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Are you looking for a unique and engaging one-and-done event to reach the children in your community? This Rubber Duck Carnival is a perfect children and family outreach for small churches. Keep reading for tips to plan, promote, and set up booths at your carnival.
A Rubber Duck Carnival is an event full of laughter and fun based around a silly little toy, yep, the Rubber Duck! This event is a wonderful opportunity to encourage all ages to be involved, whether by running a game, being a greeter, making party bags, instructing or preparing the craft, and so many other opportunities to be part of the team.
We Put Together A Plan
- Easy to follow
- Includes multiple ages
- Gives the basics, including carnival booth ideas
- Lists materials needed
- Allows room to add your own creativity
Plan Your Rubber Duck Event
- Review the games for the day.
- Order a LOT of Rubber Ducks. Consider this an investment you can use again as you make this an annual event.
- Gather or order a variety of prizes to have at each game booth. Save the budget by asking folks in your church to donate certain prizes. Post a list in the bulletin or email to ask for help. Give them specifics as to what to bring and how many. For example, ask for 100 lollipops, four dozen decorative pencils, three bags of party favor toys, two large bags of candy pieces, etc.
- Schedule Volunteers for setup, cleanup, game tenders, etc.
- Decide on refreshments
- Enlist help for promotion
- Write out the setup schedule and location of games
Event Promotion
Create a flyer with your rubber duck logo/clipart front and center. List all the important information in clear, bold letters: date, time, location of the church, contact info, and age range if you are specifying.
Consider finding someone in your church who is good at doing graphics or publishing apps and ask them to be on the team. What about asking a digitally talented teen? Asking talented teenagers is a great way to assure them they are a valued part of your small church family.
Encourage everyone in your church, kids too, to take flyers to friends, family, classmates, co-workers, neighbors, etc. A personal invitation means so much to people! Why Personal Invitations Work Better than Bulletins gives excellent ideas.
Posting on social media is a great way to get the word out, and it’s free! Make sure to post on local community pages or special events pages. If you can, put a banner or sign in your churchyard. Use bold letters and colors, then attach some yellow and orange balloons to it to attract attention.
Duck Decorations Can Increase Event Excitement
Get creative and go for it! It doesn’t have to be expensive. Find materials from your arts and crafts supply closet and invite people to a Rubber Ducky Decoration-making party!!
- Cut yellow/orange duck webbed feet from construction paper and tape them to the floor leading up to your welcome table. Duck footprints are a fun way to lead children into your party.
- Use blue and yellow streamers and rubber ducky balloons for a festive look. Then, use those same colors for your tablecloths and party ware for refreshments.
- Make bright-colored signs for all your game stations, whether handmade or on the computer.
- Order one or more Fun Duck Hats for your volunteers to wear.
Plan To Welcome Guests Upon Arrival
One of the best ways to show your guests your small church cares about them is by making them feel special the moment they arrive. Greetings at the door are so important. Welcoming everyone with a warm hello, directing them on where to go, and letting guests know what’s happening next helps remove any anxiety.
Looking for a step-by-step to starting or restarting your children’s ministry?
Check out the Children’s Ministry Bundle For Small Churches!
Duck Name Tags Are A Hit!
Name tags are a simple way to create instant connections with everyone at the event. Encourage everyone, parents, children, and volunteers to wear a name tag. Remember, calling someone by name allows them to know they are seen!
Name tags don’t have to be expensive. Use sticky name tags and decorate them with rubber duck stickers.
How To Make A Quack Sack
As guests arrive, give them a ‘Quack-Sack. These bags are a fun way to carry prizes and other items they receive throughout the event. You can easily make the ‘Quack-Sacks.’ Use yellow gift bags, paper cutouts, and some self-stick googly eyes. Putting these together is a great activity your teens or older elementary students could do. See the picture below.
Small Church Carnivals Are Intergenerational Events
Enlist help from your church family for manning game booths, handing out prizes, providing refreshments, and engaging with your guests.
We want volunteers to be happy to be part of our team. There are many strategies to help give volunteers success and confidence, increasing the possibility they want to be part of your events time after time.
One way to set up volunteers for success is by being specific with your Volunteer Job Descriptions. Let them know what they will be doing, when, how long they need to be there. If they need any training, be sure to give good instruction.
Intergenerational participation is encouraged!! Get your senior adults involved. Ask your parents and teens to be involved too. This is small church ministry at its finest, and your community notices your church family working side by side!
Great Guest Experience At Your Carnival
Of course, your greeters welcome everyone with a warm hello, direct them on where to go, and let guests know what’s happening next.
Place your nametag and Quack Sack tables near the entrance to generate excitement and provide another great experience meeting your team.
Ask everyone to follow the path of duck feet and gather in a central area. This is the time to get everyone excited and ready to get ‘quack-ing.’ Explain the schedule, how the rotation of games flows, and your rules for the day.
Start with one of your team members opening in prayer, then break the children into groups to ensure they spread around to all the game booths. Children rotate from game to game as time allows. Consider the time schedule and availability of prizes to decide beforehand if kids can play games more than once.
Use a kazoo or a duck call to have a fun way to get everyone’s attention and call them back to your gathering area!
