National Month of Prayer for Toddler Groups

light blue house with national month of prayer text

The National Month of Prayer (NMOP) is an ecumenical initiative of the ‘1277 Make Them Count’ group and happens throughout June each year. It encourages churches, individuals, and toddler communities to pray three ways – in groups, for groups and across groups in the UK. 1277 refers to the average number of days from birth to a child starting nursery.

Salvation Army toddler groups offer an amazing space for babies, toddlers and their parents and carers to experience a warm welcome, play, learn and develop a supportive community. They come in all shapes and sizes and are a place where the love of God can be experienced in so many ways but especially through the warm welcome that is offered to all who attend.

The theme for 2023’s National Month of Prayer is ‘Welcome One, Welcome All’ and is based on the story of Zacchaeus found in Luke 19: 1-10. For more details and other resources check out: https://1277.org.uk/national-month-of-prayer

Idea one - handprint prayer tree

Take a large sheet of paper and create the bare trunk of a tree and branches. You can do this by using either brown paint or by using brown paper.
Get the children to make two handprints using various shades of green paint and write their name on each.
When dry, cut one handprint out and add to make the leaves of the tree and the other can be taken home.
Ask the adults to do a handprint too or to put their name on the handprint with their child’s.

Explain to the group that you will be using the tree in the church service on Sunday and asking the congregation to take a leaf home and to pray for the people whose names are on it.

Idea two - leaf prayers

Using cut out leaf outlines, write each child’s first name on the back and then get the children to decorate the front using paint, crayons or collage materials. Add a piece of string and hang on to an artificial twig tree or some large, natural twigs in a vase. As above, explain to the group that you will be using this in the church service on Sunday and asking the congregation to take a leaf and to pray for the person who has their name on it.

Idea three - prayer cards

Ask parents/carers for prayer requests by giving them a small prayer card during the group for them to write on. Ask church members to take a card and promise to pray for the request outlined. You could continue to make these available every week as a regular part of your group.

Please ensure that you let the group know that they were prayed for during the following week. One way you could show this is by creating labels that say, ‘we prayed for you’. These labels can then be stuck on to a small packet of sweets, a bar of chocolate, box of raisins or hot drink sachet to be given out to everyone at the toddler group the following week

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Interview your toddler group leader/ team member about your toddler group and pray for them and the team.
Spend some time in prayer using the congregational prayer suggestions in the document below.
Interview someone who has come to faith through the toddler group.
Use the prayer card attached below for a time of reflection and promise to actively pray for your groups.
Share the story of Zacchaeus using the video below. Use this to help teach on the National Month of Prayer theme: Welcome one, welcome all! You could talk about how our name is very special to us and that when we hear people call it, we know that it is us they are talking to. Even if we have the same first name as someone else, our whole name is not the same and we are all different. In the story, we hear how Zacchaeus isn’t a very nice person, but when Jesus calls him by name to come down from the tree, everything changes! Instead of having no friends, Zacchaeus is made to feel welcome and loved by Jesus. Jesus loves us all, he knows each one of us by name, and welcomes us all into the family of God.