We Can Pray As a Family
To help each child understand that regular family prayer helps keep a family close to Heavenly Father and to each other.
Preparation:
- Picture 1-44, Jesus Teaching in the Western Hemisphere
- Brads, enough for every child to have 4
- Brown paper bag, one for each child
- Copy of the boy and girl printout for each child
- Prepare the Prayer girl before hand
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- Cut out the pieces
- Hook the brads to the arms
- Fold the picture at the top of the eyes.
- Glue the picture to the brown paper bag with the bag open.
- Glue the face with the eyes closed to the bottom of the bag, lining up both faces.
We Get Ready Before We Pray
While someone in the class says the prayer, what should the rest of us do?
Heavenly Father has made a way for us to talk to him. Do you know what that way is? Because Heavenly Father loves us so much, he has made it possible for us to talk with him. He wants us to thank him for our blessings. He also wants us to ask for his help whenever we need it.
Prayer is a special time to communicate with our Heavenly Father. When we lived with Heavenly Father, we could communicate with him as we can with our families and our parents here on earth. And now, even though we were separated from our Heavenly Father when we came to earth, we can still communicate with him.
This is Gracie
. How should she get ready for a prayer? The first thing is to fold her arms. Why do we fold our arms when we pray?
Moving their hands during the prayer might keep people from listening to the prayer.
. What is next? 
We bow our heads. Bowing our heads when we pray shows Heavenly Father that we love, honor, and respect him. Heavenly Father is greater and more powerful than a king, a president, or any person on earth, and he has done many things for us. We should show that we love and honor him. Why do we close our eyes when we pray? You are less likely to be distracted by things around them when you close their eyes.
What should we think about during a prayer? We can think of Heavenly Father and what is being said to him.
How can we talk with our Heavenly Father?
Why do we pray to our Heavenly Father?
When can we pray to our Heavenly Father?
Invite a child to give the opening prayer.
What is this family doing?
When we pray as a family, we are doing something that Heavenly Father and Jesus want us to do. Praying as a family is called family prayer.
Do the following activity verse with the children:
This is my mother, who helps me at play (raise first finger);
This is my father, who works all the day (raise second finger).
This is my brother, so strong and so tall (raise third finger);
This is my sister, who likes to play ball (raise fourth finger).
And this is me; I’m happy to say (extend thumb)
Together our family kneels down to pray (close fist).
Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ want us to pray with our families
Many Nephites gathered at the temple in Bountiful. They were amazed at the great changes in the land. The people were talking about Jesus Christ and the sign of his death. While they were talking, they heard a quiet voice from heaven. It made their hearts burn.
At first they did not understand the voice, but when it spoke the third time, they understood it.
The voice was Heavenly Father’s. It introduced Jesus Christ and told the people to listen to him.
Jesus Christ came down from heaven and stood among the people
. They were afraid to speak because they did not understand what was happening. They thought Jesus was an angel.
He told them he was Jesus Christ, the one the prophets had said would come.
Show picture 1-44, Jesus Teaching in the Western Hemisphere. Jesus told the people to come and feel the marks in his side and in his hands and feet, where he had been nailed to the cross. Jesus wanted the people to know that he was their God and that he had died for their sins. One by one the people felt the marks in Jesus’ side, hands, and feet. The people knew he was the Savior.
Then the people praised Jesus and fell at his feet and worshipped him. Jesus told the Nephites to believe in him, repent, and keep the commandments. If they did not, they could not enter his kingdom.
He taught the Nephites
how to pray to Heavenly Father.
Jesus wants us to pray with our families
. Just as the Nephite children were blessed through family prayer, so can we be blessed through family prayer.
Scripture
Read 3 Nephi 18:21 aloud.
We can have family prayer every day
Heavenly Father and Jesus want us to pray with our families every morning
and every night
. Usually the father or person in charge of the family asks someone to say the prayer. Anyone in the family can say a family prayer.
When should we pray with our families?
Who can say a family prayer?
What do we say in family prayers?
We say the same kinds of things in family prayers as we say in our own prayers in the morning and at night. But in family prayer we talk about things that concern the whole family, not just ourselves.
Show the children the iPrayer. Prayers are like a phone that we can all your Heavenly Father. Put the text bubble for each as you talk about it. How do we start our prayers?
. What comes next? 
We need to thank our Heavenly Father for ALL our blessings. We need to be thankful for everything our Heavenly Father gives us. What are some of the things that you are grateful for? What comes next?
Heavenly Father loves us and he wants us to love him. He wants us to ask for help and he wants to bless us.And how do we end the prayer? 
Saying “amen” at the end of a prayer means that we agree with what was said in the prayer.
We also pray as a family when we ask for a blessing on our food.
What do we say when we ask for a blessing on the food? (We thank Heavenly Father for the food and ask him to bless it.)
Who can say a prayer to ask Heavenly Father to bless the food?
We receive many blessings by praying together as a family
Catherine was a young girl. She loved her family and knew they loved her. Sometimes her big brother Paul
told her stories from the Bible and the Book of Mormon. Paul was studying these books because he wanted to go on a mission and tell other people about them.
One day Paul received a letter.
When he opened the letter, he was excited. “I’m going on a mission!” he said. A few weeks later, Paul was finally ready to go. Before he left, the family knelt for family prayer. Catherine’s father thanked Heavenly Father for the many blessings their family had and for Paul’s opportunity to go on a mission. He asked Heavenly Father to bless Paul, to keep him safe, and to help him be a good missionary. The prayer made Catherine feel happy inside. She knew that Heavenly Father would help Paul on his mission. Catherine and her family prayed for Paul every day while he was on his mission.
What are some things that families can pray together for? They can pray for someone who is sick, for help with a family problem, for a missionary who needs Heavenly Father’s help, and for many other reasons. We can pray about anything that is important to us. Use Alma 34:21 to help the children understand when to pray.
Read 3 Nephi 18:21 aloud again. Jesus promised we will be blessed if we have family prayer.
Testimony
Express your testimony of family prayer. You may wish to talk about a time when family prayer strengthened your own family.
Activity
Give the children a copy of the art project. Have them color the picture, then help them glue the pictures on the bag. Place the brads in the arms.
Invite a child to saw the closing prayer.
There are 3 options with the lessons. The first one is a color PDF of the full lesson, all the pictures, scriptures and art projects with the watermark removed.
The next options is all the pictures in Black and White
The 3rd option is a PowerPoint with all the pictures and scriptures that you can pull up on your device. It is like having a digital copy. It eliminates the printing and the cutting out. This makes the lesson easier come Sunday morning.
All three options are now included in a zip drive that will immediately be emailed to you for $2.75. You can pick and choose from all three options to make your lesson just right for you!
OR buy Lessons 26-30 for $12.50
Please use the lesson free of charge. I am only charging for the visual aids which take a considerable amount of time to create. The art work is mine and my son’s original drawing. Thank you for your help as I try to continue to be a stay at home mom of four boys.
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