Bible Lesson on the Lord's Prayer for Children

Teach children how to pray using the Lord's Prayer.

The Bible gives an account of Jesus' disciples asking him to teach them to pray. In reply, he gave them the Lord's Prayer. It can be found in Matthew 6:9-13 and Luke 11:1-4. The prayer is a step-by-step formula of what to cover when praying.



Children learn new concepts best if lessons are broken down in small bits. Their vocabularies are simple and their attention spans are short. Though the Lord's Prayer is one topic, it covers a lot of material. Split the lesson into several parts to help your young students to remember what they learn. Take it line by line, teaching one concept per session.

Memorization

Students should memorize the prayer.

Help the children memorize the whole prayer by saying it aloud each time you meet. As they grow, they will be asked to recite the prayer along with the rest of the congregation on various occasions. Use a version of the Bible that is close to what they will hear in an adult service. The New International Version or the New King James would be good selections.

Show a Video

Show a children's Bible DVD about the Lord's Prayer.

Show your class a children's DVD depicting Jesus teaching the disciples the Lord's Prayer. Explain that they will be learning the prayer, and what each part means. Write the prayer out on the board and have them say it with you.

Give the students a coloring page, to complete in class, that shows something about prayer with corresponding pictures. When their parents pick them up from class, encourage the parents to recite the prayer with their child at home. Give them a printed copy to work from.

Heaven

Create a project depicting heaven.

Begin this session with the first two lines of the prayer, "Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven." Using the key words "Our Father," "heaven" and "hallowed," teach what each word means.

Discuss, also, what God's will might be. Prompt your students to discuss what the Bible says about heaven. Lead them to the conclusion that there is no sickness, hatred, anger, or poverty in heaven. This prayer asks that God make things on earth as they are in heaven. Give the children a craft project to do that shows heaven with God's throne.

Daily Bread

Use a loaf of bread to illustrate the Lord's Prayer.

Start with the next line: "Give us this day our daily bread." Bring in an uncut, fresh baked loaf of bread. Discuss what a person might need in the way of provision for one day. Encourage the students to give their thoughts.

Remind them of how Jesus fed a crowd of thousands with just some loaves of bread and a couple of fishes, and that he can easily take care of all our needs every day. The account can be found in John 6:1-15.

For snack time, slice the bread and serve it with butter and jelly, along with a glass of juice.

Forgiveness

Teach the concept of forgiveness.

Teach the concepts of forgiving and being forgiven, using the next sentence of the Lord's Prayer: "And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors."

Find an illustrated Bible storybook with the Parable of the Unforgiving Servant as told in Matthew 18:21-35 to show God's expectations when it comes to forgiveness.

Have the class act out the parable as a mini-skit. Assign parts: narrator, master, unforgiving servant, fellow servant. Use bags of "gold" and a couple of small chocolate coins, or pictures of those items, as props to contrast difference between the debt that the unforgiving servant owed versus that of the fellow servant.

Explain that forgiveness is a two-way street. God forgives us as soon as we ask him to. He expects us to do the same when it comes to others. Use coloring pages of this parable for your students to color and take home. Give them two foil-covered chocolate coins to remind them of the lesson on forgiveness.

Temptation and Evil

Struggle between good and evil.

Read your class the next line of the prayer: "And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil." Talk about the concepts of temptation and evil. Prompt a discussion by asking how temptation can lead to evil.

Use a children's storybook or show an old cartoon that clearly demonstrates good and evil. Vintage cartoons such as Bugs Bunny, Donald Duck with Chip n Dale, Popeye, and Andy Panda's "Apple Andy" all had episodes that clearly illustrated the struggle (see Resources section).

Final Session

God is the king.

Complete the lesson with the final verse: "For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen." This verse worships and honors God for the majestic ruler that he is. Discuss with the children that God is good and loving, but also the almighty king who deserves our praise.

Conclude this lesson by making a Lord's Prayer bookmark. The prayer should be prewritten on the back, with images to color on both sides. Give them sparkles to glue to the bookmark, to make it extra-special.

References

• DLTK: Lord's Prayer
• Biblegateway: Matthew 6:9-13 (New International Version)

Resources

• Nest Learning: The Lord's Prayer Video On Interactive DVD
• Handwriting for Kids: Lord's Prayer Practice Sheet
• Free Christ Images: Parable of the Unforgiving Servant
• Christian Book: Sunday School Dated Curriculum
• Parable Christian Stores: Home page
• Amazon: Looney Tunes--Golden Collection
• Big Cartoon Database: Apple Andy
• Amazon: Kingdom Parables/Favorite Bible Parable for Children