Teaching my kids to pray without making it feel forced

So I've been struggling with getting my 7 and 10 year old to actually engage in prayer instead of just rattling off the same words every night. My wife and I want them to understand that prayer is a real conversation with God, not just something we do because it's bedtime routine. We've started asking them to pray about specific stuff happening in their lives - like when my son was nervous about a spelling test or my daughter was being left out at school. Now they actually seem to care about praying. Anyone else found ways to make prayer feel authentic for kids?