Recently we have started a new way of praying in our Junior Church. I was fresh back from Bible By the Beach, and the fantastic youth and children’s work that went on there. And from there we have snaffled an idea which helps our youngsters to think of something to pray for, and that encourages them to pray for a variety of things. Our secret: sweeties!
Every week the leader goes armed with a packet of Skittles (M&Ms or Smarties would work too). They go in a bowl and at our prayer time each child takes a sweetie. Then they say a prayer triggered by the colour of the sweet. Depending on the colour selection, you can make up your own code. Ours is as follows:
- Red – a sorry prayer
- Purple – prayer for the sick
- Green – prayer for the world
- Orange – a thank you prayer
- Yellow – prayer for the church
- Blue (when we have the special packet) – anything you like!
This would work for any small group – even grown ups who want a different way to pray. And good for families too – our kids love it!
The Vicar's Wife 
I love this idea! It may perk up our small group praying, which has sometimes felt a bit stale. Thanks for sharing…
fab idea, thanks for sharing, I can see this working well in our junior church groups!
we do bubble prayers with our under 5s- they say a prayer and then blow bubbles to God, and I pinched cheerio prayers ( say a prayer thread a cheerio on a strawberry lace, take it home/eat it at the end) from a fellow old oak
Have you ever used pass-the-parcel prayers?
Play like a normal game of p-t-p but under each layer is a sweet and a piece of paper with something to pray for (e.g. pray for the person sitting next to you, pray for your family, pray for someone who is sick etc)
The person who unwraps it can choose either to:
– say the prayer and then eat the sweet
OR
– nominate someone else to do that prayer, but then they have to give them the sweet too
It’s a great way to build kids’ confidence in praying out loud.
Some great ideas here – thanks puddleduck and Rachel. I’m going to save them up for next term!
love this idea, thanks for sharing!
I have a sneaky feeling there might be rather a lot of red sweets left in the pot!
Oddly enough Susan, the young ones seem more interested in the colour/flavour of the sweet than in what they have to pray for as a result!