Since this month's theme is Prophets Prophesy of Things to Come I chose 7 prophets and got a picture of each: Samuel the Lamanite, Noah, Moses, Malachi (I couldn't find a picture of him so I just used a generic shepherd), Daniel, Joseph in Egypt, and Abinadi.)

Then I thought about each prophet and the things they prophesied.
I used, let a huge rubbermaid container with some mulch since the dirt in my yard is too rocky. If there we thing I didn't want to get dirt (like the small colorful sweater for Joseph's coat
of many colors) then I put it in a ziplock baggie.

As the last song was being sung for singing time I went out of the room, put on a hat (I wanted a Indiana Jones hat but couldn't find one, so I just used a cowboy hat) and a leather jacket like Indiana Jones. I picked up the container with all the clues and walked in the primary room and went to the front. All the kids went quiet and then started giggling seeing me all dressed up funny.

I told them my name was Sister Archeology and that I needed their help.
I asked them if they knew what Archeology? (jr primary didn't know)
I asked them if they knew what archeologists do?
Do you  know what a artifact is.
After they knew what everything was I told them that I had some artifacts that got all mixed up in the dirt and I needed them to help me.
I put up the 7 pictures of the different prophets on the board.
I told them who each person was and wrote their name under their picture.
Then I pulled out a table and put the container on it. I told them that they get to dig in the dirt to help me find an artifact and help me figure out what prophet it belongs to. I told them I would go first and I pulled out a really small basket. I had a brush that archeologists use (well, not a "real authentic" one, but it worked) and brushed off the basket.

I asked them, "Which prophet was put in a basket and set in the water?" They said Moses and it went under Moses' picture.

Then I chose reverant kids to help me. One at a time they came up and got to wear the hat (none wanted big jacket on) and dig in the dirt.
The kids were so reverant as they watched everything. They couldn't wait to see what came out of the dirt.
We didn't get to pull everything out because of lack of time so about 3-5 minutes before ST was over I told them that we had to stop and they were really bummed.
I told them about each prophet's prophesies and the kids listened very intently.
They all LOVED how fun it was to dig in the dirt.
 

Abinadi:
1. Piece of rope tied in knot = He was bound before King Noah because he telling them to repent
2. Bundle of matches = fire, he was burned by fire (and prophesied that what happened to him would happen to King Noah)
3. Burger King crown = King Noah's crown, since that is who Abinadi was preaching to

Samuel the Lamanite:
1. A black sun (cut out of construction paper) = the prophesy of it being dark at Christ's death
2. An Indian figuring shooting a bow and arrow = the people trying to shoot Samuel off the wall with arrows
3. A small nativity set (in a ziploc baggie -- you can use a star cut out or something) = the prophesy of Christ's birth

Malachi:
1. A small oven magnet (found at a Corning Revere store) = prophesy of the world burning "as an oven" at the 2nd coming (see Malachi in the bible for more details)
2. Fake money (I had a fake 50 dollar bill) = he preached about paying tithing
3. Construction paper heart with a picture of my family on it = Genealogy...hearts of the fathers turning to the children and the hearts of the children to their fathers

Noah:
1. small container with two of many different kinds of animals = two of each animals into the ark
2. a small toy boat = the ark he built
3. a small container of water = the flood and the prophesy of the flood. He tried to tell everyone about the rain and the flood but no one listened.

Moses:
1. Small stuffed frog (in a baggie) = frogs...one of the plagues when he was trying to convince Pharoah to release his people
2. plastic fly (kind of big) = flies...one of the plagues when he was trying to convince Phahoah to release his people
3. toy snake = has two meanings (a) when the staff turned into a snake when talking to Pharaoh to show God's power (b) when the Israelites were being bitten by the fiery serpents and Moses was told to make a brazen serpent, put it on a pole and have the people look at it to be healed. Many of them didn't look and died. Others looked and were healed. The brazen serpent was symbolic of Christ.

Daniel:
1. a toy lion = the lion's den (you all know that story)
2. stone = the prophesy of the stone cut out of the mountain (if you use pictures, try to get the one with his talking to the king about the king's dream and Daniel is interpreting it for him, it shows the statue and the stone cut out of the mountain without hands...etc, you know the story. The back of the picture is full of great info!) see Daniel 2 for more info
3. piece of construction paper with the word "PRAYER" written on it (I couldn't find anything cute to go along with this one) = the reason why Daniel was thrown in the Lion's Den (see Daniel 6)
---You could be creative and go with Daniel interpreting King Nebuchadnezzar's dream about the great tree and the king's fall and madness. See Daniel 4---

Joseph in Egypt:
1. Very colorful kid's sweater = coat of many colors
2. A sign that said "SOLD" = he was sold into Eygpt by his brothers
3. 2 toy cows, one that looked healthy with black spots and one that had sickly organic spots (I found them this way) = the dream of Pharaoh that Joseph interprets: the 7 fat and healthy cows and the 7 skinny and sickly cows. Which were the 7 years of plenty and the 7 years of famine (to make the kids understand how important it was that Joseph interpreted this dream and prophesied of the upcoming famine, I asked the kids if they have ever been hungry. They all raised their hands. Then I asked them how long they think they could go without eating or drinking. I then told them to imagine 7 years of that! And that had Joseph hadn't interpreted the dream and told the king to save during the times of plenty they would have died during the famine. Explaining that a famine means a drought too, so no food could grow)