Help! It's Sukkot and I'm In Charge of the Kids!! 5 Tips to Get You Started

Sukkot is one of my favorite times of the year.  Our community does a family camp and it's a great time of fellowship.  Nothing brings a community together like no make-up, sweatshirts everyday and lack of showers.  But when we get together, we are swimming in children.  There are about 50 children that we adults have to keep an eye on throughout the day.  Mostly, they are playing games, boating or hiking.  But it is nice to have a time for all to come together in the afternoon to do a craft  and devotional with the kids. So, if your community has either one day or several days together during Sukkot, these tips will help keep you organized.

1. Color-Code the kids. This will help keep the kids together as color groups and minimize the group sizes(10 kids per group). I like to mix ages, so if there are older kids in the group, they can assist the younger. Use either colored name tag lanyards or colored rubber bracelets. Have them return them in a coordinating colored basket at the end of your time.

2. Rotate to different stations in one day(5+ hr, 5 stations) or 1 hour and 15 min. per day for 5 days. Each station lasting an hour. Give each station a fun Sukkot name. Ex. Snack time= Manna Station.

3.Have a schedule:     Sing Songs
                                   Devotional Talk and memory verse
                                   Craft 
                                   Snack and activity
                                   Game.
If you do each thing for 15 minutes and then rotate to the next station, you will have done about 1 hour and 15 minutes. Add more stations if you'd like!

4. Ideas, Ideas and more Ideas!!  There really is a wealth of knowledge out there to help you plan.  Making a sukkot out of a refrigerator box.  We did this when my kids were little. Make edible sukkah's.  Graham cracker walls and pretzel rooftop..yummy!!  For your devotional, talk about the Israelites traveling through the dessert and having to pack up their temporary dwellings and move. Have the kids pick up their selves, tables, chairs and "travel" .  Be creative and just be organized. The kids will have a ton of fun.

5. Get volunteers.  Don't do this all yourself.  Look for like minded people who want to invest in the children and genuinely want to help them grow in Yeshua. You will need 5 adults, one per station.  Depending on the number of kids, 2 adults per group and some teens are great!

Happy Sukkot!!