| Sensory Prayers
Purpose
The Psalms tell us, “O taste and see that the Lord is
good.” As we experience God we use our senses to do so. They can excite
us, soothe us, and calm our spirits. We can use tactile sensory objects
to help a child move into the holiness of God.
For any age
Fill the room with scented candles or potpourri.
Play with lighting and set the mood for prayer.
Touch
Massage the infant, toddler or child and while you do so allow them to focus on God’s holy presence. Give them lots of things to touch: feathers, clay, pudding
in a bag, etc. Allow them to focus on God as they touch and feel these
things. Give them a soft animal to pet. As they do allow them to focus on God. Go to a statue and allow the child to shut their eyes and simply feel the figure over and over while reflecting on God’s love. Take a fabric sheet and make it into a prayer shawl, bless
it and wrap it around the child. Allow God to touch them through this
sacred cloth. Give the child a painting to see and encourage them to
trace the paintings forms with their pinky finger and reflect on God’s
love as they do.
Smell
Have bottles of
different fragrances and smells. Some good and some bad. Have the child
smell each of them and choose the ones that make them think of God.
Then allow time to simply sit and smell them and be in the presence of
God.
Taste
Have
lots of things to taste available and have them taste each and identify
which taste reminds them of God. Have them each it and savor the
goodness of God as they do.
Hearing
Have a variety of musical instruments available and have the child write a prayer using them. Have a tuning fork or chime and quietly play it over and
over. Allow the sound to bring God closer to the child. If a child has
a particular hurt, move the tuning fork to that spot and allow the
vibrations to bring God closer. Have the child experiment with making sounds with their
own voice and find a tone or volume that brings them closer to God.
Make this sound over and over.
Sight
- Give the child a picture book filled with pictures of nature and allow them time to reflect on them.
- Give them cards with different words of healing and hope written on them and allow them time to focus on them.
- Give
the child a photo album and have them place pictures of their family in
it and pray for each of them. This is especially good in divorce and
grief situations.
- Allow them to draw their own picture and then focus on it.
- Give them shapes and allow them to create a pattern that they feel reflects the spirit of God and reflect on it.
- Give
a child cards or light candles using the colors of the rainbow. They
are then encouraged to choose the color card that they feel best
describes the spiritual mood they are presently feeling and focus their
prayer using that color as their expression to God. Then they are
encouraged to choose the color they desire to be reflective of their
spiritual mood and again pray using that color as their expression to
God.
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