“Dad, you forgot to pray!” my 5-year-old reminded me one busy evening when a whirlwind of humans finally all sat down and began to eat. That was one of those moments that remind you the work you’re doing is sticking. “Yikes, I did! Do you want to pray for us?” and he blessed the food, some random family members, and then we ate.
That is the goal of teaching kids to pray. The Lord’s Prayer in Matthew 6:9–13 is not merely a script to memorize. It is a framework to inhabit, a model Jesus gave His own disciples so they would understand the shape of faithful conversation with God.
The most effective approach I have found is simple: walk through it verse by verse with your child, ask questions, and help him substitute his own needs and names into each line. A few unhurried conversations like this can move a child from reciting borrowed words to praying with genuine understanding. That is what this article is for.
“This, then, is how you should pray…” – Matthew 6:9
How to Use This Guide
What follows is a Socratic dialogue between a father and his child. Classical education has always taught through questions, not just answers. Socrates did not lecture his students; he drew out understanding through careful inquiry. You can do the same at the dinner table, before bed, or during your morning time together. Read through the dialogue once on your own first, then use it as a guide for your own conversation with your child.
The goal is not perfect recitation. It is a genuine engagement with the prayer Jesus taught.
Using the Lord’s Prayer as a Prayer Template
Let’s begin with the full text. Matthew 6:9–15 is the foundation for everything that follows. (The final two verses are included because they address forgiveness directly, a point Jesus clearly considered essential for His disciples, and for ours.)
“This, then, is how you should pray:
‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.’
For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.” — Matthew 6:9–15 (NIV)
Now, verse by verse:
Verse 9: Addressing God’s Holiness
“This, then, is how you should pray:
“‘Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
Father: “How does this prayer begin?”
Child: “It begins by talking to God, our Father.”
Father: “Yes. And this verse also begins by describing a quality or attribute of God. It tells us that His name is to be ‘hallowed.’ To be hallowed is to be set apart, to be holy. God has many other attributes. For example, He is merciful. If we were praying for forgiveness, we could substitute ‘mercy’ for ‘hallowed.’ How would the prayer begin if we followed that pattern?”
Child: “We would say: Our Father, who is in heaven, merciful is your name.”
Father: “Right. What are some other qualities of God?”
Child: “God is just.”
Father: “Could you substitute ‘just’ for ‘hallowed’? How would that sound?”
Child: “Our Father, who is in heaven, justice is your name.”
Father: “Of course, this part of the prayer is primarily asking that God’s name be kept holy by all. But do you see how, depending upon our needs, we might change the prayer by substituting different attributes of God?”
Child: “Yes, I can see that.”
Verse 10: Praying for God’s Will
your kingdom come,
your will be done
on earth as it is in heaven.
Father: “What is this part of the prayer saying?”
Child: “It is praying for God’s will to be done.”
Father: “Yes. Here we are humbling ourselves and acknowledging that the Lord is ruler of this world. God is sovereign. That means He is ruler over all things, people, and events. So if we are asking the Lord to help a friend, we could say that person’s name instead of ‘earth.’ If you were praying for your friend Steve, how would you pray?”
Child: “Your kingdom come, your will be done on Steve as it is in heaven.”
Father: “Yes, that’s right.”
Verse 11: Asking for Daily Provision
Give us today our daily bread.
Father: “We know that Jesus would later break bread during the first Lord’s Supper. So there is more meaning in that phrase than we may normally think about. It is not just natural food being referred to here. It is the recollection that Jesus died for us on Calvary, and that He is the Bread of Life. Why is it important to remember that? What are some other things that Jesus does for us?”
Child: (Answers will vary. Help the child remember that Jesus gives us salvation, and help him think about other things Jesus does for us. Substitute those things for “daily bread.”)
Verse 12: Forgiveness and Forgiving Others
And forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
Father: “Debts are often referred to as sins. It is important to understand that Jesus is teaching us not to be hypocrites. Think of the story of the woman who was going to be stoned in John 8. Can you tell me how this verse teaches us to avoid hypocrisy?”
Child: (May require prompting, but answers should be along these lines): “Because God forgives us our sins. For us to refuse to forgive those who sin against us is to behave hypocritically.”
Father: “Right. There is also another way to look at this verse: it compares action with a promise. God has promised to forgive us, and we should take action to make sure we do the same for others. There are many other promises God has given us. Can you think of some?”
Child: “God promises to help us.”
Father: “Yes! So you could substitute ‘help’ here. How would that go?”
Child: “And help us, as we have helped others.”
Father: “So this would be praying for help, but also reminding us of something we should do. What is that?”
