How to Keep Kids Engaged During Family Worship
Having a daily devotion or worship time with your family can seem overwhelming and impossible. To many families, it can also seem like something they could never do in their homes. One of the hurdles families think about when it comes to family worship, is how do I keep my kids engaged?
We are still learning and giving ourselves grace as we strive to honor God during this part of our lives, and we try to keep doing it even when it may not look how we expect it to look.
Here are some things that my family does to help our kids engage in family worship:
Ask a discussion question before you read the passage. This helps them have something to be listening for during the Bible reading.
Let a kid read the Bible passage. This works well especially if you have a child who is a good reader and can read with expression.
Choose songs that the kids like. In our Family Worship Guides, we have a song playlist that goes along with the theme for that particular guide. Each day there is a song chosen, along with the hymn, that we sing/listen/ learn together. Sometimes, our kids request a particular song from the list even if it’s not suggested for that day. We either sing the song of their choice or add it to our worship time.
Read only a portion of the assigned reading for that day. If the passage is too long for your family to read that day, just read part of it and finish it the next day. You can also just read the passage that the discussion question is about.
Keep it short. If it gets too long, kids will start to zone out. So will adults. We usually spend 10-15 minutes. Sometimes we go longer if we are having a good discussion if we have extra song requests.
Remember that the goal is not perfection. We are all just striving to honor God and guide our kids to love God and His Word. Sometimes there might be tears or bad attitudes. Sometimes there might be an argument right before family worship. This is a great time to show that we can forgive just as Jesus exemplifies, we can always come to God, and that we need the saving grace of Jesus.
Remember that they do not have to soak in everything. You may not think their brains or hearts have heard anything. Kids pick up so much more than you realize. Even if they don’t grasp anything from the Bible reading, they are still learning that making time for God is important. You will be surprised when they later bring up a topic that you thought they were not listening to.
Other ideas to help kids engage:
Use a children’s Bible to show pictures of what you are reading. Even if you are reading straight from a Bible, you can use pictures from a children’s Bible for them to have a visual from it.
Allow them to play with Play-dough or some sort of quiet toy while you are reading. They could even make something that they hear about in the passage.
Allow them to draw or doodle about what they are hearing.
Have them listen for a particular word within the passage. This might require some prep work for the parent, but can be fun for kids to do. They can even make tally marks when they hear that word.
Choose a phrase from the reading for that day and have them repeat it after the reading. For example, if you are reading Psalm 46, you can talk about how God is our helper in times of need. Have them repeat the phrase, “God is our helper,” a few times. Make it fun by using high, low, loud, etc. voices. This works really well for toddlers and preschoolers, but older kids can have fun with it too. You could even make a fun chant with the phrase.
Let the kids play an instrument. If you have a child who is learning an instrument, have them learn a song or a few to use during family worship time. They can play while the family sings!
Read with expression. You don’t have to act like you are on a stage, but as you read try to make it lively and interesting to listen to.
Read the Bible like it is living and active, because it is! Be excited about it God’s Word! If you are excited, about God’s Word, your kids will more likely be excited about it too!
Remember the goal of this time is to honor and worship God through reading His Word, singing, and praying. The goal is not to have a picture perfect time where everyone is sitting still with their hands crossed and able to summarize what the passage was about. Making God a priority in our home
I hope this is helpful!
If you would like a plan that gives you a daily Bible reading, prayer prompts, and songs to sing with your family, our Family Worship Guides might be a good fit for you and your family. You can get all the info here!
