Today's session with lovely 3-4 year olds was on prayer but namely "The Lord's Prayer" So I had a nice book, which I used but I needed something for the children to actually get to grips with the prayer. So cue, Godly play inspired session (what a surprise!) I googled, but the two versions I came up with were not at all what I would have done but here's my version.
This is a very special box, it looks like a gift and very special present. (Open slowly)- It is a gift! A gift from Jesus, he told his friends that we could pray this prayer anytime and God will hear. These word's are like a gift from Jesus.
Our Father who is in Heaven, (place white fabric carefully down)Hallowed by your name (move hands over fabric)
Your kingdom come (place crown half on half off white fabric)
Lead us not into temptation (place two pieces of felt one short straight black, one longer wiggly white strips, as path. Move sand cast foot between two paths then choose white. You could use a little person instead)
Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. (Place globe above crown also half on half off white fabric)
Give us this day our daily bread (place piece of bread on fabric)
Forgive us our sins (place black felt heart on fabric, have a sad face)
As we forgive those who sin against us (Place a sculpture of two people together on top of heart)
Lead us not into temptation (place two pieces of felt one short straight black, one longer wiggly white strips, as path. Move sand cast foot between two paths then choose white. You could use a little person instead)But deliver us from evil (trace your finger up the black path with a sad face)
The kingdom, the power and the glory are yours now and forever. Amen (Place the candle down, light optionally or use a battery operated candle)
I then pointed to each part of the strip saying this part is saying "thank you" "please" "sorry" to lead us to next section. We could have done usual wondering and I had planned to do "what is your best part? but I felt on this occasion best not to, as I planned to pray for sometime with the children and attention only goes so far at this age.
Having said that, oh my goodness the children were AMAZING watching the prayer. Absoloutly transfixed, made me rather emotional.
We went on to do our own prayers, but before that we learnt The Lord's prayer with "simple" signs (makaton/ bsl) with a bit of creative licence on meanings
What a beautiful idea for teaching the Lord's Prayer! I love that you inexpensively created a hands-on version of the Lord's Prayer. I always like the idea of teaching sign language with the Lord's Prayer, too. I featured your post at the Living Montessori Now Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/LivingMontessoriNow
ReplyDeleteThis is an amazing way to bring the Lord's Prayer to life. I have pinned this to my Teach Children about Jesus board.
ReplyDeletethank you for sharing such a wonderful way to teach the Lord's prayer ... I'm going to use it in a toddler service today xx
ReplyDeleteStumbled on this about 15 minutes before the service and had all of the pieces on hand in my office. It really resonated with the children and it was a lovely liturgical art piece for the rest of the service.
ReplyDeleteI love the visuals. I also teach 2 - 3 year olds. Teaching the Lord's prayer is part of what I call my "Core" curriculum which gets repeated every Sunday. Every students knows the Lord's prayer, because they memorize very quickly at this age. I use sign language that is more expressive, for example, for "deliver us," I cross my wrists in front of my body, with clenched fists, then quickly open my arms and open my hands. For "evil" the sign I use is like taking something that tastes really bad out of your mouth and throw it behind you like it is really "yucky" - For "Lead us not" I tell them to grab their fingers, then as one hand begins to lead the other, when we say the word, "NOT," the hand that is being "lead" quickly pulls out of the hand that is doing the leading, then the word "temptation" is touching the elbow with the pointer finger. The kids really love these signs, even the youngest who have just turned 2. Sometimes we will also lay our hands on an inflatable earth ball and pray, "God's kingdom come, God's will be done on earth as it is in Heaven." If you want more of my ideas email me at 1godlovesu@gmail.com
ReplyDeleteTeacher Millie
sounds great, you use actions. I have naturally used sign language as it is more inclusive of those with additional needs/ hearing impairment. Its funny since this was written I have become mum to a little girl who is deaf!
DeleteThe only part that needs to make us think twice is the symbolism of black as sin, evil and bad............and white as the good path. This is called systemic racism........where inadvertently we say black is bad and white is good. We need to find other ways of doing this part.
ReplyDeleteSue
Black is darkness, white is light. No need to try to make it racist. Humans have beautiful skin tones from deep brown to pale pink. No one has black skin or white skin really.
DeleteI would love to be able to download The Lord's Prayer for my daycare kids. Do you have a pdf file of it?
ReplyDeleteI just used this this morning for our children's sermon. The children were instantly mesmerized. We then sang together the Lord's Prayer that we use during our service. Both children and adults were blessed by this. Thank you for sharing your excellent idea!
ReplyDeleteHi there thank you for this, that is certainly is wonderful to know. (I'm the writer of the blog)
DeleteHi Sue, I understand where you are coming from, But I was going for the white light, black darkness perspective. You'll notice the black is straight and the white is wiggly too
ReplyDelete