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Games Lessons, Ideas, Activities, and Resources for the Lord's Prayer

Lord's Prayer - Matthew 6:9-13, Luke 11:1-13, Our Father, who art in heaven, Kingdom come, How to pray, etc. Bible lessons and ideas about the Lord's Prayer -with Games, Bible memory, Games that teach the Bible, Bible Activities, Bible Books, etc.

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Last edited by Neil MacQueen
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The Lord's Prayer

Games Workshop

 

Summary of Lesson Activity:

Ages 8-12 - Students will learn the Lord’s Prayer and its meanings and will learn to apply elements of the prayer to events in their lives. They will play a game of listening to modern-day situations and choosing the appropriate portion of the prayer which applies, by selecting among sentence strips.   (Adaption provided for ages 4-7.)


(Here's my first lesson plan.....whew)

Scripture Reference:

Matthew 6:9-15

Workshop Objectives:

  • Students will learn the Lord’s Prayer and its meanings.
  • They will learn to apply elements of the prayer to events in their lives.

Teacher preparation in advance:

  • Read background notes
  • Ages 8-12 - take white poster board and divide into 14 equal strips.  Each strip should contain one line of the prayer.  You'll need two of each, for two teams.
  • Ages 4-7 - draw or find pictures (see adaption)


Supply List:

  • white poster board


Presentation

 

Opening-Welcome and Introductions:


Welcome kids.

Open with prayer.


Read the scripture:  Matthew 6: 9-13 


Jesus was a man of prayer. He would rise early in the morning to pray. Those who followed him watched him closely to learn how to pray. Sensing this, Jesus took time to teach his followers how to pray. He taught us to pray about everything, to never give up praying for those things we felt were important, and to always have faith when we prayed. God hears our prayers, and God answers our prayers. We need to spend time every day in prayer with God.

Jesus taught what we call the Lord’s Prayer; we find it in the book of Matthew. We’re going to look at each line to make sure we understand its meaning.


After this manner therefore pray ye: When Jesus says "after this manner" he means he is showing us the things to bring into our prayer life. We usually say this prayer word for word when we pray together in church. There are many many different ways to pray; this is what we should use as a model.

Our Father, who art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. We recognize that God is holy. We praise his name.

Thy kingdom come. We know that God acts to change lives here on earth, and he will bring us all to his Heavenly kingdom.

Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven. God wants us to turn to him daily in prayer and listen for His Guidance; He will enable us to follow Him. He loves us and wants us to love others–all others, even those who may be unkind to us,

Give us this day our daily bread. Jesus wants us to depend on God for our needs every day. We should not worry about whether we have a month's supply of food. God is an abundant provider. He wants us to look to him in faith for our needs. Many times Jesus did not even know where he was going to sleep at night when he started out for the day, or how he would be fed. He trusted God at every turn. He doesn't want his children to be worried and afraid, but at peace and trusting.

And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. Now these words may be tricky. What is a debt? It means something that we owe. If we go the grocery store and get a candy bar, we have a debt. We owe the store money for the candy bar we want to take home. Sometimes we ask for things we cannot have. Sometimes we do things for others and they feel obligated to repay us. Jesus wants us to be willing to give to others without expecting anything in return. Sometimes people do things that make us angry. If we cannot forgive them, then God will not forgive us. We get what we give.

And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Jesus wants our prayer to strengthen our desire to do what is right. God does not intend for us to do wrong. He wants us to avoid everything that is bad and evil. He wants us to be good children.

For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen. Jesus again recognizes that all authority and power rests with God. God is in control.

Dig-Main Content and Reflection:

 

Application (GAME):

 

  1. Divide group into two teams provide each team with poster board strips; each strip should contain one line of the prayer.
  2. Present situations to the teams, they must determine which line applies, grab it and send one person with it to a designated spot.
  3. First team to get it right gets a point.

Situations


Answer: Our Father, who art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.

  • You’re eating lunch with friends and one of them uses God’s name in vain.
  • You feel really great and shout out “Praise God!”

Thy kingdom come.

  • A person who has broken the law, been hurtful to others suddenly accepts Jesus as his/her savior
  • Praying for people or friends who don’t know God’s Love

Answer: Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.

  • Your family stops to help someone whose car is broken down
  • A visitor comes to church, and you greet them with a smile and introduction

Answer: Give us this day our daily bread.

