Here's an idea of how to use beads to remember a certain way of praying, the ACTS way (adoration, confession, thanksgiving and supplication / stuff). We used this idea on our exhibition stand at Youthwork the Conference, and had some great chats with people whilst threading the beads.
I got these specific beads from a danish chain of shops called Tiger, but if you don't have one near you, I'm sure you can find these kinds of beads online or in any bead shops. I used plastic heartshaped beads for 'Adoration'; a red bead, symbolic of Jesus' blood, for 'Confession'; gold and silver beads, symbolic of God's provision for us, for 'Thanksgiving' and little colourful beads to represent anyhing, any 'Stuff', you'd like to pray for (so you can personally designate them depending on what each colour makes you think of, red for your mum, green for the environment, pink for that relationship you'd like to be in... etc.). Download the PDF above to get a nicely presented summary of what the beads stand for.
This is a great activity to do together as a small group, youth group or family, and chat about prayer as you're threading the beads. You could make little keyrings like on my picture, or use more beads to make bracelets. You could then pray together using the beads as reminders, or encourage the members of your group to use them in their personal prayer times. Our 4 year old daughter has engaged really well with this idea, and the last two evenings have seen some long prayer times in our house...
Sara co-leads engageworship.org together with husband Sam, drawing from her experience in music, worship and youthwork. She is also a mum of two wonderful children and they all live in groovy Luton.
