Week 9: Prayer
Morning Meeting (Matthew 6:9-13 "The Lord's Prayer"). My main focus on today's meeting is reverence in our prayers. Watch The Lord's Prayer on LDS.org. Talk about how the Savior used reverence in His prayer by saying "Hallowed be Thy Name" (explain that hallowed means sacred) and how he looked as he prayed - eyes closed, hands clasped, etc.
Family Home Evening:
1) Teach dad about our morning meeting.
2) Mr. Potato Head - Reverence in Prayers. Tell your family we are going to learn how we can be reverent during our prayers. Show your family the potato head and the bag of body pieces. Tell your family that inside of the bag are the different pieces to the potato head. We are going to take turns picking a piece and discussing how that part of our body can/should be reverent during prayers.
Eyes: should be closed.
Arms: should be folded or held.
Ears: should be listening to the person saying the prayer
Lips: should be quiet OR if you're saying the prayer - should use reverent (not silly) voices and words.
Feet: should stay still.
Hat/Head: our thoughts should be sincere (not day dreaming about other things).
3) Prayer Punch Game. I thought this would be a fun way for little ones to review reverence and other aspects of prayer. Inside each of the cups is a prayer question. Children will "punch" the cup and answer the question inside the cup. This was a hit with my kids - don't mind their super hero outfits. You'll need:
- Poster Board (from the Dollar Store)
- Hot Glue
- Plastic Cups
- Tissue Paper
- Rubber Bands
- Prayer Questions
Place a prayer question (use some or all of them) inside each plastic cup. Cut tissue paper into squares (larger than the rim of your cup) and wrap a rubber band around the tissue paper to secure it to the top of the cup as shown below. Hot glue the cups onto a poster board. Have your children take turns "punching" a cup and answering the question about prayer. Optional: Write points (we used 100-500) on the tissue paper squares to make this a game where you earn points.
OTHER IDEAS:
A Prayer Adventure: Elder Eyring teaches us how Heavenly Father answers our prayers.
M&M Gratitude Prayers: Learn about six different ways to show gratitude during prayers.
Prayer Train & Prayer Puppets: Learn the order of prayer with this prayer train and make paper bag prayer puppets to learn about how we should look during prayer.