Child: “We should help others.”
Father: “What else could we substitute? What other promises has God made us?”
Child: “God promises to bless us.”
Father: “Yes! How would that go?”
Child: “And bless us, as we have blessed others.”
Father: “Good! Do you see how we can substitute other elements here in order to pray for our very specific needs?”
Child: “Yes.”
Father: “As you pray, you might also refer to Bible stories in which God keeps His promises. If you want to pray for help, you might include a reference to David and Goliath or Daniel in the lion’s den. Can you think of a Bible story you could refer to if you were praying for blessings?”
Child: “I could include a reference to Abraham or King Solomon.”
Father: “Yes! Good.”
Verse 13: Deliverance from Temptation
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from the evil one.’
Father: “What does this verse say?”
Child: “This verse asks God to keep us from doing evil.”
Father: “There are many ways in which we can do evil, aren’t there? We can be tempted to lie, cheat, or steal. We have many different temptations against which we struggle. This is a place in the prayer where you can substitute a specific temptation that may be hard for you to overcome, like arguing with your siblings or talking back to your mother. What do you think you could substitute here?”
Child: “I could pray that God would help me to obey.”
Father: “How would that sound?”
Child: “And lead us not into disobedience, but deliver us from the evil one.”
The Lord’s Prayer as a Flexible Template
When prayer is approached this way, the Lord’s Prayer becomes a template your child can carry for life. Here is the fill-in version you can use together:
“This, then, is how you should pray:
‘Our Father in heaven, _________ be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, _________ as it is in heaven. Give us today our ________. And ________ us our ________, as ________________. And lead us not into ________, but deliver us from the evil one.'”
Father: “What are you praying about?”
Child: “I would like to pray about ____________.”
Father: “Well, let’s look at the prayer and substitute in the needs that you have.”
This is not an exercise in improvisation for its own sake. It is practice in understanding that leads children to learn what each petition means so deeply that they can apply it to any situation they face.
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How This Fits Classical Education
Classical education teaches in a pattern parents at Classical Conversations will recognize: grammar, dialectic, rhetoric. Imitation, then understanding, then application. We give children a master model. We study it. We practice it until the pattern is second nature. Only then do we expect original, confident expression.
Prayer follows the same arc. The Lord’s Prayer is the master model. Jesus gave it to His disciples not so they would repeat it mechanically, but so they would understand the shape of faithful conversation with God.
At Classical Conversations, we apply this same pattern across every subject, from memory work in Foundations to the rigorous inquiry of Challenge. What a child learns to do with Latin grammar or geometric proofs, he can learn to do with prayer: begin with the model, understand the structure, and eventually speak to God in his own words, with confidence and depth.
That process does not require a formal setting. It can happen anywhere a parent and their child have a few minutes and a Bible between them. Sometimes it happens at a dinner table, the way it did for me, when a five-year-old’s reminder turned into a small, earnest blessing over food and family. My son was learning something that night, even if neither of us knew quite how deep it was going. The work you do is sticking, even when you cannot see it yet. Keep asking the questions. Keep praying together.
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Frequently Asked Questions
How do you teach a child to pray for the first time?
A simple starting point is to use the Lord’s Prayer as a model. Walk through it verse by verse with your child, asking questions and helping them substitute specific needs and names into the framework Jesus gave His disciples. This method, rooted in classical education, teaches structure while making prayer personal.
What is the best prayer to teach children?
The Lord’s Prayer (Matthew 6:9–13) is the model Jesus himself gave for how to pray. Rather than memorizing it as a rote recitation, children benefit most from learning it as a flexible template, understanding each line and adapting it to their own specific prayers.
At what age should you start teaching children to pray?
Children can begin learning to pray when they learn to talk, through repetition and modeling. The Lord’s Prayer is an ideal first prayer because its structure is memorable and its themes are accessible to young children.
How do classical educators approach teaching prayer?
Classical education teaches by mimicry, then understanding, then independent application, the same pattern used for language, math, and history. Applied to prayer, this means starting with a master model (the Lord’s Prayer), studying its structure, and practicing with it until children can pray confidently in their own words.
How do you explain the Lord’s Prayer to a child?
The best approach is to take it verse by verse and ask questions rather than simply explain. Ask your child what each line means, help them connect it to something in their own life, and show them how to substitute their specific needs into the prayer’s framework. Understanding grows through conversation, not lecture.
Learn More About Classical Christian Education
- What Is the Trivium and How Does It Apply to Homeschooling?
- Advice for Foundations Parents: Welcome to a Life of Hide and Seek
- Numbering Our Homeschool Days: A Biblical Perspective on Time Stewardship
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