  • Your family and friends get together every month to share a meal together.
  • Your parents are out of work, and you’re worried about how they will pay the bills

Answer: And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.

  • A kid on your soccer team pushes you down and doesn’t stop to see if you’re okay.
  • You talk back to your parents, then apologize, and they forgive you
  • Your best friend says something really mean about you

Answer: And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil

  • Someone drops their wallet at the mall with lots of money in it.
  • Your teacher leaves the answers to tomorrow’s test on her desk

Answer: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.

  • The awesome power of a hurricane
  • The beauty of a sunset

Reflect-Closure

 

After the game discuss the ways this prayer can guide all we do.

 

Pray the Lord’s Prayer together



Adaptions:

 

Ages 4-7

Draw pictures representing different parts of the prayer (loaf of bread, clouds and earth, someone helping another...be imaginative) on pieces of poster board. Describe different simple situations and have the kids pick the correct picture

Additional Situations to add to game

CreativeCarol

I've got a couple more that we will use:

Answer: Our Father, who art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.

  • You’re eating lunch with friends and one of them keeps saying “Oh my god.”

Answer: Thy kingdom come.

  • You pray for someone you know who has rejected God’s desire to be their friend.
  • You hear about a peaceful protest in a foreign land that brings about a change for the better in conditions of human justice.
  • Collective bargaining successfully settles a labor disagreement.

These are fun to think up! (Some of these would only work with older students. And some fit into multiple categories.)

Any others care to chime in?
--Carol


A lesson written by Sally F.

 

A representative of Rotation.org reformatted this post to improve readability.

 

Last edited by Rotation.org Lesson Forma-teer

The Lord's Prayer

Games Workshop

Summary of Lesson Activities:

Children will play games to correctly sequence the prayer, then a game to paraphrase the prayer to help develop an understanding of its meaning, then close with a special prayer activity.

Outcome Objectives:

  1. Children will correctly put the words of the Lord’s Prayer in order, and work toward memorization of the prayer.
  2. Children will paraphrase the prayer and discuss the meaning of unfamiliar words and ideas.
  3. Children will pray for each other and world events through a prayer circle.



Advance Preparation:

  • Cut and mount on posterboard or construction paper the materials needed for sequencing game.
  • Prepare a masking tape line numbered 1-5 (or 1-3 for small groups) for ordering prayer.
  • Write the Lord’s Prayer on the easel
  • Read Bible background notes and be prepared for leading the final prayer activity.


Supplies List:

  • Game pieces
  • Dictionaries/Thesaurus/Bible Dictionaries
  • Candles for prayer time (depending upon option chosen)
  • Copier or notebook paper,
  • Paper easels, and markers


LESSON PLAN

Opening-Welcome and Lesson Introduction:

Greet the children and Introduce yourself. Tell them what they'll be doing today and what you hope they'll learn.

Read together the Lord’s Prayer on the easel.

Survey the children to see if they can remember when and who first taught them the Lord's Prayer. (If they haven't experienced that, let them know that Jesus had to teach his adult friends that prayer! ...so the kids are way ahead.) Ask where we use it in our church's worship service.

Cover the prayer on the easel and have the group try reciting it from memory.  If you have a small or older group, you may invite a student or two to try and recite it entirely from memory --then check the version on the easel. Keep this gracious.

"Go Around Prayer" Memory Game:

Start reciting the Lord's Prayer by having one student say the first word and then the next student saying the second word, and so on as you go around the circle of students until all the words are prayed. If a student gets the next word "wrong" --give them the correct word and move on. After you've "gone around" once, do it a second time, but THIS time if they get their word wrong, correct them but make the entire group start over with the first word of the prayer. Play this "go round" until they get all the words correct. Offer hints and helps as the situation and student needs require. Cover the easel when you are done.

Activity and Reflection:

Game -- Get the Prayer in the Right Order (about 15-20 minutes)

Write the numbers 1 through 12 on individual sheets of paper and tape them to a table or floor. Write the parts of the Lord's Prayer on 12 other individual sheets of paper. The students must put the twelve phrases in the correct order. (The numbered sheets are to help them stay organized and orderly in their shuffling.)

Having written all twelve parts of the Lord's Prayer in advance on individual sheets of paper (see numbering below), invite PAIRS of students to come forward and place all 12 parts in the correct order on the numbered sheets of paper as fast as they can. For fun, give them a bell or buzzer to signal that they are done putting them in order.

