Spiritual practices help children and youth pay attention to God’s activity in their lives and show them ways that they can shine their light to others. For this blog post, we’ve taken a stroll through our curriculum archives to bring you some of the best of Shine’s spiritual practice activities!
Junior Youth
Junior youth most often have faith experiences that are influenced by the expectations and judgments of others (both peers and significant adults). They tend to believe what the church—and their friends—believe. Junior youth need to ask important faith questions to help move them toward making a thoughtful and personal commitment to follow Christ. To do that, junior youth need to feel that they belong and are loved and accepted in the church. Spiritual practices help them understand God’s intentions for the world, process questions, and develop a personal relationship with God.
Here are some ways of praying that invite junior youth to notice and reflect on God’s activity in the world and in their lives.
- Lay out a baking sheet covered in sand or dry dirt and invite youth to sit around it and feel the sand, tracing their fingers through it. Encourage them to feel its dryness, its lifelessness. Ask: Where are you feeling dry or lifeless today? Where do you need God to renew you? How is God with us in our most forsaken or dry-feeling times? Invite silent reflection on these questions and the thoughts about God that come to mind as you play a reflective song, such as “Quiet Place,” (track 8) from Songs for the Seasons.
- Distribute Bibles and gather everyone in a circle. Discuss different forms of prayer—sometimes we pray aloud using our own words; sometimes we pray silently. Other times we can use the words of scripture as a prayer. Invite youth to open their Bibles to the book of Psalms. There are many types of psalms—psalms of joy, gratitude, wisdom, law, prayer, praise for God, repentance, as well as psalms expressing strong emotions. Give youth several minutes to skim through the psalms, looking for one that catches their eye. Provide time for youth to read silently through one psalm in its entirety. Invite everyone to share one or two verses that they found most interesting. Conclude with a prayer of thanks for the ways God speaks to us through the Bible.
Spiritual practices for junior youth tend to be reflective. Here is a practice that encourages youth to share prayer concerns with each other and engage in corporate prayer for a situation of their choosing.
- Give each person a LEGO® brick or other interlocking block as you move into a time of prayer. Invite the youth to sit quietly for a few moments to become aware of God’s presence with them. Have them offer thanks to God as they feel each bump on their block. Next, have them pair up with another person and share one prayer request they have. They can pray for each other as they put their blocks together. Then have pairs join with another pair and talk about a situation in their school, church, or community to pray for, putting their blocks together as they pray. Finally, gather the whole group and decide on a situation in the broader world for which the group would like to pray. Invite the youth to put all the blocks together into one structure as they offer brief prayers for the identified situation.
Elementary
Because younger elementary children are concrete thinkers, spiritual practices that connect to their everyday, sensory experiences are most effective. Older elementary children respond to God in deeply personal ways. They can express their feelings through art, prayer, silence, and faith conversations. In a safe and respectful environment, they are able to share their spiritual experiences with others. These spiritual practices provide tangible ways to connect with God.
- Distribute drawing paper and writing or drawing utensils. Invite everyone to write or draw about a “mountain” (positive experience) and a “valley” (difficult experience), or both from their week. Children may want to draw a large M on their paper to make two mountains and a valley. After a few minutes of drawing and reflection, offer a prayer to God for both the positive and difficult experiences from the week.
Teach children a simple breathing prayer that can be used at bedtime or anytime they feel anxious. Show children how to slowly breathe in and out.
- As you breathe in, say, “O God” quietly inside your head. As you breathe out, say, “hear my prayer.” You have to say the words inside your head in order to match with breathing in and breathing out. You can pray this prayer at bedtime in the dark and at any other time. There are many other short prayers about things we desire from God. Here are some ideas for you to use throughout the next weeks.
Have children breathe in and out as you practice praying these phrases:
O God . . . give me courage.
O God . . . make me strong.
O God . . . help my family.
O God . . . heal my friend.
O God . . . send your love.
End with “O God / hear our prayers.”
PreK-Kindergarten
Young children experience God through the people who care for them. Caring relationships are built as you engage in activities and practices together. During the summer quarter of 2019, preschool children were encouraged to use their whole body to pray.
- Demonstrate first, then say the prayer and do the actions together.
God, we can love you when we reach up high. (Reach arms overhead.)
We can love you when we reach down low. (Reach arms down to knees.)
We can love you when we curl up small. (Make yourself small.)
We can love you one and all. (Cross arms then reach to hold each other’s hands.)
- While holding scarves or ribbons, pray with actions. Demonstrate this movement prayer, then try it with the children once or twice. Pray:
God, you are with us. (Hold the scarf in two hands.)
You are with us when we are upset. (Wave the scarf in a jagged path.)
You are with us when we are calm. (Make gentle waves.)
You are with us all the time. (Wave in a circle shape.)
Amen. (Bunch the scarf up in your hands.)
- Tell children that we can praise God in many ways and with our whole bodies. Pray:
God, we praise you with our feet. (Stomp your feet.)
We praise you with our hands. (Raise your hands.)
Thank you for your love. Amen. (Hug yourself.)
Looking Ahead
Yikes! It’s November 1! Preparing for Advent is our theme for the month of November. We’d love to hear how you help children and youth prepare to celebrate Christ’s birth. What tips do you have for learning during this season of waiting and anticipation? Send your tips and ideas for Advent to blog@shinecurriculum.com by November 15 for inclusion in a future blog post. Feel free to include a picture!