The Secret of the Missing Scrolls – Part 5

DEAD SEA SCROLLS ~ COLOURING / PUZZLES FOR KIDS ~ FREE PRINTABLE

Continuing on our exciting mystery adventure for kids… desert caves, time travel, ancient secrets, priceless treasure and invading warriors. The year is 125 BC. I found that there was very little around for this theme in the way of colouring pages and puzzles, so I made my own. Today on our virtual adventure, we are still at Qumran with the scribes who are writing the Old Testament scrolls, ‘helping’ the junior scribe working in the library; and later, helping out when one of the older scribes gets ‘sick’. Click here to see part 1 (free sample letter); part 2 (free article); and part 3 (free article) of this fun series. You will find my first colouring page, free page borders, and ‘how-to’ in part 4. Also keep these tutorials handy as we go – DIY puzzles and Jazz up your colouring pages.

DID YOU KNOW: Fragments of every book of the Hebrew Bible (that’s our Old Testament) except the Book of Esther were found in the Qumran caves, the most famous site of the Dead Sea Scrolls.

THE SECRET OF THE MISSING SCROLLS ~ COLOURING PAGES FOR KIDS

For my next colouring page, I found a hot air balloon colouring page with 8 hot air balloon parachutes on it, each one carrying a name of a different book of the Bible from Joshua to Esther. These books are known as the ‘historical’ books of the Old Testament. It had swashbuckling pirates in them looking for treasure that were perfect for this theme. Once again, I also added tiny Dead Sea Scroll images in the corners of the page and added this text:

The year is 125 BC. You are a guest at Khirbet Qumran, on the Dead Sea. Today you are helping the junior scribe at Khirbet Qumran collect and colour all the ‘Historical’ scrolls, which is the next section of the Old Testament: Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1 & 2 Samuel, 1 & 2 Kings, 1 & 2 Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah and Esther.

THE SECRET OF THE MISSING SCROLLS ~ PUZZLES FOR KIDS ~ WORD SEARCH

Next… puzzles. First, I downloaded this free printable Old Testament – word search (from max7) listing all the Old Testament books. It is available in English, Spanish and Portuguese; just click the ‘download’ button and the other languages are hidden in there. After adding the puzzle to my colouring frame and changing the colour to make it look a little more interesting, this is what it looked like. Next, I added some tiny Dead Sea Scroll images (not shown), then a text box with these words:

The year is 125 BC. You are a guest at Khirbet Qumran, on the Dead Sea. Today you are helping the junior scribe collect all the Old Testament scrolls. See if you can help him find them all.

THE SECRET OF THE MISSING SCROLLS ~ PUZZLES FOR KIDS ~ SCROLL TRACE OVER

The next activity is a scroll trace over of a Bible verse from Isaiah, with a little background history. Bible traceovers are good for students of all ages learning English. As I made this one up from scratch, you are welcome to download it. You can read my text below the picture.

DOWNLOAD: English | French

TEXT ~ Dead Sea Scrolls – Trace over the Bible verse

The year is 125 BC. You are a guest at the Qumran community near the Dead Sea. You have been asked to fill in for one of the scribes, who is sick today. He has been working on the Old Testament scroll of the prophet Isaiah. It is a big one. It will take 54 columns of parchment to record the 66 chapters. One day—who knows, maybe very soon—the Messiah will stand up in the synagogue to read this exact Scripture when He begins His ministry. Maybe He will even use this particular copy of the original scroll! How exciting! Make sure that you trace over these Bible verses—very carefully!

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because He has chosen me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind; to set free the oppressed and announce that the time has come when the Lord will save His people. Isaiah 61:1-2

This really did happen. The earliest copy we have of the The Great Isaiah Scroll was handwritten in 125 BC. The Lord Jesus did stand up in the synagogue to read this exact passage, sometime around 29 AD. You can read about it in Luke 4:16-21. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where this exact passage was written. Then He read it aloud, before rolling up the scroll and giving it back to the attendant. And then He sat down. Every eye was fixed on Him as He announced, “This passage of Scripture has come true today, as you heard it being read.” The Great Isaiah Scroll was one of the first scrolls to be found in the cave near the Dead Sea in 1947. It had been hidden there in a cave since about 68 AD—nearly 2000 years. Who knows? Maybe this was the very scroll that Jesus read from! [Isn’t that an incredible thought?!]

THE SECRET OF THE MISSING SCROLLS ~ PUZZLES FOR KIDS ~ FREE PRINTABLE

For this next puzzle, students just have to write down all the names of the Old Testament books in order, using the index in their Bible (if needed) as a reference. There is also a very brief overview of each book, to help familiarise our kids a little more with the Old Testament. Once again, you may like to add an image to add interest. And this was my text:

Help the junior scribe at Khirbet Qumran divide all the Old Testament scrolls into five groups: Law, History, Poetry, Major Prophets, Minor Prophets. As you are working together, he explains that the scrolls of the minor prophets are just as important as the major prophets. They just wrote less, so their scrolls were easier to copy! He also gives you a very brief rundown on each scroll.

DOWNLOAD: English | French

THE SECRET OF THE MISSING SCROLLS ~ PUZZLES FOR KIDS ~ FREE PRINTABLE

In this next puzzle, students unscramble the names of the books of the Old Testament, then fit each book into the ‘library’ (crossword grid). This idea and the actual crossword was taken from a Bible Society booklet that no longer seems to be available online. And this was my text:

Oh no! The junior scribe at Khirbet Qumran has dropped the Old Testament scrolls all over the floor! Now they are all scrambled and out of order! Help him unscramble them. Then help him file them back into the ‘library’—crossword grid—below.

DOWNLOAD: English

NEXT TIME… Help! The Roman soldiers are coming! (and more puzzles)

RELATED LINKS

The Secret of the Missing Scrolls – part 1 – p2 – p3 – p4 – p6 – p7 – p8

Bible Treasure Theme – part 1 – p2 – p3

Older Boys

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