Teaching Noah to Pray

There is a long list of things I never really thought about before being a parent. One was all the things you (and your spouse) are responsible for teaching your little child. Kids amazingly do not on their own learn to say please and thank you (at least not mine), though they figure out how to say "mine" and how to make mud without any trouble. It is an incredibly daunting responsibility when you realize that God has given you His child to love and instruct.

SO, with this weighty thought on my mind I have been thinking about how you teach a child to pray. Every night after his evening bottle, Anthony and/or I pray with Noah, which amounts to us praying and Noah saying "Amen" with us at the end. What I wonder is if using a "memorized" prayer while he is young will help Noah better understand what we are doing when we pray?

Part of what started this direction of thought was Boz.  For those who don't know Boz, Boz is a Christian cartoon series about a big green bear that is slightly reminiscent of Barney. They are cute little episodes about a set of twins, Drew and Gracie, and Noah is in love with them. I have been noticing that whenever Drew and Gracie pray, he bows his head with them and occasionally repeats a few of the words. Drew and Gracie have a little prayer that starts off the same but the end is open for you to add specifics for the day. The prayer goes like this:

Thank you God as this day ends
For my family and my friends
Taking time to sit and pray
Thank you God for this great day
(Then add specifics for the day such as for someone to get better,
or thank you for grandparents, or sorry for something done wrong)
Amen.

Before Noah started "praying" with Drew and Gracie, I did not think he was old enough to memorize something. He is growing up sooooo fast! The question is do Anthony and I teach Noah something like this to start learning to pray or continue by example with the open style that we have been using. I can see the benefit of structure but also do not want to get caught in Noah thinking there is a "certain" prayer he is suppose to say or saying a prayer that is theologically wrong or weak.

Thoughts?