You can either "give them one minute" to put them in the right order and "award" points for how many are in their corrrect spot before letting another pair try. Or you can tell the pair WHICH parts of the Lord's Prayer pages are in wrong spots and give them one more minute to finish, then award 1 point for each correctly located part.

For younger kids, you can also reduce the Prayer to six parts, or only have them work on the first half of the Prayer before moving on to order the second half of the Prayer phrases.

  1. Our Father
  2. Who Art in Heaven
  3. Hallowed be Thy Name
  4. Thy kingdom come
  5. Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven
  6. Give us this day our daily bread
  7. Forgive us our debts
  8. As we forgive our debtors
  9. Lead us not into temptation
  10. But deliver us from evil
  11. For Thine is the kingdom, and the power
  12. And the glory, forever and ever. Amen


Main Activity: Paraphrasing the Lord's Prayer (20-25 minutes)

Using the Lord’s Prayer written out on the easel, work together as a group to define difficult words and explain unfamiliar phrases. Write these next to each phrase in a different color.

Group 2 or 3 children together, and give each group one of the 12 game pieces, a blank piece of paper and markers to right with. Explain that their job is to rewrite the words using paraphrases, definitions, or some sort of alternative wording. For example “Give us our daily bread” could be “we ask only for those things that we absolutely need.”

If you have a small group or younger children, simply point to key words and discuss their meaning, then invite students to come up with alternative ways to say the same thing.

For example, "Our Father who art in heaven" could become (what's another word for Father? What is heaven?) "Our Wonderful parent who rules the universe."


Closing Prayer Activity (10 minutes)

Explain the different types of prayer. Explain that today’s prayer is going to be a prayer glorifying God and giving thanks. Give examples of these two things. Why do you think it is important to glorify God rather than simply asking for stuff? Give children a minute to reflect on what they might want to say.

Sit on the floor, turn the lights down low, and place a lit candle in the middle of your circle (or battery-operated candle). Teach them that the first thing to know about prayer is we have to make the time to do it!  Finding a special place and focusing our attention helps (that's what the candle is for).  Ask the group what their "special place" at home might look like for prayer, and if they have something they can hold or look at to help them focus their prayer thoughts. It could be a prayer bracelet or stuffed animal. It could be kneeling on a cushion in the corner of a room, or laying outside under the trees. Suggest places and ways to focus your time and thoughts on a conversation with God.

Alternatively, you can use a small glowing lamp or even pass a flashlight around. The key idea is to teach that we should FOCUS our thoughts.

Ask them to remember and say out loud the first couple lines of the Lord's Prayer. Ask if these words are focusing us on OUR wants and needs FIRST in prayer? Or on God first? (God!).  Put God first in our prayers!

Now have them recite a few more lines and stop. Do Jesus' words sounds like a shopping list of things we should ask God for? What kind of things might be inappropriate to ask God for in your prayers?

Define "daily bread" as those things we need everyday to lead a happy, healthy life. What things DON'T we need?

Before you finish with the last few lines of the Lord's Prayer, tell them that when everyone says "AMEN," you will give them 30 seconds of silence to close their eyes and silently say whatever is in their heart to God. Ask or thank God for anything. When time is up, say "amen" and turn on the lights.

If you are Journaling:
Ask children to write out the Lord's Prayer as best as they can remember. They may paraphrase it if they wish. Invite them to illustrate a line or two of the Prayer.

A lesson based on one posted by the Rev. Lisa Martin, from: Trinity UCC,

Pottstown, PA

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Last edited by Neil MacQueen

A Game About the Words in the Lord's Prayer

See the post here in the Misc Ideas for Teaching the Lord's Prayer: "Irv Tingley's Lord's Prayer"  for Irv's great technique for learning and saying the Lord's Prayer that could easily be followed up with the following "game that teaches."

After teaching and practicing Irv's terrific technique described here, here's my suggestion for turning Irv's technique into a game.

Put the different keywords of the Lord's Prayer on a spinning wheel or draw them out of a hat (you'll have nearly 20 or more!). Have kids come forward to spin for a word. Then they say the line with that particular word "emphasized" in it (per Irv's technique) --to win a point, then win an extra point for explaining what thoughts can go through their mind when they emphasize that particular word.

You have to see Irv's technique to understand what I just wrote And I promise you'll love it.

Like seeing resources like this one?

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Last edited by Neil MacQueen

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