Description
Even if you don’t want to be involved with Halloween, you’ll want to grab at least one of those plastic or paper Halloween skeletons for this object lesson / game.

Game Materials
Purchase one or more plastic skeletons commonly found during the Halloween holiday season. You can also use a paper skeleton that is already cut into parts or make your own.
(Optional) “Dem Bones” song to play in the background

Game Preparation
Separate the plastic skeleton parts into pieces or cut them out if they are on paper.

Game Play

Option 1:

1. Obtain one skeleton for each team.
2. Place all the parts for each skeleton in its own sack and give one sack to each team.
3. When you say ‘Go’, each team must take out the skeleton parts and correctly reconstruct the skeletons.
4. Award prizes for the fastest times. You can also give additional prizes for weirdest skeleton, etc.
5. Play some crazy music while the game is going on like “Dem Bones”

Option 2:

1. Hide the skeleton bones before the lesson starts.
2. Let the participants search for them and then reassemble the skeleton.
3. For older youth, you can hide the bones and then write out clues for them to follow to find them.
4. You can also get a few skeletons and break the kids into teams. You can have it as a free for all (i.e. hide all parts and award the first team to find one of each part and put the skeleton together), or you can add a spot of color or a colored ribbon to identify which skeletons belong to which team.
5. Team members must first find a complete set of parts… then they must assemble it correctly.

Application
One of the scary things about Halloween is the skeletons. A lot of people are afraid of death. When they see bones it reminds them of death and they become afraid. But they are just bones and there is nothing to be scared about. They can’t come to life right? or can they?

The prophet Ezekiel might have had the first Halloween scare! We don’t know what day it took place, but it probably wasn’t October 31st.

Let’s look at Ezekiel 37 to find out more!

Read the key verses from this vision.

God’s question to Ezekiel, “Can these dry bones live?” (v3) might be a question a lot of people ask on 31st of October.

But God was talking about more than a skeleton in a closet. He was giving Ezekiel a glimpse into the future when Jesus would conquer death and bring life to us. Jesus did conquer death on a cross. He also resurrected Lazarus from the dead.

Yet God was giving Ezekiel a picture of something more.

The bones represented the house of Israel and their dryness and loss of hope. (v11) The spirit of God would enter their bodies and they would experience restoration and life.

There may be a situation in your own life when you feel like a pile of dry bones. A new life may seem impossible. But like Ezekiel’s response to God when asked “Can these bones live?”, we can answer “You alone know.” God knows and with God all things are possible.

God can breath life into any situation you are in. Not only can he bring you a new life, but he can also give you a new heart: “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. (Ezekiel 36:26-27).

• We are all dead in our sin, like a pile of dry bones (Ephesians 2:1)
• But God, because of his great love for us, makes us alive in Christ (Ephesians 2:4-5)
• We experience new life through faith in Christ! Doing good things doesn’t get us eternal life, but we are made alive in Christ that we might do good things for Him. (Ephesians 2:8-10)

Lyrics to Dem Bones

E-ze-kiel cried, “Dem dry bones!”
E-ze-kiel cried, “Dem dry bones!”
E-ze-kiel cried, “Dem dry bones!”
Oh hear the word of the Lord.

(tune descends in half steps)

The foot bone con-nected to the (pause) leg-bone,
The leg bone connected to the (‘) knee bone,
The knee bone connected to the (‘) thigh bone,
The thigh bone connected to the (‘) back bone,
The back bone connected to the (‘) neck bone
The neck bone connected to the (‘) head bone
Oh hear the word of the Lord!

Dem bones, dem bones gon-na walk a-roun’
Dem bones, dem bones gon-na walk a-roun’
Dem bones, dem bones gonna walk aroun’
Oh hear the word of the Lord

(tune descends in half steps and we retrace the body)

The head-bone connected to the neck-bone,
the neck-bone connected to the back-bone
The backbone connected to the thigh-bone
the thighbone connected to the kee-bone
the kneebone connected to the leg bone
the leg bone connected to the foot bone
Oh hear the word of the Lord

Looking for some icebreakers? My eBook, “IceBreakers Ahead: Take It to the Next Level” found at http://www.creativeicebreakers.com
not only provides 52 of the most world’s popular group icebreaker activities, but also includes life changing lesson ideas and questions to smoothly transition into discussions about issues common to most groups.

MORE IDEAS? See “Creative Object Lessons”
200 page e-book that explains everything you need to know when planning your very own object lessons. It contains 90 fully developed object lesson ideas and another 200 object lesson starter ideas based on Biblical idioms and Names / Descriptions of God.
Learn More…

Holiday Collection
Games and Activities in Celebration of common Holidays.

Creative Holiday Ideas has over 300 pages of ideas to help you plan your next New Year’s Day, Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Halloween or Fall Festival, and Thanksgiving event. If you’ve ever wondered what you’re going to do for all these holidays and how you’re going to do it, this resource is for you.

=> Tell me more about the Holiday Collection

Tradition says the Halloween “Jack-o-Lantern” gets it’s name from an old Irish story about a drunkard called “Stingy Jack.”

According to one version of the story, which has many variations, on October 31st, Stingy Jack was being chased by some villagers for stealing. It was his time to die and because of his wicked life he was going to hell. But he offered the devil an opportunity to create chaos and distrust in the whole village if the devil would free him for a year. The devil, gleeful at any opportunity to cause conflict and destroy relationships, agreed to hear Stingy Jack’s plan.

You want to know what his plan was?

Since the devil could turn into any shape, the devil would turn himself into a coin and Stingy Jack would use the coin to pay for the things he had stolen. Later the devil could change back to his original shape and the villagers would accuse each other and fight over who had stolen the coin.

The devil agreed to the plan, but when he changed into the coin, Stingy Jack dropped the coin into his pocket next to a cross he had stolen from the village. The devil was powerless next to the cross and couldn’t change back into his original form. Stingy jack eventually freed the devil, but only after the devil agreed not to bother him for a whole year.

The next year, the Devil met Stingy Jack walking on a country road and told him that he was there to collect his soul. Jack, pretended he was ready to go, but asked the Devil if he would grant him one last wish. Would he climb an apple tree and get him an apple? The Devil, thinking it was a small request in exchange for Stingy Jack’s soul agreed.

Jack pointed to an apple at the top of the tree and the devil began to climb. But just as he reached for the apple, Stingy Jack pulled out his knife and quickly carved the sign of the cross in the tree’s trunk. Again, powerless before the cross, the Devil was unable to come back down from the tree. Stingy Jack, very proud of himself made the Devil promise to never again ask him for his soul. Seeing no other choice the Devil reluctantly agreed.

Later, Stingy Jack died. But when he knocked on the heavenly gates he was not allowed inside because of his wicked life. But the devil, because of his promise not to take his soul, also refused to let Stingy Jack enter hell.

Being unable to go to heaven or hell Jack asked the Devil where he should go. The Devil only replied, “Back where you came from!” The way back was very dark so Jack begged the Devil to at least give him a light to find his way. So the Devil tossed Jack a hot burning coal from the fires of hell to light his way.

Jack put the coal into a carved-out turnip and has been roaming the earth ever since.

The Irish referred to him as “Jack of the Lantern,” and later, just “Jack O’ Lantern.” After a while, the Irish began to carve scary faces into potatoes and turnips and place them in windows and doorways to frighten away Stingy Jack and other roaming spirits. When they came to the United States, they discovered pumpkins were much more suitable for jack-O-lanterns since they were softer and easier to carve than the turnips and potatoes of their Irish homeland.

You don’t need a pumpkin to scare away evil spirits. And you don’t need the light of a jack-o-lantern to light your way. Jesus the light of the world has come to you!

Your name might not be Stingy Jack, but the Bible tells us that no one is worthy to get into heaven. (Romans 3:23)

And while you can’t make a deal with the devil, Jesus has already made a deal on your behalf. He exchanged his life for yours that you might receive eternal life. (Romans 6:23) And the devil is still powerless next to the cross where Jesus gave his life for yours!

You don’t need to wander the earth, fearful about whether or not you will get into heaven or afraid the devil will get your soul. You can know for certain you will go to heaven. (1 John 5:12-13, John 14:6)

All you need to do is confess your sin, believe in Jesus, and trust him with your life. (Romans 10:9)

Looking for some icebreakers? My eBook, “IceBreakers Ahead: Take It to the Next Level” found at http://www.creativeicebreakers.com
not only provides 52 of the most world’s popular group icebreaker activities, but also includes life changing lesson ideas and questions to smoothly transition into discussions about issues common to most groups.

Holiday Collection

Creative Holiday Ideas has over 300 pages of ideas to help you plan your next New Year’s Day, Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Halloween or Fall Festival, and Thanksgiving event. If you’ve ever wondered what you’re going to do for all these holidays and how you’re going to do it, this resource is for you.

=> Tell me more about the Holiday Collection

October 31st is a very special day, not because of Halloween, but because of another important event that literally CHANGED the world!

On October 31st, almost five hundred years ago, in the year 1517, Martin Luther nailed a letter to a church door in Wittenberg, Germany.

His letter invited a debate on ninety-five different statements and initiated what is known today as the Protestant Reformation!

Martin Luther was a deeply religious man who was seeking salvation. To find answers, he became a monk and tried to earn his way into heaven by good works. But all his efforts never seemed enough! As he studied the Word of God he realized that “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23) and “For it is by grace we have been saved through faith, it is a gift of God and not from yourselves, not by works that no one can boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9.)

Martin Luther then began reading Romans in the Bible and came to verse 1:17 and discovered “The just shall live by faith.”

Luther realized that no amount of good works would achieve salvation for him. People are not saved by their works, but by their faith in Jesus Christ!

Have you been trying to earn your way into heaven?

Read Philippians 3:1-11.

Paul and Martin Luther both realized that anything they might do to earn eternal life was rubbish. Righteousness can only come through faith in Christ. Only though that faith can we enter into the presence of God!

October 31st was a new beginning for the church. It can also be a new beginning for you!
All you need to do is to believe in Christ.

Looking for some icebreakers for your party or event? My eBook, “IceBreakers Ahead: Take It to the Next Level” found at http://www.creativeicebreakers.com
not only provides 52 of the most world’s popular group icebreaker activities, but also includes life changing lesson ideas and questions to smoothly transition into discussions about issues common to most groups.

Holiday Collection

Creative Holiday Ideas has over 300 pages of ideas to help you plan your next New Year’s Day, Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Halloween or Fall Festival, and Thanksgiving event. If you’ve ever wondered what you’re going to do for all these holidays and how you’re going to do it, this resource is for you.

=> Tell me more about the Holiday Collection