Ezekiel lesson for kids

I’m almost done with the prophets, only 2 more Sunday School lessons to post after this.  Tonight (when I’m writing this) I’m going to work on the Minor Prophets for Sunday, and then it’s Isaiah, and the Old Testament is done!  But for today the lesson is on Ezekiel.

Timeline-wise I taught this right after Jeremiah because it happens at the same time.

Who was Ezekiel and when did he write?

Ezekiel wrote at the same time as Jeremiah and Daniel, and a couple other minor prophets.  So, he’s writing during the fall of Jerusalem.  Ezekiel was one of the Exiles already over in Babylon when he started preaching and encouraging them.

Ezekiel gets the distinction of being one of the most unique prophets (among a pretty unique group) because of how God had him teach.  He had to shave his hair and divide it into thirds to illustrate how Jerusalem would be defeated.  He was to lie bound for a year to illustrate Jerusalem at siege.  And the illustrations go on and on.

People interested in end-times prophecies spend a lot of time in the later chapters of Ezekiel because those chapters haven’t come to pass yet.

Why is Ezekiel important to us?

Partially because we can see the fulfillment of some prophecies.  We see the fulfillment of Jerusalem’s destruction, we saw the fulfillment of Israel becoming a country again.  Partially because of the promises of what is to come.  There are some interesting prophecies in there that have not happened yet.  I’ll be curious to see if they come true in my lifetime or if it waits a few more years before coming to pass.

Teaching the Ezekiel lesson to kids

I had the kids film a video of the lesson so you can see how I taught it.  Besides, what’s a little public humiliation between friends (I watched it and thought, “work on posture, I stick my tummy out, brush hair better, I ACTUALLY have makeup on, and why do they feel the need to interrupt NOW?”  Not necessarily in that order).  This is the best of several attempts.  The kids are not good at filming, they just can’t keep still.

As I taught this to the kids I concentrated on a couple of different things:

1. God works in unsual ways sometimes
2. God keeps His promises.  He restored Israel to a country thousands of years after it was completely destroyed.  That’s amazing.
3. God still has promises He hasn’t kept yet.  They will be amazing to see when He does.

Ezekiel activity: Dry Bones relay race

One of the most impressive parts to young kids are the chapters in Ezekiel about “dry bones,” and them coming together.  My boys had quite a few suggestions for activities, but we stuck to the one I had planned: dry bones relay race, and it was a hit with my Sunday School class as well.

I’ve got a link in the download where you can get your own skeleton to play this game.

UPDATE: The link in the download is now defunct [Sad Face]. So, here’s one I give you another variation of a printable skeleton.

Our rules said you could only pick up one piece at a time, and they were required to make sure they had all the right pieces (a left and a right arm, as compared to 2 left arms).

This was a blast with all of the kids, both mine and the Sunday School class.  We played the game several times.

Ezekiel for kids resources

• Ezekiel lesson for kids printout<<<<<< this is the printout of the lesson I used
• Ezekiel powerpoint
• Ezekiel notebooking pages

Next up is Daniel and Friend’s Stand Tall in Faith (Ezekiel is going on at the same time as Daniel, so I’ve done it in different orders from time to time).

All Bible Prophets lessons