Have you ever kept a prayer journal? I kept several throughout my school years, and occasionally I brave a peek at them, if only to shake my head at my adolescent prayers.
Many people love to write their prayers. For some people the process of writing helps them to also process thoughts and prayers, but prayer journals are also a fabulous way of keeping track of prayer requests and answers from God!
If you’re looking for a book that will help with prayer journaling, why not try my Mother and Son Prayer Journal (ages 6-12) or use the journaling prompts in My First Devotional?
But what if your child is too young to write, or is more of a visual person?
You, my friend, are in luck, because you can make a pictorial prayer journal just as easily as a worded one! God doesn’t need to see words written on a page to know what is in our hearts, and a picture prayer journal can work just as well as a written one for many kids, especially young ones.
Prayer Journal Supplies:
- Pencil. Or crayon. Or pencil crayon. Or marker. Or invisible ink (not recommended).
- Notebook. This can be a fancy notebook, a school scribbler, or a bunch of paper stapled together.
- (optional) Pictures.
How to Make a Picture Prayer Journal
There are several ways to format your prayer journal; please choose the one that works best for your family!
OPTION 1: DRAW YOUR OWN PRAYERS
This one is rather self-explanatory! When it’s time to pray, pull out the prayer journal and simply ask your child draw their prayers.
If you can’t think of anything to pray for, use these 4 categories as prompts. They literally help EVERY TIME.
OPTION 2: USE PRE-DRAWN PRAYER PICTURES
If your kids aren’t into drawing or can’t really draw, you can print off these super adorable pictures drawn by my friend Stephanie.
After printing off the pictures, you have even more options for making your journal!
- Cut them out and have your child choose a few to pray about each day. Each child will interpret the pictures differently based on their age and experience. Glue them into the notebook you’ve chosen as a prayer journal.
- Don’t feel like cutting and gluing? Simply ask your child to point to the one that depicts what they want to pray about. Your child can color them if you like, or just use them to give you ideas of what to pray about.
Wasn’t that easy? Sometimes we think prayer needs to be something that is really complex, or that we have to do it one specific way to make God hear us…neither of those are truth. The truth is, God loves to connect with us through prayer, and most of all, he loves to hear from our little ones!
For more Bible and prayer resources for the little ones in your life, please check out my play-based, interactive devotional for kids ages 2-6: My First Devotional. It covers 90 stories from the whole Bible and will help your little ones connect with God and the Bible through simple, joy-filled moments as a family.
If you’re looking for some other ideas on praying with your kids, check out these other posts:
- 4 phrases that will help you figure out WHAT to pray
- Praying Scripture with kids
- How to Make the Most of Bedtime Prayer with Toddlers
- How to Hear From God: Listening Prayer For Kids
- 8 Prayers To Help a Child With Anxiety
This is great, Christie! I love this idea. My niece is two and soon I’ll be able to do this with her. I’ll have to keep it in mind! Thank you!
Super, so glad you found it helpful!
Is there any way I can get access to the printable drawings listed in Option 2? I tried clicking the link, but it took me to Google Drive and an access request. I sent in the request; however, the author doesn’t know me from Adam. Is there another way to get this? I am trying to get some Scripture work together for my 4yo girls. 🙂
Hi Amy! I’m so sorry I didn’t see your comment earlier. Google changed some security settings on me and is now giving everyone this access request! I always approve them as soon as they come to my inbox, so please let me know if you received them. If not, I’m happy to email them to you.