We Pray Mary's Prayer

To help the children praise God for all he has done for them by praying Mary's words of praise in a choral reading

The children will recognize the Magnificat as Mary's prayer and theirs as well.

• Numbered sentence strips for each of the sentences of the Magnificat, with as many duplicates as needed for each child to have a sentence

• Tell the children that in this activity, they will pray Mary's prayer of praise together in a special way.
• Read the prayer aloud with expression, stopping occasionally to ask if this is something they would want to say to God too.
• Tell the children that they can pray Mary's beautiful song of praise to thank God for all he has done for them.
• Ask the children to come forward, take a sentence strip from you, and form a large circle.
• Practice by asking all those with the number-one sentence to read it with you. Do the same for the rest of the sentences.
• Tell children you will now do a choral reading of the prayer. Tell them to listen for their number. When they hear you say their number, they should take two steps toward the center of the circle and read their sentence with the meaningful expression Mary would have used. They should then step back to the circle. Continue to call numbers until the prayer is finished.
• Invite those who would like to do so to add something special that they would like to praise God for by saying: I praise God for _________. Thank you, God.
• Conclude by reminding the children to praise God often for his gifts and to pray Mary's beautiful prayer.

Body Smart, People Smart

Encourage the children to read slowly and project their voices.