Play! Listen! Talk!

We hear a lot of talk these days about the standards for teaching kids about reading, math and science. But I don’t hear so much talk about the standards (the goals) for what we want to teach kids about prayer!

What DO we want to teach preschoolers about how they can talk to God and how He talks to them? Some people might say that prayer is an ancient tradition we want to teach kids because when they are grown-up, they need to know how to do it. But if you’ve ever been in a group of preschoolers and listened to them pray, you know that prayer experiences are vital to kids’ everyday lives. For those of us who teach young children, it’s up to us to make prayer something that relates to a young child’s life—not with the expectation that the young child will fully understand prayer, but with the goal of laying a foundation that can be built upon as the child grows.

So here are some explanations I say frequently when I’m teaching preschoolers to help them get started on a lifetime of prayer:

1. Because a child may view prayer as a magical formula, explain prayer simply:

“When we pray, we talk to God and He hears us.”

2. Because a child may most often hear prayers in church, say:

“We can pray anytime and anywhere.”

3. Because a child’s experiences of prayer may be limited, teach:

“We can pray silently, aloud or by singing.”

4. Because a child may not understand the reason why people often close their eyes when praying, explain:

“Closing our eyes helps us think of what we are saying.”