Give kids experiences of different types of prayer. Praying quietly with no movement is difficult for little children (and many older kids and adults too). Think of BIble accounts of people praying - singing and dancing, weeping, standing with raised hands, bowing, sitting, shouting...
If your kids are reluctant to pray aloud in front of the group, don't think you have to forget about group prayer, try one of these:
✩ Challenge the group to write the name of a living creature for every letter of the alphabet. BRIEFLY mention the amazing diversity of God's creation then go around the group with each person shouting the name of the next creature with someone saying 'God, your creation is amazing' at the end.
✩ Show a photo of a child looking sad or thoughtful or anything else you think the children might relate to. Ask what the child might be thinking and how they might need God in a special way. Invite them to write a prayer for that child or children who feel like him, asking God to help them.
✩ Older kids will enjoy making electronic prayer postcards. Let them choose a photo or take their own to express something they'd like to say to God. In Powerpoint they can write their prayer on the photo and save it as an image for themselves or use it as a focus during a prayer time at church.
✩ Some songs are prayers. Remind each other of that as you sing them.
✩ Talk about some of the injustice in the world (like the fact that 30,000 kids die every day from preventable diseases) then ask them to draw what they would like to say to God about it. Display the drawings. Encourage kids to say a silent prayer as they look at them all.
✩ Create prayer symbols like painted rocks with people's names on them or mobiles with pictures of situations that need transforming. These can serve as a reminder to pray for others but the making of them can itself be a prayer.