Kids Worship #1 - Taste and See

An interactive way to introduce children to a devotional life with God through worship, Scripture meditation, confession of sin, and conversational prayer.


Praise and Thanksgiving. When we want to come into God's presence, how do we come in? (Kids respond.) Psalm 100:4 (NIV) says, "Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise..." Can you learn that with me? (Kids respond.) I’m going to start by saying a few of the words and then you echo after me. "Enter his gates (Kids respond.) with thanksgiving (Kids respond.) and his courts (Kids respond.) with praise..." (Kids respond.) Good job!

What do you think it means by entering his gates? (Kids respond.) The gate is kind of like God's door. We go up to God's door and knock, because we want to come in and be with Him. The way we knock on God's door is by giving thanks to Him for something. Who is ready to knock on God's door? (Kids respond.) OK, when you knock on the door, tell God "thank you" for something. (Children knock on a door or a wall and say thank you as they enter the "courts".)

Now remember, the Bible verse also says that we enter His courts with praise. After we come in the front door of God's house, we enter into His courts, which is kind of like God’s living room, by giving God praise. Today we are going to start by giving praise to God with the song "Let Everything that Has Breath (Praise the Lord).” And then we are going to do a second song that is a worship song. But let’s start with our praise song. Can everyone get an instrument so we can make a lot of joyful praise noise to God? (Kids respond.) (Play song from Psalm 150 on the "Hide 'Em in Your Heart: Praise and Worship for Kids" cd.)

Now we are going to do a quiet and beautiful song. It is a really good dancing song for all our ballerinas. It is also a good song for moving your hands all different ways. The song says, “Taste and see that the Lord is good.” We are going to be learning more about worship for the next few days/weeks but before we learn HOW to worship, we have to know WHY we worship! We worship God because of who He is and one really important thing to know about God is that He is good! OK, ballerinas, are you ready to do our beautiful song? (Kids respond.) (Play song from Psalm 34:8, 7 on the "Hide 'Em in Your Heart: Praise and Worship for Kids" cd.)




Search.OK, kids, we are going to get into our circle/s now. (Have children sit down in a circle.) We are going to practice our Bible verse. It is Psalm 51:10 (KJV). I’m going to say a few words and then you echo it after me. Create in me (Kids respond - Create in me) a clean heart (Kids respond - a clean heart) O God (Kids respond - O God) and renew (Kids respond - and renew) a right spirit (Kids respond - a right spirit) within me (Kids respond - within me).

Who remembers how we get our heart dirty? (Kids respond.) The Bible says that everybody does wrong things and it is like our hearts get dirty. When you do wrong things, it is like it builds a wall between you and God. Can you kids help me build a wall with these blocks? (Kids respond.) When there is a wall between you and God, how do you get rid of the wall? (Kids respond.) You can say, "God, I was wrong and I'm sorry." Then that gives Jesus permission to tear down the wall between us. Can you repeat that after me? "God, I was wrong and I'm sorry." (Kids respond.) That is how easy it is to ask God to forgive us! Let’s say it again, and this time we will break down the wall. (Say with children "God, I was wrong and I'm sorry" as you knock down the wall of blocks.) (Depending on age of children, and their understanding of spiritual things, you will have to modify this section. The point is for them to become familiar with confession of sin, so it becomes a natural response.)

Ask. We can ask God to help us when we have a problem or especially when we are hurt or don't feel good. Does anyone need God's help today with a problem? (Kids respond.) Does anyone have a boo boo? (Kids respond.) Would you like us to ask God to help you feel better? (Kids respond.) (If it will work for the children, have one child pray for the other. If not, you can have children ask for themselves or you can do it out loud. The point is for prayer to be modeled in a very natural way.)

Listen. Who remembers the Bible story about Samuel? (Kids respond.) Samuel was lying in bed when he heard a voice say, “Samuel.” And finally the old priest, Eli, helped Samuel understand that God was trying to talk to him! So then he said, “Speak, Lord, I’m listening” (from 1 Samuel 3:10). Do you know that Samuel was just a kid about as old as you when he heard God talk to him? (Kids respond.) We want to practice listening for God's voice, just like Samuel did.

