Cathy's Corner: Ezekiel and the Valley of the Dry Bones

Ezekiel is a fun lesson for the kids! This is a lesson written by my Sister-in-Law Cathy Whitacre. I have included her ideas and visuals, but I have also added some of my own ideas to make a complete post for Ezekiel. There is quite a bit here, but I decided to keep everything together for Ezekiel.

Today we are studying Ezekiel. We can find him in the Old Testament and our Bible scripture is Ezekiel 37:1-14. Prophecy is the foretelling of things to come. Ezekiel was a prophet of God. [A prophet tells people what God has said. Deut. 18:18]

One Day the Lord came to Ezekiel in a vision (a dream).

The Lord showed Ezekiel a valley that was full of dry bones (skeletons). Ezekiel went back and forth over the valley and there were so many bones! These bones represented the children of Israelites that were no longer together as a nation. They are in Babylonian captivity.

God asked Ezekiel "Are the bones alive?" Ezekiel answered "You are God. You know the answer." God then told Ezekiel to tell how the Jews of Babylon are like dead bones, never to come together again as a skeleton, or a living body. (Discuss what it would take for bones to work again) 

As Ezekiel was prophesying in this vision, there was a great noise. There was a rattling sound and all at once the bones started to come together.  First bone to bone, and the bones knew which bones to attach themselves to! Once the skeleton was together, then the sinews formed, then muscle, and finally skin to cover all the bones. These looked like living bodies! What was the one thing that was missing? They were not breathing.

God told Ezekiel to prophecy them to breathe. Four winds will come up and put the breath of life into them. Ezekiel did as God commanded and the bones became alive and stood up on their feet! A Very large army! An army to serve! 

The people of Israel felt like they were as 'The army of bones, all dried up and unable to fight'. God calls to them "Oh, My people, I, God, Will bring you back to Israel and give you your own land." God will bring His people back together as a  nation. 

For this part of the lesson: (Discuss what it would take for bones to work again), Cathy uses this foam skeleton for the visual. She cut the same basic shapes out of pink construction paper (or cardstock) for the sinew and brown for the skin. As she discusses the parts of the body, Cathy adds each layer to have the completed body.

Cathy also uses plastic skeletons (easy to find during Halloween) added to a container with sand in it. If you really don't want to use real sand, purchase scrapbook paper that looks like sand, or felt/fleece/fabric that looks like sand to lay the skeletons on.

These Flap Books are fun for the kids. They love Lift-the-Flap type papers! The directions to use it are included in the download. Color and black & white are both in the download. Click here to print.

Cathy made these pretzel and marshmallow bones with the kids... she said they loved it! They had so much fun making them. I have seen these on Pinterest, and this seems to be the original blog post with the photo and more here.

Cathy loves to use a magnetic board when teaching Bible class. After printing and cutting the pieces out, number them on the back, laminate and add magnets on the back. The ones she used on her set are about 3/4" round and very thin. They are stored in a clear plastic storage bag with the lesson and other items she uses. This is an updated copy of what Cathy uses for Ezekiel. I tried to use the same basic graphics that she has. You can also glue these to cardstock, bind and create a flipchart with these. (Cathy uses them as both) Click here to download this set.

This is the Ezekiel pictures that you see above. They can be used as visual aids while teaching or combine with the Spell-It-Out Ezekiel Letters and some plastic skeletons to make a bulletin board. Click here for the Visual Aids.

I really like the Spell-It-Out Letters for bulletin board titles. You can use these letters and one of the visual aid printables to create a bulletin board and it can also be used for review. They can be used for other ideas also. I kept the same theme for these letters as Cathy's magnetic board printables. Click here to print the EZEKIEL letters.

 

 Click here to download the worksheet.

Bible Verse:  Ezekiel 37:26 

Lesson is here

Cathy Whitacre is a Christian, wife, mother, Nana, sister, and friend. Cathy and her husband Gerry worship with the New Hope church of Christ, in Bradyville, Tennessee.

Family has been one of her crowning joys in life. Married to Gerry for over 47 years they have had many years of adventure and love. Her children and grandchildren have kept her busy and happy. Everywhere Cathy has lived from Ohio, Illinois, Texas, Georgia, Tennessee and more she has made dear friends who she considers family.

Cathy has had the opportunity to participate in mission work for many years. She has had the privilege of speaking at Ladies Days, teaching Vacation Bible Schools, and conducting workshops in Jamaica, Scotland, New Zealand, and here in the United States.

Cathy has been involved in teaching for over 50 years, from nursery to adults. Cathy feels that Christian Education is one of the greatest mission efforts we can be involved in, and the benefits are eternal.