I Can Pray to Heavenly Father
To help each child learn how to pray to Heavenly Father and know that he will listen.
Preparation
- 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
- 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.
Invite a child to give the opening prayer.
Attention activity
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
. What is next?
We bow our heads and close our eyes. What should we think about during a prayer? We should think about our Heavenly Father.
How can we talk with our Heavenly Father?
Why do we pray to our Heavenly Father?
When can we pray to our Heavenly Father?
When we pray we are actually talking with Heavenly Father.
We can pray to Heavenly Father
Even though we cannot see him, we can pray to Heavenly Father and he will listen to our prayers.
What is this girl doing?
Who is she talking to?
What do you think this girl might be saying to Heavenly Father?
What is this family doing?
Who are they talking to?
What do you think this family might be saying to Heavenly Father?
What is this boy doing?
Who is he talking to?
What do you think he might be saying to Heavenly Father?
What are some of the times we might prayer to our Heavenly Father?
We can pray to Heavenly Father whenever we want; the most common times are when we wake up and when we go to bed, at mealtimes, with our families, and when we need special help.
Jesus Christ taught us to pray to Heavenly Father
Jesus has taught us to do certain things when we pray. As we get ready to pray, we think about Heavenly Father.
What do we do with our arms when we pray?
What do we do with our heads and our eyes when we pray?
When we say our own or family prayers, we not only fold our arms, bow our heads, and close our eyes, but often we also kneel.
iPrayer
Show the children the iPrayer. As you talk about prayer place the text bubbles where they go. I like to use velcro dots with the text bubbles so they can come on and off.
How do we begin our prayers?
What could we thank Heavenly Father for?
What could we ask Heavenly Father for?
How do we end our prayers?
Heavenly Father listens to us when we pray
Daniel in the Lion’s Den
Daniel “an excellent spirit was in him”, this means that Daniel had the Spirit of God to guide him. Daniel was such hard worker and honest, he was given the very best job in the kingdom by the king. Daniel had such a good job in the kingdom that some men were jealous of Daniel. These evil men came up with a plan. They were going to get Daniel in trouble. The only problem was that they could not find anything that Daniel was doing wrong. They knew that Daniel loved God and would not do anything that would go against God’s commandments. They decided that the only way they could get him in trouble was to have the king make a law that would go against God’s law. Then Daniel would have to choose who he was going to serve the king or God.
The evil men went to the king
. They told him “You are the best king this kingdom has ever had! No one should pray to anyone but you!” The king thought this was the best idea he had ever heard! But they were not done yet. “If anyone is caught breaking this law they should have a horrible punishment.” They thought about it for a second. “I know!” one of them said “they will be thrown in the lion’s den!” The king loved this new idea and signed the law immediately.
After some time passed, and the king was able to think about it a little more, he realized that the men had only said those things to flatter him. The men tricked the king with flattery. Flattery means that they were only being nice to the king to get what they wanted. Once a law is signed it can’t be changed. How do you think the king felt when he realized what he had done? When Daniel heard the news about the law, what do you think he did? Daniel went to his room with the widows open and prayed
, just like he always did. The men knowing that Daniel would pray; found him praying to Heavenly Father. Daniel wanted to pray because it was a commandment from Heavenly Father and also because he wanted to thank Heavenly Father for his blessings. The men went immediately to the king and tattled that Daniel was disobeying the law.
The king was very sad about this news. He really like Daniel. He tried to change the law but it could not be done. The men told the king that the law is the law and Daniel needed to be punished. The men took Daniel to the lion’s den
. The king told Daniel that “thy God whom thou servest continually, he will deliver thee.” Daniel 6:16. The king went back to his palace and fasted.
The next day the king ran to the lion’s den. When he got to the lion’s den he called to Daniel. Daniel called out to the king and said he was not hurt. The lions had not even touched him. God sent and angel to protect Daniel from the lions. There was not even a scratch on him!
The king was so happy and demanded that Daniel be removed from the lion’s den immediately. He signed a second law. The new law said that that everyone must respect Daniel’s God, the God that had delivered Daniel from the lion’s den.
What did the king do because Daniel prayed?
What happened to Daniel in the lions’ den?
How do you know that Heavenly Father listened to Daniel’s prayer?
We can pray to Heavenly Father for help with any problem that troubles us, to share our feelings with him, or to express our gratitude. Heavenly Father will always hear our sincere prayers.
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.
Testimony
Tell of a time when Heavenly Father listened to your prayers. Ask the children to share any experiences they have had with prayer.
Tell the children how thankful you are that we can pray to Heavenly Father, and assure them that Heavenly Father listens to us when we pray.
Help the children say one or both of the following verses, demonstrating the appropriate actions:
Our arms we fold, our heads we bow,
Our eyes we close, we’re ready now.
We fold our arms and bow our heads
And listen while the prayer is said.
When you ask a child to say the closing prayer, review how we prepare to pray.
What shall we do to get ready to pray? (Fold our arms, bow our heads, and close our eyes.)•
What is the first thing (child’s name) should say in the prayer?
What could (child’s name) thank Heavenly Father for?•
What could (child’s name) ask Heavenly Father for?
How should (child’s name) end the 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 1-5 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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