Hello My God | Irish
Children’s Conversations with God | Infants & Juniors
This video series engages little children in a prayerful conversational experience with a warm, familiar and loving God. There are six videos in this series and each one runs for approximately 7–8 minutes.
These special Irish episodes were filmed with children from the Dublin Archdiocese.
Before using these videos with the children, please click here to read the introduction below as part of your preparation.
Series Introduction
This series of videos is essentially about children’s prayer. Teaching children to pray is vital to their spiritual development, especially in helping them nurture a warm, familiar and loving relationship with God. It is difficult to relate to someone to whom we never speak!
Children need to know that there is no right or wrong way to pray, and that God listens to them always and receives them as they are, unconditionally.
There are six videos in this series and each one runs for approximately 7-8 minutes. Each video has a specific theme that several little children discuss with God in a spontaneous and familiar manner.
The children talk to God about what they think and feel, their thoughts and opinions, e.g., where they find God in their lives, what they wonder about, what makes them sad and what makes them happy, what they know about Jesus and some of the beautiful things they attribute to God.
The natural flow and uninhibited comments of the children is good modelling for the children viewing the video, of the warm, comfortable and innocent nature of children’s prayer.
Following the children’s comments, there is a photographic reflection accompanied by a song refrain relevant to the theme of each video. This is then followed by God’s response to the children’s comments in the form of a brief scripture reflection and meditative song.
The video concludes with instructions for teachers to direct their children in a brief period of silent prayer and a chance for them to share whatever they wish to share with God in the quiet of their hearts. This period of personal prayer flows into a communal prayer which is included in the video.
It is recommended that teachers view these videos before using them with children so that they can assess the readiness of their children for the video experience, particularly in regard to the children’s life experiences and circumstances, as well as their previous experience with prayer and meditation.
Before commencing the video, children need to be seated comfortably either on the floor or on chairs and away from distractions. Create a prayerful atmosphere by lighting a candle or putting on some quiet music to settle the children.
Children also need to have clear guidelines about the purpose of the activity and expectations regarding their behaviour.
When viewing the video with children, the teacher may need to pause it at the end of the photographic reflection and song to direct the children to be still and to follow the reflective instructions of the video facilitator during the scripture reflection and meditative song.
When the video concludes, it is recommended that the teacher allow a few minutes for the children to reflect on their video experience simply by inviting them to name in a word or phrase how they respond to the feel after their experience of the video.
For more suggestions of follow-up activities, please contact us.