Preschool Pray and Play event

This past Sunday we celebrated our Preschool Faith Milestone event and it was a big success!  This event is always one of my favorites and the families always seem to enjoy as well.

We begin our time together with an opening lead by me.  I intro the idea of prayer, teach a song and explain the stations.  We then break the group up into three small groups and send each group to one of three stations.  Our three stations include:

Fun with Forgiveness-at this station children learn a little bit about how when we mess up, God forgives us with the help of bubble popping and dry erase market demo.

Prayer Pouches Make and Take-at this station the children get to make a prayer pouch and select pictures to put inside that they would like to thank God for.

Prayer Posture-After playing some dress-up, children learn that there is no right or wrong way to pray.

Hands up,

Hands folded,

Spoken, sung, standing, kneeling, God hears our prayers all the same!  We also share the story of the prayer pretzel and have a snack at this station.  And of course, we make sure to take a picture for their milestone memory books!

 

After all the stations, we come back together for a closing led by me.  At our closing we learn about the word "Amen" and play an Amen game.  We wrap up by making one last project, a prayer bracelet.  Selecting a bead for each member of their family and stringing them on a pipe cleaner, the children make a tangible prayer reminder that they can take home.  We finish off the bracelet with a jingle bell to represent Amen!

Daily Devotions

Daily devotions are hard.  Especially with kids.  Over the years I have tried a lot of different tactics to get them done.  But every once in awhile, you catch a glimpse of why it is all so worth it.  Two year old Theo took the Bible and devotion book from me last light so he could "read" to us.  His devotions went a little something like this: "Jesus, Jesus, water, walk, Jesus, love. Love you Jesus.  Amen."

Here is a little piece I wrote in 2014 to give some ideas of ways you might make daily devotions work for you.

Daily devotions with children are something that you know are a good idea, but sometimes the idea of how can be so intimidating.  Here are few ideas that maybe you can your child can incorporate as you begin your new daily routine this fall.  Try one to start a great new daily habit.

·        Read in the car.  When I realized my oldest child was old enough to read out loud to myself and his brothers, this was a lifesaver to us.  We did daily devotions in the car every morning.  It helped smooth out any rough starts we may had to the day, minimized in route bickering, and focused everyone on what was important.  Round this out with a younger child choosing a favorite song “Jesus Loves Me”, “Awesome God”, etc. and it’s like your own mini worship service to start each day!

·        Use Daily 5 at dinner.  Sit down as family over a meal and share your highs and lows.  Pray for one another.  Consider incorporating scripture.

·        Make us of the Daily Devotions booklets available at church.  It can be very overwhelming to know what to use for daily devotions but you don’t have to purchase a fancy book.  We have daily devotion booklets available by the main door for your to take and use at home.  They change out seasonally.

·        Use your child’s Bible.  At baptism, each child is given a Beginner’s Bible.  In 3^rd grade, each child is given a more grown up Bible.  Make use of your child’s Bible to read a Bible story before bed each night.  Reading minutes-check.  Devotions-double check!

·        Download a free Bible app.  I recently downloaded one called Bible app for kids with several stories and games.  This is available through both apple and android markets.  I look forward to playing with this one soon.