Grow: Prayer Journaling with Kids

The other day I opened up my journal to write some reading notes in it and I saw a bunch of scribbles. I knew instantly that it was probably Aly. That little girls loves to do everything I do, especially when it comes to journaling and using a planner. And then it dawned on me. Why not create Asante and Aly their own prayer journals?

So, I just cut a bunch of manila colored construction paper in half, stapled it together, and then let the kids rummage through my scrapbook paper stash to choose a "cover" to glue on. Of all the cool paper I have, Asante chose pastel Easter eggs and Aly a drabby rainbow. Not what I would have thought they'd like, but I swallowed my desire to get them to choose something more "fun" and happily helped them to glue it on the outside of the paper.

Then, we had our first journaling activity- simply to draw or write a prayer to God.

Asante's entry

Aly's entry

Asante drew his hurt knee, and prayed that God would help it to feel better. Aly drew a lot of.... pictures, and part of it had to do with asking God to help Ada feel better soon (hence her asking me to write "Poor Ada sick" on her page).

The next morning after breakfast, Asante asked me to get his prayer journal out, and he went to town drawing his prayers to God. I was so excited because it went from being an activity I suggested to him embracing it as a way to connect to God.

I must admit that this project has more benefits than teaching them a different way to connect to God. For Asante, it's a good place for him to feel free to express his feelings and thoughts as well as practice his writing and spelling. For Aly, journaling in her special book makes her feel grown-up (like a momma). For ME, I think I may try and do a little journaling myself while they are writing in theirs!