Swamp Themed Ideas for a Kids’ Event

No offense to the curriculum professionals but I just love dreaming up and creating crusade ideas from popular culture; however, I am a child evangelist at heart. A few months ago, I began planning our next kids’ crusade; we have several a year. I really wanted to return to an old favorite based on the movie, “The Prince of Egypt” but my group of kids and volunteers just didn’t seem excited about that. After some prayer, I decided to try something else, a swamp theme!
Television shows like Duck Dynasty and Swamp People are family favorites in my area. As a matter of fact, the family and I took a trip to Duck Commander recently to take a peek at the shop and visit the Robertson family at their duck call warehouse. I left inspired, ready to use the bayou background for an exciting event. Here’s what I’m doing.
Lessons from the swamp: Since this is a one-night crusade, I’ve got one chance to deliver a powerful message about Jesus. After I transform the facility into an eerie, green bog, I’m going to demonstrate (or the characters will) how easy it is to get lost. The swamp, like the world, can be a scary place and getting lost is easy. Sometimes we need a Savior, someone to rescue us from all the scariness. That’s Jesus! He takes the darkness away and fills our lives with light! He is the Light of the World.
Decoration ideas: The Internet is full of swamp decoration ideas but I’m “building” a shack from cardboard, decorating the stage with things you’d find in a swamp like a toilet seat lid, old boots, plastic bugs, camo netting and a dock (lovingly built by a kind husband but Oriental Trading sells them too.) I’ve got two Flounder lights with green light bulbs I’ll stash in some greenery and a soundtrack that includes zydeco music and sounds from the swamp. I’ve painted a backdrop of swamp trees on a drop cloth and will wrap brown paper around some barstools to create swamp stumps.
Snacks in the swamp: I’m serving Swamp Dogs (that’s hot dogs with relish), Swamp Juice (that’s lemon-lime soda poured over lime sherbet) and tons of pickles.
Swamp extras: I’ve hired a local reptile pet company to show some small alligators after the event. (Not a petting zoo, just a demonstration.) We’ve got alligator jump houses and tons of excited volunteers who can’t wait to dress up in camouflage. I’m advertising this as a community-wide kids’ party and I know we will reach a ton of new families with this event. I hope my swamp themed kids crusade inspires you to try something swampy this year!