teach my kids. God wants that relationship with us! When they are little, I loved singing the simple “Good morning God” song with them. And we also love putting verses up around their rooms as reminders and prompts. Love your blog!
Yes! It is so important to pray out loud. God hears our hearts but there is something about speaking those prayers and praises out into existence, especially over our children. Love the verse reminders in their rooms, I may have to borrow that idea! 😀