Now, how do we hear from God? (Kids respond.) Do we hear a voice out loud just like when our moms call us to supper? (Kids respond.) It doesn’t happen that way very often, even in the Bible. Most of the time, it will be an “idea popper”! Can you say that? (Kids respond – idea popper.) An idea will pop into our minds that will be from God. But everybody gets ideas in different ways. We are going to practice right now. Close your eyes and think of your really good friend. What kind of thought popped into your mind? Did you think of their name? Did you see a picture of their face like a photograph? Did you see a memory like a movie in your mind of you and your friend doing something together? Did you get a feeling? (Kids respond.)

That might be the way that God will have ideas pop into your mind: with a word, or idea, or feeling, or picture, or like seeing a little movie. We are going to practice getting very quiet and listening for God. We are going to close our eyes and be very quiet and see if any idea pops into our minds. (Take 20 seconds or so.) Did anyone get an idea pop into their mind? (Kids respond.) How do we know whether that idea was from God or just from ourselves? (Kids respond.) Well, we can start by seeing if that idea is something we see in the Bible. But we have to practice, practice, practice, and the more that we get to know God, the clearer it will be whether the idea was from Him or just from ourselves.



Meditate. Let’s talk about the song that we sang earlier, "Taste and See." It came from a place in the Bible called Psalm 34:8, 7 (NIV). I'm going to read it to you from my Bible. (Read.) Question time: Why do you think the Bible would say, “Taste and see that the Lord is good?” (Kids respond.) Does that mean we can eat God the way we eat an apple? (Kids respond.) When God wants us to understand something, lots of times He will give us a picture that we can see to help us to understand something that we can’t see. What would happen if someone told you that this apple tastes good? (Kids respond.) Would you believe them? (Kids respond.) Wouldn’t you rather just taste the apple and find out yourself if it tastes good? (Kids respond.) That is how it is with God: He wants us to experience Him for ourselves, not just have somebody else tell us about Him! One way that we can find out that God is good is by being thankful. When we say “thank You, God”, then we start paying attention to what God is doing. The more that we notice all the good things God has given us, the more that we will understand how good He really is! Can we practice right now saying, “God, You are good!” (Kids respond.) Can we practice saying, “Thank You, God, for being so good to me!” (Kids respond.)

Hands-on Worship Activity: OK, now we are going to praise God in a different way! Instead of singing, or dancing, or using instruments, we are going to make some paper fruit to remind us to “taste and see that the Lord is good.” You can draw some fruit or you can take the colored paper and fold it or cut it out in the shape of fruit. You can make it look however you want but everybody needs to do their very best picture drawing because this is a present of praise to God! At the top we are going to write, "Taste and see that the Lord is good!" If you need some help writing it, then the adults will help you. (Listen to the cd again, starting with the song from Psalm 34, as they do their artwork.)


Copyright 2011 by Kendra Lane Barrow. Contact at imintheriver@fuse.net

Kids Praise #9 - 1 Peter 2:9

An interactive way to introduce children to a devotional life with God through worship, Scripture meditation, confession of sin, and conversational prayer.


Praise and Thanksgiving. When we want to come into God's presence, how do we come in? (Kids respond.) Psalm 100:4 (NIV) says, "Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise..." Can you learn that with me? (Kids respond.) I’m going to start by saying a few of the words and then you echo after me. "Enter his gates (Kids respond.) with thanksgiving (Kids respond.) and his courts (Kids respond.) with praise..." (Kids respond.) Good job!

What do you think it means by entering his gates? (Kids respond.) The gate is kind of like God's door. We go up to God's door and knock, because we want to come in and be with Him. The way we knock on God's door is by giving thanks to Him for something. Who is ready to knock on God's door? (Kids respond.) OK, when you knock on the door, tell God "thank you" for something. (Children knock on a door or a wall and say thank you as they enter the "courts".)

Now remember, the Bible verse also says that we enter His courts with praise. After we come in the front door of God's house, we enter into His courts, which is kind of like God’s living room, by giving God praise. Today we are going to give praise to God with the song "You are a Chosen Generation.” Do you know what a generation means? (Kids respond.) A generation is a group of people born around the same time. So all of your moms and dads are one generation and all of you kids are a different generation. And God is saying in this song that YOU are a special generation that has been chosen to proclaim, or say really loud to everyone who will hear, praises to God! (Play song from 1 Peter 2:9 on the "Hide 'Em in Your Heart: Praise and Worship for Kids" cd.)



