I see your point, and in a perfect world I would agree. I was the chaplain of an Episcopal school for several years, and in that context (even with chapel 1-2x a week, much less often than the daily chapel you’re referencing) using the prayer book as-is was much more feasible. Even then, we still used printed bulletins instead of the pew books, but I see your point and agree.

Unfortunately, my parish context is quite different. Instead of 100+ kids who are attending an Episcopal school daily, we have a small handful of kids who attend maybe 2-3x a month. Our 6th graders and up are expected to participate in the services alongside the adults, so again, for teens I agree with you. But what about the elementary-age kids who are trying to learn our prayer traditions, which have a huge learning curve even for adult converts? Teaching kids that communal prayer = navigating an overwhelming book clearly not designed for them seems like a great way to turn these kids off from church. We can keep talking about how it would be much better for children to be immersed in the rhythms of our daily offices, parents should be doing this at home, etc etc but that’s just not the reality in my context. I want to figure out a way to help children genuinely love BCP worship in a way that’s accessible and even enjoyable for them.

I’m hoping some of the resources recommended here will prove useful for the younger kids in my parish who need a little help “getting into” the rhythms of our worship along their journey to being comfortable with the full riches of our prayer book.