Last week I shared the Worship Boxes I had built for children to engage in multi-sensory teaching over digital platforms. I wanted to create something that could engage children through out the liturgy we use for our thirty minute worship and lesson. It needed to be sustainable because I don’t want to burden families with the financial or logistical pressure of restocking materials. The worship boxes also needed to help draw quiet kids out of their shell over a digital platform and give busy, chatty kids some focus to their sharing.

One of the key components to the Worship Boxes are prayer dice. I was able to find 2″ blank foam dice at our local teacher supply store. I chose foam over wood because I wanted something that would be quiet when we were un-mute on our digital platform and that wouldn’t drive parents crazy and that created a sense of prayer time. I then used a thin tipped permanent marker to write a different prompt for prayer on each of the six sides.

The prompts I used for our prayer dice that we use with elementary aged kids were:

Family

Friends

A worry or concern

A joy or celebration

Our world

School

When we use them in worship I let them either roll the dice and think of something they would like to pray for using that prompt or I let them turn the dice on each side choosing which one they want prayer for, sharing it with their camera and the group. I usually ask a few follow up questions like “Do you want to pray for a specific friend or just your friends in general?” or “Is there something specific you are worried about or do you just feel worried this week?” I am amazed that with these small prompts how the kids open up to share more about their lives. I get to hear about the big family expedition to the park that gave everyone a break from home and much needed joy. I get to hear about worries over family that are sick and school starting back. The point for me is to use them as a tool for connection, not use them in a rigid or specific way.

Using this tool along with the “When I Listen to Scripture I Can Listen and Wonder” prompt card are two small ways we’ve made Children’s Worship more interactive, multi-sensory and engaging when our kids are burned out using digital platforms.

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