One of our favourite projects to run in Primary Schools is our prayer spaces. For a day the Primary team take over a school hall or classroom and transform it into a place filled with blankets, cushions, fairy lights and activities to help us pray in lots of different ways.
Unfortunately we weren’t able to run our prayer space project last term, but the good news is you can set up your own prayer space at home! You don’t have to take over a whole room, although if you want to build a room sized prayer pillow fort for the day, why not!
Whatever the size, the idea of creating your own prayer space is to give you a special place where you can pray or think quietly. There are lots of distractions at home and not everyone has access to a green space outside where they can find those quiet spaces. Creating a special place where you can pray can be as simple creative as you want it to be. Let us share with you a few tips to help give you some ideas of things you can use to create your own space at home…
Blankets, cushions and pillows – Think pillow fort! Make a nest out of pillows and cushions, get cosy in a blanket. Maybe you can use some bed-sheets as a canopy? Can you make your bed into a tent?
Lights – If you have some fairy lights around already, great! If not, see if you can dig out the Christmas tree lights! Use some lamps and other battery lights to help create a nice atmosphere. If you’re doing this together as a family, consider using a lit candle for a centre piece (observing proper fire safety rules!). Think about how your space will look as the sun goes down.
Music – Try setting up some reflective music. There are lots of options available on YouTube and Spotify. You may have your own collections too. The Primary team like to use the soundtracks from games like Skyrim, you might be surprised to see how beautiful some video game music can be.
Resources – you might want to have some paper and something to write with so you can note down your thoughts or prayers. Maybe you can do one of our reflection/prayer activities in your space.
Locations – A spare room at home, a corner of your bedroom, just your bed (underneath if you can fit! On top if there’s no space under!), somewhere in the garden, the entire living room, under a dining room table…anywhere that works for you!
I hope you have fun creating a special place where you can pray or have some quiet time to think. If you want to share your prayer space pictures on facebook or instagram please tag us! We’d love to see what you come up with.
Stay safe and make space!