Book Review: Creative Family Prayer Times

Creative Family Prayer Times

(52 Fun Ways to Pray Together)

By: Mike and Amy Nappa

Best For:  Families that want to have fun praying together, moms who would like to include it in their devotions or Bible time, Sunday School teachers who would appreciate a lesson or theme on prayer for their class

Overview: Mike and Amy Nappa do a wonderful job organizing and presenting a handful of  ideas for praying with your family and/or kids. The book covers an extensive list of daily prayer activities, as well as weekly, monthly, yearly and special occasion ideas. There's even a monthly prayer calendar at the back of the book with something to pray for each day of the month.

Application: We have done a few of the activities described in this book as a family, after dinner on different nights.

M&M Prayer Time

This is a treat! 

• After dinner we put the M&Ms in a bowl and passed it around without telling the kids what they were for, except NOT TO EAT the small handful they were allowed to take!  
•  We laid out the cards on the kitchen table and explained each color represented a group of people we were going to pray for. 
• They could pray for whoever came to their mind in that category. 
• We prayed through one color at a time. 
• At the end of their prayers for that color, then they could eat them.
• We continued until we were all done. 

*Sidenote: start out with a "small" handful...could take a very long time if you don't!

Ever played 4 corners in school?

The object of this activity is to learn the four areas we should include in our personal prayer time. 

• We set up four different pieces of paper that are properly labeled in each corner of a room. 
• We explained to everyone what each corner represents and what we were doing in each corner. 
• We divided up and went to the different corners. 
• We set the timer for how long we wanted to pray in that corner (I suggest keeping it the same for them all). 
• We hit the start button and began praying!
• We rotated until we had all gone to each corner.
•  We talked about what they experienced in each of the corners and which one they liked best.

 

Thoughts: We all had a fun time with these activities. My husband and kids really liked them. I believe this book helps me pray with my children. Prayer is a blessing and privilege. My goal is to make it special with my kids and at their level. Hopefully my kids will remember the 4 areas of prayer when they play four corners at church or with their friends. Hopefully my kids will remember there are other people to pray for besides our family and themselves each time they see a pack of M&Ms. I love to hear my children pray-that really blesses me as their mom!

I want more practical reminders to pray with my kids. If you have any ideas or suggestions, I would love to hear them.