Five Rubber Duck-Themed Game Booths
Guests travel from game to game. Some games require them to compete against another player, while others are individually played. At the end of the party, there is a group game.
1. Snag A Duck
Set-Up: Kiddie pool of rubber ducks with small cup hooks screwed into the tops of their heads. Make “fishing” poles from 15-20 inch dowel rods with a 12-inch ribbon attached at the rod’s tip. Equip your ribbon with a hook made from a paper clip tied to the end.
Goal: To get your pole’s hook to attach to the cup hook on the head of the duck in the time allotted.
Snag a Duck-win a prize!
2. Lucky Duck Match
Print a sign that reads:
“Rub-a-dub-dub, match a ducky in the tub!”
Set-Up: Mark the bottom sides of the rubber ducks with a permanent marker. Use the numbers 1, 2, or 3.
Place several of the rubber ducks in a washtub-type container filled with water. Make the setting fun by decorating around the washtub with silk plants, flowers, or some stones.
Your game booth attendant holds a basket filled with the ducks you have on reserve.
Instructions: A child reaches into the basket, chooses a duck, sees the number, and then reaches into the tub and grabs another duck. If the numbers on the bottom of the ducks match, you win! Allow three tries to match your duck.
3. Rubber Duck Races
Set-Up: Start with a long plastic tub (like the kind you store wrapping paper)) filled with water. For an alternative idea, use rain gutters or PVC piping cut in half, and sealed on the ends.
Instructions: Children pair up to compete against each other in this race. Give each child a straw to propel their duck across the water.
Ducks are placed side by side at the start line. The play starts when the game tender blows his ‘quacker.’ Next, kids blow through their straws to see who can be the first to get their duck to the opposite end/finish line.
The winner receives a prize, PLUS all the children keep their ducks!
4. Chuck Your Duck
This is a fun one, but you need to have plenty of room! Spread a blue plastic tablecloth on the ground or floor; this is your ‘pond.’
Children compete, two at a time. Each tosses their ducks in a specified manner. You discover how to toss by rolling a large die.
A prize for each chucker in this game!
- If you roll a 1 or 6, turn backward and toss your duck over your shoulder.
- If you roll a 2 or 5, turn backward and ‘hike’ your duck from between your legs.
- If you roll a 3 or 4, do a ‘backhand’ flick throw (underhand with palm facing down)
*For a simpler version, the winner could be the one who throws their duck the farthest.
5. Roll Down Your Ducky
Set-Up: You need two stacks of blocks, approximately 2 inches x 2 inches. (You could use pieces of scrap wood if you want.) Set up ten blocks in each stack.
Place a rubber duck on top of each stack.
The child plays against the Game Booth attendant in this game. The idea is to see who can get their duck off the stack first.
Players can play at the same time or alternately.
To move the duck, roll a large foam die. Remove the same number of blocks from your stack that you roll on the die. (If you roll a two, you remove two blocks.)
The first one to remove all their blocks is the winner!
Offer Guests “Duck Food” At Your Carnival
Have fun with some of your treats. Create tags to put by the foods. Try using some fun duck cutouts.
- Quackers & Cheese
- Peanut ‘Ducker’ & Jelly Sandwiches cut out with a Duck Cookie Cutter.
- Goldfish crackers with a sign: Duck Food
- Duck Butt cupcakes. Use yellow frosting. Cut a marshmallow in half to form a tail, cover it with frosting, and use two orange slice candies to cut out flippers.
- Blue-colored punch with floating rubber ducks (sanitized.)
Send Them Home With A Smile
Party Favors
The ‘Quack’ Sacks with their carnival prizes actually double as party favors, but of course, you want to make sure everyone gets a rubber duck to take home!
For added fun, give everyone one of these rubber duck keychains!
Duck, Duck, Goose For The Final Game
After refreshments, gather everyone together for one last game. Indicate where they can place their ‘Quack-Sacks’ (write names on them.)
Get everyone in a big circle. Announce you’ll play one final game for the day: Duck Duck, Goose, of course!
After a few rounds of Duck, Duck, Goose, thank everyone for coming and invite them to your church and any current or upcoming children’s ministry services or events. Set up a small area for church literature for those who ask.
Close out the event with prayer. Dismiss everyone, and remind them to take their prize bags. Post your exit greeters at the door to bid everyone farewell.
Small Church Community Events Can Help You
- Reach into your community to show God’s love
- Build and establish relationships with those families
- Encourage team building in your small church family
- Show your community your small church knows how to have fun!
Looking for a step-by-step to starting or restarting your children’s ministry?
Check out the Children’s Ministry Bundle For Small Churches!
Carnivals Are Top Of The Funnel Events
The Rubber Duck Carnival is a top event of the Ministry Funnel, meaning it’s here to introduce your community to your church. It’s a fun connection time that allows your small church family to show God’s love to your community.
This is a great first step in building relationships with other events or ministries where these same families can return and spend more time with your church family in comfortable settings. So don’t be discouraged if no one comes to your church next Sunday. It’s a process as we build those connections. Remember, God has just begun working through this event for some of your guests!
Read More:
One Year Of Monthly Saturday Children’s Ministry Events