Search.OK, kids, we are going to get into our circle/s now. (Have children sit down in a circle.) We are going to practice our Bible verse. It is Psalm 51:10 (KJV). I’m going to say a few words and then you echo it after me. Create in me (Kids respond - Create in me) a clean heart (Kids respond - a clean heart) O God (Kids respond - O God) and renew (Kids respond - and renew) a right spirit (Kids respond - a right spirit) within me (Kids respond - within me).

Who remembers how we get our heart dirty? (Kids respond.) The Bible says that everybody does wrong things and it is like our hearts get dirty. When you do wrong things, it is like it builds a wall between you and God. Can you kids help me build a wall with these blocks? (Kids respond.) When there is a wall between you and God, how do you get rid of the wall? (Kids respond.) You can say, "God, I was wrong and I'm sorry." Then that gives Jesus permission to tear down the wall between us. Can you repeat that after me? "God, I was wrong and I'm sorry." (Kids respond.) That is how easy it is to ask God to forgive us! Let’s say it again, and this time we will break down the wall. (Say with children "God, I was wrong and I'm sorry" as you knock down the wall of blocks.) (Depending on age of children, and their understanding of spiritual things, you will have to modify this section. The point is for them to become familiar with confession of sin, so it becomes a natural response.)

Ask. We can ask God to help us when we have a problem or especially when we are hurt or don't feel good. Does anyone need God's help today with a problem? (Kids respond.) Does anyone have a boo boo? (Kids respond.) Would you like us to ask God to help you feel better? (Kids respond.) (If it will work for the children, have one child pray for the other. If not, you can have children ask for themselves or you can do it out loud. The point is for prayer to be modeled in a very natural way.)

Listen. Who remembers the Bible story about Samuel? (Kids respond.) Samuel was lying in bed when he heard a voice say, “Samuel.” And finally the old priest, Eli, helped Samuel understand that God was trying to talk to him! So then he said, “Speak, Lord, I’m listening” (from 1 Samuel 3:10). Do you know that Samuel was just a kid about as old as you when he heard God talk to him? (Kids respond.) We want to practice listening for God's voice, just like Samuel did.

Now, how do we hear from God? (Kids respond.) Do we hear a voice out loud just like when our moms call us to supper? (Kids respond.) It doesn’t happen that way very often, even in the Bible. Most of the time, it will be an “idea popper”! Can you say that? (Kids respond – idea popper.) An idea will pop into our minds that will be from God. But everybody gets ideas in different ways. We are going to practice right now. Close your eyes and think of your really good friend. What kind of thought popped into your mind? Did you think of their name? Did you see a picture of their face like a photograph? Did you see a memory like a movie in your mind of you and your friend doing something together? Did you get a feeling? (Kids respond.)

That might be the way that God will have ideas pop into your mind: with a word, or idea, or feeling, or picture, or like seeing a little movie. We are going to practice getting very quiet and listening for God. We are going to close our eyes and be very quiet and see if any idea pops into our minds. (Take 20 seconds or so.) Did anyone get an idea pop into their mind? (Kids respond.) How do we know whether that idea was from God or just from ourselves? (Kids respond.) Well, we can start by seeing if that idea is something we see in the Bible. But we have to practice, practice, practice, and the more that we get to know God, the clearer it will be whether the idea was from Him or just from ourselves.



Meditate. Let’s talk about the song that we sang earlier, “You are a Chosen Generation." It came from a place in the Bible called 1 Peter 2:9 (NKV). I'm going to read it to you from my Bible. (Read.) Question time: Does anyone remember what the word “generation” means? (Kids respond.) A generation is a group of people born around the same time. Why do you think God would choose your generation? (Kids respond.) What do you think is different about your generation than the generation of your mom and dad? (Kids respond.) Your generation has a special purpose in the heart of God. As you grown up, we pray that you will understand that more. But every generation has been chosen to proclaim or say really loud praise to God. Can you say, “Praise You, God!” with me right now? (Kids respond.) Can we say it again even louder? (Kids respond.)

Hands-on Worship Activity: OK, now we are going to praise God in a different way! 1 Peter 2:9 also says that God called you out of darkness into His marvelous light. That means that even when your life seems dark and you don’t know where you are going, God is calling you into His light, which is Jesus. Jesus is the light of the world, and He can show us where we are going and what to do next. Can you draw a picture of a dark place on your paper, and then a child walking toward a light? You can make it look however you want but everybody needs to do their very best picture drawing because this is a present of praise to God! At the top we are going to write, "Called into the light!" If you need some help writing it, then the adults will help you. (Listen to the cd again, starting with the song from 1 Peter 2:9, as they do their artwork.)

