Teaching prayers to Catholic kids doesn't have to be hard...it just needs a lot of repetition, right? The hard part is with families not regularly attending Mass or praying in the home, many of our students haven't been exposed to the common prayers we pray. In order to make up for that, I've created six tools that allow students (and even their parents) access to the words of the prayers, the steps to pray (when necessary), and different ways to practice.
I also love celebrating progress, so one of my tools involves a way to reward students when they learn a new prayer.
And while memorized prayer plays a huge role, we also want Catholic kids to know that there are lots of different types of prayers and ways to pray. That's where my final tool comes in and is a hands-on way to expose children to different types of prayer.
Keep reading to see if you've tried any of these tools for helping your Catholic students (or your own kids) learn to pray.
Catholic Prayers Lapbook
When teaching children the prayers of the Catholic faith that we often memorize, I like to make sure they know the correct words. Whether they can read the words on their own, or will be read to by an adult at home, I like to make sure the correct wording is sent home to make sure they are learning the prayers correctly.
While it is adorable that my 4-year-old learned prayers just by hearing them, many of the words are incorrect and will have to be corrected. Creating a prayer lapbook allows parents and caregivers to help from home and is a resource they can use until a child is old enough to read independently.
My Catholic Prayers Lapbook is a file folder that includes the words to the prayers along with a cover sheet that they can lift up and down to cover the words and "test" themselves on the prayers.
Prayers Included:
- The Sign of the Cross
- Glory Be
- Hail Mary
- Our Father
- Blessing Before Meals
- Angel of God
- The Apostles' Creed
- The Nicene Creed
- Act of Contrition (includes 5 different versions)
- Hail Holy Queen
- St. Michael Prayer
- Fatima Prayer
- Grace After Meals - 2 versions
- Confiteor
- Editable Page - just type in the title and the prayer
Catholic Prayer Puzzles
So now we know the words of the prayers - let's make it a game!! Catholic prayer puzzles take the important prayers of the Catholic faith and break them apart into lines and phrases. Children need to practice putting the words of the prayers in order to complete the puzzles.
These are great as a review or for fast finishers to work on while other students finish their work. You can print and laminate as is, or I prefer to print, cut and glue them to thick popsicle sticks to make them extra sturdy.
Catholic Prayers Mini Book
The Catholic prayers mini book is a pocket size resource. Similar to the lapbook in that the goal of this tool is to have the correct words to the prayers in front of students. This is small enough that they can stick it in a pocket to take to Mass or carry to a prayer corner to practice reading the prayers.
The mini book includes two different versions - an accordion style book and a simpler cut and staple version.
Prayers Included:
- Hail Mary
- Sign of the Cross
- Glory Be
- Angel of God
- Blessing Before Meals
- Our Father
- Apostles' Creed
- Act of Contrition (5 versions)
- The Nicene Creed
- Hail Holy Queen
- St. Michael Prayer
I've also included an editable page so you could type out the words to additional prayers if you wanted to include others.
Rosary Lapbook
As someone who didn't grow up praying the Rosary, all the different prayers and when to say them were confusing to me. I realized as an adult that children learning this prayer would probably struggle with the same thing, as would their parents if they weren't familiar with the Rosary. To help, I created a lapbook that breaks down the Rosary into the separate prayers, gives the words, lists the mysteries and an explanation of the order of all the prayers/how to pray the Rosary.
I also created a blank rosary picture that goes in the lapbook. This is designed to be color coded along with the typed out prayers to make it visually easier for children to see what prayers they need to say in what order.
And like all my lapbooks, I just love that everything is organized and tucked into a folder. It is such a handy resource to help children (and adults) feel more comfortable as they learn to pray the Rosary.
Catholic Prayer Tags
I love using reward tags as a way to reward students for memorizing a new prayer. I also like using them as a reminder to me of different prayers to teach the children.
Reward tags (sometimes referred to as brag tags or behavior tags) is a form of positive reinforcement used to reward certain behaviors. I also like to use it as a way to remember lessons taught or prayers memorized in a religious classroom. If you want to read more about what reward tags are and how to use them, check out What on Earth is a Reward Tag? or Ditching My Treasure Box for Reward Tags.
While reward tags can be used for a variety of reasons, the set that is most helpful for teaching children to pray, is my Catholic Prayer Tags set. It includes 27 tags in color and black and white. The tags are about 1.5" x 2" and come on a full sheet so you will want to print, laminate and cut them apart.
The prayers included are:
-Angel of God
-Glory Be
-Sign of the Cross
-Hail Mary
-Our Father
-Blessing Before Meals
-Queen of Heaven
-Morning Offering
-The Gloria
-The Rosary
-The Joyful Mysteries
-The Luminous Mysteries
-The Sorrowful Mysteries
-The Glorious Mysteries
-I Memorized All My Prayers
-Nicene Creed
-Apostles' Creed
-Act of Contrition
-Hail Holy Queen
-Eucharistic Adoration
-St. Michael
-Prayer After Meals
-Memorare
-Litany of the Saints
-Lectio Divina
-Stations of the Cross
-Blank Editable Tag
Catholic Prayer Bulletin Board
Many of the other resources focused on the memorized prayers of our faith. While those are absolutely important and something we commonly fall back on because we have them memorized, it is also important to expose children to other types of prayer.
This bulletin board includes vocal (memorized) prayer, intercession, petition, thanksgiving, the Rosary and scripture. It is designed to be hands-on with pieces the kids move and manipulate as well as pieces they can remove, use to pray in a different space, and then return to the board when they are done.
This interactive bulletin board can be used in so many different ways. If these types of prayer are new to your students, it can serve as an introduction. As they get familiar with the types of prayer on the board, they can use it as a way to select how to pray each day as a group. Eventually, students can use this on their own and find different ways to pray throughout the day.
Why you need these tools
Teaching Catholic kids to pray involves a lot of repetition and exposure, especially if the students aren't regularly hearing these prayers at home or at Mass. Using these different activities along side each other allows you to target different learning styles with the same concept, and allow for repetition without the activity being the exact same.
To make it easier and more cost-effective, I took all of the prayer tools listed above and bundled them at a discounted price. By purchasing the bundle, you save over the price of buying each item individually.
More Prayer Resources for Catholic Kids
Looking for more prayer resources? Try some of these posts: