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Can These Bones Live?

A valley of rattling bones, a glove that comes to life, and the new heart Jesus gives us

  • 💧 Valiant 7–8
  • Week 45
  • 📅 Sunday, November 8, 2026
🤔 Forehead Guess🏆 Showdown
💡 The big idea

Jesus Christ gives new life: someday He will raise our bodies, and every day He can give us a new heart.

I can come to Jesus through the scriptures and the temple and ask Him to give me a new heart.

Study it yourself firstRead Ezekiel 1–3; 33–34; 36–37; 47 in Gospel LibraryCome, Follow Me manualOpen this week (Ezekiel 1–3; 33–34; 36–37; 47)
Know the chapters

Ezekiel was a priest who was carried away to Babylon as a captive years before Jerusalem was destroyed. That’s Ezekiel 1:1–3. While Jeremiah preached in Jerusalem, Ezekiel taught homesick Israelites far away in exile. The Lord showed him amazing visions. He saw the glory of God in chapter 1, a valley of dry bones in chapter 37, and water flowing out of the temple in chapter 47.

The Lord called Ezekiel a watchman, in 3:17 and 33:7. A watchman is like a guard on a city wall who blows a trumpet when danger’s coming. Prophets are still watchmen today. In chapter 34 the Lord scolds leaders who fed themselves instead of the flock. Then He promises, “I, even I, will both search my sheep, and seek them out,” in 34:11. Jesus later called Himself the Good Shepherd, in John 10:11. In 36:26 He promises “a new heart” and “a new spirit.” He can soften a stony heart and help us change.

Ezekiel 37 has two famous pictures. First, a valley of very dry bones rattles together and gets muscles and skin. Then they breathe and stand up as “an exceeding great army.” The Lord said it showed scattered Israel coming back to life. Latter-day revelation also connects it to the Resurrection, in Doctrine and Covenants 138:43. Because Jesus Christ rose from the tomb, every person will be resurrected. Second, Ezekiel joins two sticks into one in his hand. One says “For Judah” and one says “For Joseph.” The Church teaches that they stand for the Bible and the Book of Mormon. They’re two witnesses of Jesus Christ that “grow together,” in 2 Nephi 3:12. Lehi’s family came from Joseph, in 1 Nephi 5:14.

In Ezekiel 47 water flows out from under the temple door. It gets deeper and deeper. First ankles, then knees, then waist, then a river to swim in. Everything it touches comes alive. Salty water is healed and fills with fish, and trees grow with leaves for medicine. Blessings flow from the house of the Lord to heal us and our families. For eight-year-olds, keep the bones silly, not spooky. Point every picture to Jesus. He gives life, He finds the lost, and He makes hearts new.

Only have 5 minutes?

Read Ezekiel 37:1–14 and 36:26. Grab any glove. Tell the Dry Bones story from Teach Mode. Say the key verse with motions, do the Empty Glove, and close with a quiet testimony that Jesus lives. Brought nothing? Tap “I brought nothing.” A helper goes floppy in their chair instead of the glove.

What to bring2 items

Tick what you have. Forgot something? Every step that needs a supply has a no-supplies version in the plan below.

Before class

  1. Read Ezekiel 37:1–14 and Ezekiel 36:26.
  2. Tuck the glove in your pocket or bag so you can pull it out as a surprise.

If your class is wild

  • Save the motions for the big moments. The quiet scenes make the “Live!” feel huge.
  • Make your wiggliest kid the Sound Helper. Tapping the rattles keeps their hands busy.
  • Keep the bones silly, not spooky. If a child seems uneasy, say it early and often: “This is a happy story. They live!”
  • At scene 7, drop your voice to a whisper. Kids almost always match your volume.
  • During the Empty Glove, only the child wearing the glove talks. Everyone else waves back silently.

The 25-minute plan24 min + bonus

Bonus steps are for when you have extra time. Steps that mention Teach Mode, the Sound Board or other class games refer to the Gospel Sparks app; on the web you can play Forehead Guess and Scripture Showdown from this page.

1. Hook

Floppy or Stiff?

3 min

Kids wiggle right away and start wondering if dry bones can live.

  1. SAY“Everybody go floppy in your chair, like a pile of dry bones! Now stiff as a skeleton! Floppy! Stiff!”
  2. Switch a few times. Then everyone sits still.
  3. SAY“Can old, dry bones ever come back to life? A prophet named Ezekiel saw a whole valley of them in a vision.”
  4. SAY“Let’s see what the Lord did with those bones.”
🌪️ Floppy happens in your own chair. Flop onto a neighbor and you do the next round as a statue.

Class screen: 🦴 Can these bones live? · 🫠 Floppy! · 🦴 Stiff!

2. Story

Story: The Valley of Dry Bones

7 min

Ezekiel’s vision shows that the Lord can bring anything back to life, and points to Jesus’s Resurrection.

  1. SAY“This is a real vision the Lord gave Ezekiel. When the bones come alive, throw your arms up and say, ‘Live!’”
  2. Open the story in Teach Mode. Read each scene. Do a motion only when the screen shows one.
  3. At scene 4, everyone freezes like a statue for three seconds. Ask, “What are they missing?” Breath!
  4. After scene 7, ask what will happen to everyone who has died, because Jesus rose again. They’ll live again!
🌪️ If the room drifts, have everyone go floppy, then stiff. Then read the next scene.

Class screen: 🦴 The Valley of Dry Bones · 🦴 Clickety-clack! · 🌬️ Live!

3. Scripture

Key Verse: Ezekiel 36:26

4 min

Motions help kids memorize the promise that Jesus can give them a new heart every day.

  1. SAY“The Lord gave Ezekiel another promise. And this one is for you.”
  2. Show the verse on your phone or tablet and read it slowly.
  3. SAY“A stony heart is hard and doesn’t care. A new heart feels love and listens to the Holy Ghost.”
  4. Teach the motions one phrase at a time. Say it twice, once in a creaky skeleton voice and once in a whisper.
  5. Ask, “How does Jesus give us a new heart?” When we repent and pray, He helps us change and start fresh.

Class screen: ❤️ A new heart also will I give you!

4. Object lesson

The Empty Glove

7 min

A glove with and without a hand shows how the Resurrection brings body and spirit back together forever.

  1. SAY“Here’s a glove. Glove, wave at everybody!”
  2. Lay it flat and wait. Nothing happens! Ask why it can’t move. Then say our bodies are like the glove, and our spirit is the hand.
  3. Slide your hand in and wave. The class waves back! Pull it out. Explain that at death the spirit leaves, but that’s not the end.
  4. SAY“Because Jesus rose again, every spirit and body will come back together forever.”
  5. Slide your hand back in. Everyone takes a big breath: “Live!” Pass the glove. Each kid names a kind thing their body can do.
🌪️ Only the child wearing the glove talks. Everyone else waves back silently.

Class screen: 🧤 Why can’t the glove move by itself? · 🧤 Body · ✋ Spirit · 🌅 Together forever because of Jesus

No supplies? Do this instead

Instead of: A glove (any winter, garden or work glove)

The Floppy Friend

  1. SAY“I need a helper who can go totally floppy.”
  2. The helper flops in their chair like an empty glove. Say our bodies are like this, and our spirit makes us move.
  3. Tap their shoulder. “Spirit, in!” They sit up and wave. Tap again. “Spirit, out!” They flop. But that’s not the end.
  4. SAY“Because Jesus rose again, every spirit and body will come back together forever.”
  5. Tap once more. Everyone shouts, “Live!” Go around and each kid names a kind thing their body can do this week.

Class screen: 🫠 Floppy friend… Spirit, in! · 🫠 Body · ✨ Spirit · 🌅 Together forever because of Jesus

5. Testimony

Testimony: New Life in Jesus

3 min

End quietly with the living Savior, so kids leave knowing He gives new life and new hearts.

  1. SAY“Let’s take one slow, quiet breath together, like the breath that came into Ezekiel’s army.”
  2. Briefly share why you’re grateful Jesus lives. Or share a time He helped change your heart.
  3. Show the Two Witnesses challenge. If you brought a Bible and a Book of Mormon, hold them up.
  4. Invite a child to say the closing prayer.

Class screen: 🌅 Because Jesus lives, we will live again! · Read about Jesus in both books this week

6. Game

Forehead Guess: Dry Bones Edition

4 minBONUS

A quick Heads Up–style review of the bones, the watchman, the sheep and the river.

  1. SAY“Let’s see what you remember! Give clues, but don’t say the word.”
  2. Tap Forehead Guess.
  3. One kid holds your phone or tablet on their forehead, screen facing the class. Everyone else gives clues from their seats.
  4. Tilt down for “got it” and up to pass. Each turn is 45 seconds. Then pass your phone or tablet to the next kid.
🌪️ Go around the room one clue at a time. That way nobody shouts over anybody.
▶ Play Forehead Guess on the web

Class screen: 🤔 Forehead Guess! · Give clues, don’t say the word!

7. Game

Scripture Showdown

5 minBONUS

A fast team quiz reviews everything they learned.

  1. SAY“Team Bones versus Team River!”
  2. Split the class in two and tap Scripture Showdown.
  3. Read each question out loud. Teams whisper together, then point to an answer.
  4. Tap the team that got it right to give them a point.
▶ Play Scripture Showdown on the web

Class screen: 🏆 Scripture Showdown!

The story

The Valley of Dry Bones

Ezekiel 37:1–14 ↗

Optional helpers

  • Sound HelperSits next to you and taps each scene’s sound on your phone or tablet.

Scenes

  1. 🏜️🦴 A valley full of dry bones

    The Spirit of the Lord carried the prophet Ezekiel to a wide valley. It was full of bones, very many bones, and they were very, very dry. Nobody had been alive there for a long, long time.

    🙌

  2. 🤔📣 “O ye dry bones, hear!”

    The Lord asked, “Son of man, can these bones live?” Ezekiel didn’t know. He said, “O Lord God, thou knowest.” Then the Lord told him to talk to the bones! Ezekiel called out, “O ye dry bones, hear the word of the LORD.”

    🙌

  3. 🦴🔗 Rattle, shake, bone to bone!

    As Ezekiel spoke, there was a noise and a shaking! The bones rattled and clicked together, each bone to its bone. Foot bone, leg bone, knee bone, hip bone, all the way up!

    🙌 Shake your hands from your toes to your head: “Clickety-clack!”

  4. 💪🗿 Muscles and skin, but no breath

    Then muscles grew on the bones, and skin covered them. They looked like people again! But something was missing. They weren’t breathing. They lay as still as statues.

    🙌

  5. 🌬️🧍 “Come from the four winds, O breath!”

    The Lord told Ezekiel to call to the wind. “Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live.” They breathed! They stood up on their feet. It was a huge army!

    🙌 Take a huge breath in. Arms up high: “Live!”

  6. 🏡💚 New life for God’s people

    The Lord explained the vision. His people felt dry and hopeless, like old bones. But He would bring them home and put His Spirit in them. He promised, “Ye shall live.” He can make us new inside too.

    🙌

  7. 🌅🙌 Because Jesus lives, we will too!

    Ezekiel’s vision is also a promise about the Resurrection. Jesus Christ died and rose again on Easter morning. Because He did, everyone who has ever died will live again. They’ll have a body that never gets sick or grows old.

    🙌 Arms up high: “Live!” Then whisper together: “Jesus lives!”

Key verse

Ezekiel 36:26 ↗
“A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you”
In kid words: God says, “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit inside you.”
🙌 “A new heart” = make a heart with your hands · “also will I give you” = hold the heart out like a present · “and a new spirit” = sweep your hands from your tummy up to the sky · “will I put within you” = hug yourself tight.

More verses

Ezekiel 37:5 ↗
“I will cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall live”
In kid words: I will put breath in you, and you will live!
Ezekiel 37:17 ↗
“join them one to another into one stick; and they shall become one in thine hand”
In kid words: Put the two sticks together, and they will be one in your hand.
Ezekiel 34:11 ↗
“Behold, I, even I, will both search my sheep, and seek them out”
In kid words: The Lord says, “I Myself will look for My sheep and find them.”
Ezekiel 47:9 ↗
“every thing shall live whither the river cometh”
In kid words: Everything the river from the temple touches comes alive.

Forehead Guess words19 words

  • 🧔 Ezekiel
  • 🔭 Watchman
  • 🎺 Trumpet
  • 🦴 Bones
  • 🩻 Skeleton
  • 💪 Muscles
  • 🌬️ Wind
  • 🪵 Stick
  • 📖 Bible
  • 📘 Book of Mormon
  • 🧑‍🌾 Shepherd
  • 🐑 Sheep
  • ❤️ Heart
  • 🏛️ Temple
  • 🏞️ River
  • 🐟 Fish
  • 🌳 Tree
  • 🏊 Swim
  • 🌅 Resurrection
Clues for each word
  • Ezekiel: Prophet who saw a valley of dry bones
  • Watchman: Stands on the wall and warns of danger
  • Trumpet: The watchman blows it: toot-toot!
  • Bones: Rattle, rattle! They came together and lived
  • Skeleton: All your bones put together
  • Muscles: Grew on the bones in Ezekiel’s vision. Flex!
  • Wind: Came from four directions to bring breath
  • Stick: Ezekiel held two of these as one in his hand
  • Bible: The stick of Judah
  • Book of Mormon: The stick of Joseph
  • Shepherd: Takes care of sheep and finds the lost ones
  • Sheep: Baa! Jesus finds every lost one
  • Heart: The Lord promised to give us a new one
  • Temple: Water flowed out from under its door
  • River: Got deeper and deeper and healed everything
  • Fish: Filled the healed water in huge numbers
  • Tree: Grew by the river with leaves for medicine
  • Swim: The river got so deep, you had to do this
  • Resurrection: What happened to Jesus on Easter morning
▶ Play Forehead GuessFull screen, 60-second timer, works on any phone.

Scripture Showdown8 questions

  1. What was the valley in Ezekiel’s vision full of?
    • A. Dry bones
    • B. Candy
    • C. Sheep
    Show answer

    ✅ A. Dry bones Very many bones, and very dry (Ezekiel 37:2)!

  2. What did the Lord put into the bones so they could live?
    • A. Batteries
    • B. Breath
    • C. Sand
    Show answer

    ✅ B. Breath “I will cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall live” (Ezekiel 37:5).

  3. Because Jesus was resurrected, who will be resurrected too?
    • A. Only prophets
    • B. Only grown-ups
    • C. Everyone
    Show answer

    ✅ C. Everyone Every person who has ever lived will get their body back, perfect and forever.

  4. The stick of Judah and the stick of Joseph stand for…
    • A. Two swords
    • B. The Bible and the Book of Mormon
    • C. Two walking canes
    Show answer

    ✅ B. The Bible and the Book of Mormon Two witnesses of Jesus Christ, one in the Lord’s hand.

  5. What does a watchman do?
    • A. Warns people of danger
    • B. Sells watches
    • C. Sleeps all day
    Show answer

    ✅ A. Warns people of danger Prophets are watchmen who warn us so we can stay safe.

  6. What does the Good Shepherd do when a sheep is lost?
    • A. Waits for it at home
    • B. Searches until He finds it
    • C. Buys a new sheep
    Show answer

    ✅ B. Searches until He finds it Ezekiel 34:11. Jesus never stops looking for us.

  7. What did the Lord promise to give us in Ezekiel 36:26?
    • A. A new bike
    • B. A new house
    • C. A new heart
    Show answer

    ✅ C. A new heart “A new heart also will I give you.” Jesus helps us change.

  8. The water from the temple got deep enough to…
    • A. Swim in
    • B. Just wet your toes
    • C. Fill one cup
    Show answer

    ✅ A. Swim in Ankles, knees, waist, then a river too deep to walk across (Ezekiel 47:5)!

▶ Play Scripture ShowdownTeams take turns on one screen.

Songs

  • Did Jesus Really Live Again? Children’s Songbook, p. 64

    Sing it right after the Dry Bones story. Yes, He did! Find it ↗

  • Families Can Be Together Forever Children’s Songbook, p. 188

    Ezekiel’s river flows from the temple, where families are sealed forever. Find it ↗

  • The Lord Is My Shepherd Hymns, no. 108

    Goes with Baa-Polo and Ezekiel 34: the Lord seeks every sheep. Find it ↗

This week’s challenge

Two Witnesses

With your family, read how the risen Jesus showed His hands and feet. First read Luke 24:36–40 in the Bible. Then read 3 Nephi 11:13–15 in the Book of Mormon. Two books, one Savior! Tell your family which part you liked best.

Text the parents

Today in Primary we learned about Ezekiel’s vision of a valley of dry bones that came back to life. It’s a promise of the Resurrection because of Jesus. We used an empty glove to see how our spirit and body will come back together forever. We also learned the Lord’s promise in Ezekiel 36:26 to give us a new heart. Ask your child what the Lord promised to give us. Then try this week’s challenge together.

📝 After class

What worked? Who needs a check-in this week? Jot it here on a printed copy, or in the app’s private class notes.

Got extra time?

🌊 The Healing River · 5 min

  1. Set a clear cup in a dishpan. Fill it with water and 2 or 3 drops of food coloring. That’s the salty, lifeless sea.
  2. Read Ezekiel 47:9: “every thing shall live whither the river cometh.” Try this at home first.
  3. Slowly pour clean water into the cup so it overflows into the dishpan. Watch the color fade as fresh water flows in.
  4. Say, “The more temple blessings flow into our lives, the more Jesus can heal us and our families.”

🔖 Two-Stick Bookmarks · 5 min

  1. Give each child two craft sticks. They write “Bible” on one and “Book of Mormon” on the other.
  2. On each stick, they draw a favorite story about Jesus from that book.
  3. Stack them and wrap a rubber band around both, “one in thine hand.” Use it as a bookmark for the challenge.

🦴 Bone-to-Bone Freeze Dance · 3 min

  1. Tap Freeze Dance. Everyone dances like a floppy, goofy skeleton.
  2. When the music stops, call out a bone. Everyone freezes touching it. Knee bone! Elbow bone! Skull!
  3. Last round, call out “Breath!” Everyone takes a giant breath and stands tall like Ezekiel’s great army.

📖 Two Sticks, One Hand · 5 min

  1. Write “For Judah” on one stick for the Bible. Write “For Joseph” on another for the Book of Mormon. Read Ezekiel 37:16–17.
  2. Say, “Judah’s family kept the Bible. Joseph’s family, including Lehi, kept the Book of Mormon. The Lord made them one.”
  3. Read Luke 24:39 and 3 Nephi 11:14–15. In both, the risen Jesus invites people to feel His hands and feet.
  4. Wrap a rubber band around the sticks and hand them to a child. “One in thine hand!” Two witnesses, one Savior.

🎺 Watchman Says · 3 min

  1. Say, “The Lord called Ezekiel a watchman. A watchman stood on the city wall. He blew a trumpet to warn of danger.”
  2. Play Simon Says, but kids move only after the trumpet. Tap it on the Sound Board, or shout “Toot-toot!”
  3. Sometimes give a command without the trumpet. Anyone who moves does three jumping jacks and jumps right back in.
  4. Say, “Prophets are watchmen today. They see danger before we do. They warn us so we can stay safe.”

Sources

Scripture quotations are from the King James Version, the Bible used by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Tap or click a reference to open it in Gospel Library. Start with the official Come, Follow Me manual; these ideas are here to help it come alive.

All Valiant 7–8 lessons