Kids Praise #8 - Psalm 145

An interactive way to introduce children to a devotional life with God through worship, Scripture meditation, confession of sin, and conversational prayer.


Praise and Thanksgiving. When we want to come into God's presence, how do we come in? Does anyone remember? (Kids respond.) Psalm 100:4 (NIV) says, "Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise..." The gate is kinda like God's door. We go up to God's door and knock, because we want to come in and be with Him. We knock on God's door by giving thanks to Him for something. Who is ready to knock on God's door? (Kids respond.) OK, when you knock on the door, tell God "thank you" for something. (Children knock on a door or a wall and say thank you as they enter the "courts".) Now remember, the Bible verse also says that we enter His courts with praise. After we come in the front door of God's house, we enter His living room, or His courts, by giving God praise. What do you want to praise God for today? (Kids respond.)

Today we are also going to give praise to God with two songs. We are going to start out with our "Amen" song, which is fun and fast, and then we are going to sing praise with a quiet song, "The Lord is Faithful." Is the Amen Team ready? (Start with energetic "Let All the People Say, 'Amen'" song and then follow with "The Lord is Faithful" from the Hide 'Em in Your Heart: Praise and Worship for Kids cd.)



Search. (Have children sit down in a circle.) OK, kids, I'm going to say some words from Psalm 51:10 (KJV) and then you echo it after me. Create in me (Create in me) a clean heart (a clean heart) O God (O God); and renew (and renew) a right spirit (a right spirit) within me (within me). Why would we need to get our heart clean? (Kids respond.) The Bible says that everybody does wrong things and it is like our hearts get dirty. But we can say "God, I was wrong and I'm sorry." Then He promises to make our heart clean again. (Depending on age of children, and their understanding of spiritual things, you will have to modify this section. The point is for them to become familiar with confession of sin, so it becomes a natural response.)

Ask. We can ask God to help us when we have a problem or especially when we are hurt or don't feel good. Does anyone need God's help today with a problem or a boo boo? Would you like us to ask God to help you feel better? (If it will work for the children, have one child pray for the other. If not, you can have child ask for themselves or you can do it out loud. The point is for prayer to be modeled in a very natural way.)

Listen. We also want to practice listening for God's voice, just like Samuel did. Do you remember that Samuel was just a kid about as old as you when he heard God talk to him? Let's practice getting very quiet and listening for God. We might get an idea, see a picture, or get a thought from God. We are going to keep practicing listening for God so that someday it will be just like breathing. (Spend about 1 minute being quiet, depending on the age of the children. Then ask the children to share what they experienced. Note to Charlotte Mason families: This develops the habits of attention and thought of God.)





Meditate. The song that we sang earlier, "The Lord is Faithful", came from a place in the Bible called Psalm 145:13, 14, 17, 18 (NIV). I'm going to read it out loud to you from my Bible. (Read verses.) Question time: Do you think you could help me with some words from the Bible song? (Kids reply.) I'm going to give four (kids/groups) a word and when I point to you, you are going to say your word really loud, OK? (Kids respond. Assign words to groups or individual children.) You will say the word, "faithful". You will say the word, "loving". You will say the word, "righteous". You will say the word, "near". I will start off by saying, "The Lord is..." (Point to a group to finish the sentences, "The Lord is faithful. The Lord is loving. The Lord is righteous. The Lord is near." Repeat four times or more so that every child/group gets to say their word once or twice.) These are some of the reasons why we can praise God. He is so loving and faithful to us that we need to praise Him over and over again.

Hands-on Worship Activity: We are going to draw a picture of some boys and girls saying, "Amen!" If you are three years old, can you draw three boys and girls? If you are four, can you draw four? If you are five, can you draw five? (Child/parent/teacher can write on the paper, "Amen! So be it!" Play the song/cd again while they are making their art. Note to Charlotte Mason families: Drawing is a form of narration. If your child is writing, have them write the theme, "Amen! So be it!" as Copywork, or Dictation if they are old enough to do so.)

Kids Praise #7 - Psalm 106

An interactive way to introduce children to a devotional life with God through worship, Scripture meditation, confession of sin, and conversational prayer.


Praise and Thanksgiving. When we want to come into God's presence, how do we come in? Does anyone remember? (Kids respond.) Psalm 100:4 (NIV) says, "Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise..." The gate is kinda like God's door. We go up to God's door and knock, because we want to come in and be with Him. We knock on God's door by giving thanks to Him for something. Who is ready to knock on God's door? (Kids respond.) OK, when you knock on the door, tell God "thank you" for something. (Children knock on a door or a wall and say thank you as they enter the "courts".) Now remember, the Bible verse also says that we enter His courts with praise. After we come in the front door of God's house, we enter His living room, or His courts, by giving God praise. What do you want to praise God for today? (Kids respond.)

Today we are also going to give praise to God with the song "Let All the People Say 'Amen!'" Do you remember that most of the Psalms in the Bible were written as songs? Sometimes when the Israelites were singing a psalm, they would do something called “antiphonal.” That’s a funny word, isn’t it? Antiphonal means that the priest or one group of people would sing something, and then another group would sing something else in response. We are going to do that with our praise song today. The song comes from Psalm 106, and is called “Let All the People Say, ‘Amen!’” So I am going to stand on this side of the room and I will sing, “Let all the people say.” All of the children will stand on the other side of the room, and you will shout back, “Amen!” really loud! You are going to be the Amen Team! Does anyone know what Amen means? (Kids reply.) Amen means, “So be it! Yes! That’s right, God!” Can you say that? (Say with children, “So be it! Yes! That’s right, God!”) OK, is the Amen Team ready to do the song? (Play song from Psalm 106:48 on the "Hide 'Em in Your Heart: Praise and Worship for Kids" cd.)



Search. (Have children sit down in a circle.) OK, kids, I'm going to say some words from Psalm 51:10 (KJV) and then you echo it after me. Create in me (Create in me) a clean heart (a clean heart) O God (O God); and renew (and renew) a right spirit (a right spirit) within me (within me). Why would we need to get our heart clean? (Kids respond.) The Bible says that everybody does wrong things and it is like our hearts get dirty. But we can say "God, I was wrong and I'm sorry." Then He promises to make our heart clean again. (Depending on age of children, and their understanding of spiritual things, you will have to modify this section. The point is for them to become familiar with confession of sin, so it becomes a natural response.)

Ask. We can ask God to help us when we have a problem or especially when we are hurt or don't feel good. Does anyone need God's help today with a problem or a boo boo? Would you like us to ask God to help you feel better? (If it will work for the children, have one child pray for the other. If not, you can have child ask for themselves or you can do it out loud. The point is for prayer to be modeled in a very natural way.)

Listen. We also want to practice listening for God's voice, just like Samuel did. Do you remember that Samuel was just a kid about as old as you when he heard God talk to him? Let's practice getting very quiet and listening for God. We might get an idea, see a picture, or get a thought from God. We are going to keep practicing listening for God so that someday it will be just like breathing. (Spend about 1 minute being quiet, depending on the age of the children. Then ask the children to share what they experienced. Note to Charlotte Mason families: This develops the habits of attention and thought of God.)




Meditate. Do you remember the song that we sang earlier, "Let All the People Say, 'Amen!'" It came from a place in the Bible called Psalm 106:48 (NIV). I'm going to read it to you from my Bible. (Read.) Question time: Does anyone remember what it means to say, "Amen"? (Kids reply.) It means, "So be it! Yes! That's right, God!" (Kids respond.) Why do you think God would want us to say, "Amen"? (Kids reply.) When we say, "Amen!" or "So be it! Yes! That's right, God!" we are agreeing with God. When we agree with Him, then we get to know Him and what He likes and what is important to Him. It makes God's heart feel really good when we do this. It is a way of telling God that we love Him when we agree with Him.

Hands-on Worship Activity: We are going to draw a picture of some boys and girls saying, "Amen!" If you are three years old, can you draw three boys and girls? If you are four, can you draw four? If you are five, can you draw five? (Child/parent/teacher can write on the paper, "Amen! So be it!" Play the song/cd again while they are making their art. Note to Charlotte Mason families: Drawing is a form of narration. If your child is writing, have them write the theme, "Amen! So be it!" as Copywork, or Dictation if they are old enough to do so.)



Copyright 2011 by Kendra Lane Barrow. Contact at imintheriver@fuse.net