You’ve done backwards theme night, crazy hat night, silly sock night and double point night for your kidmin… now what?
Here are 23 and a half themes for theme night to get those creative brain cells going.
1. Glowstick Theme Night – Play games with glow sticks (in the dark, of course, though do have some light for safety.) Kids stand on a predetermined line and toss their glow sticks into a bucket (line the top with glow sticks). Or, you could play glow-stick “pick-up-sticks” or glow stick ring toss. Large Group lesson could be on letting your light shine for Christ. Matthew 5:16
2. Riddles and Giggles Night – Everyone brings a joke to share. Large Group Lesson – a merry heart does us good. Proverbs 17:22
3. Pirate Theme Night – Kids dress as pirates. Play games with gold-covered chocolate coins or have a scavenger hunt. Large Group Lesson – The Bible doesn’t talk about pirates, but we do have an account of Paul’s shipwreck. We also have other verses that talk about treasure. Acts 27/28 or Proverbs 2:3-5
4. Dots and Stripes Night – Kids dress in polka dots or stripes. For every section said, kids get to “dot” their leader with a dot sticker. Large Group Lesson – Joseph and his coat of many colors. Explain that the big deal about the coat was it’s embroidery and the fact that it was longer—not short such as a shepherd’s coat. These were the types of coats given to privileged people who didn’t have to work. (Shorter shepherd’s coats allowed the shepherd to quickly climb over rocks and jump over streams.) No wonder Joseph’s brothers were jealous. Genesis 37
5. Goofy Glasses Night – Kids wear goofy glasses. Give prizes for the goofiest. Large Group Lesson – Hebrews 12:2 Here we’re told to look to Jesus.
6. Dress Like Your Dad or Mom Night – Kids dress like a parent. Large Group Lesson – Ephesians 6:2 (To help kids get ideas, suggest they model a uniform if their parents wears a uniform to work, or if their parent is an Awana leader. Or they could carry a “tool” of their parents employment: a book if she’s a teacher, a stethoscope if she’s a doctor, etc.)
7. Nickel and Dime Night – Kids bring nickels and dimes for your local Awana missionary or another missionary your church supports. (Let leaders and kids know about this night several weeks beforehand so they can begin saving.) Play games with the coins: tossing them into a bucket; seeing how many a kid can balance on the end of a spoon etc. Large Group Lesson could be about missions or you could ask your Awana misstionary to speak.
8. Mr. (or Mrs.) Potato Head Night – Children dress as potatoes. Provide material scraps, sequins, etc. and then give them categories. Dress your potato as: an Awana leader, a well-known person, a dog, etc. Give prizes for the most creative. Large Group Lesson – no, there are no potatoes in the Bible, however, you could talk about the variety of food God provides for us and talk about thankfulness for all the good things we have to eat.
9. Town Night – What’s happening in your town right now? Are you having a pumpkin festival, a winter festival, a cheese festival? Is the new mall opening? Is the high school basketball team heading for the state championship? Think of ways you can incorporate that into theme nights. Perhaps you could collect food for a community food bank as part of the theme.
10. Pastor Appreciation Night – Ask the children to write a note of appreciation to the pastor, collect them and give them to your pastor during Pastor Appreciation Week. If your kids don’t know your pastor (or even if they do), invite him to speak that night.
11. Ruler Theme Night – All clubbers bring a ruler. You could start the night to see which team has the longest amount of inches (represented by their rulers). This would be especially fun if some brought yardsticks or tape measures. Give a point for each inch represented. You could have competitions where the result needs to be measured such as throwing a ball or frisbee (or if inside, a cotton ball). Large Group Lesson could be about a ruler such as Solomon or David. Or it could be about Colossians 3:15 on allowing the peace of God to rule in your heart.
12. Duct Tape Night – Children come with duct tape on their clothes (such as making a hat or bracelet from tape), or have duct tape available in various colors and design and allow the kids to be creative. Large Group Lesson – Proverbs 18:24: A true friend “sticks” closer than a brother.
13. Time Capsule Theme Night – The first night of club gather together items for a time capsule. If you plan to open the capsule at the end of the year, you could have the children write down two or three goals and simply put those in the capsule. You could also have the kids guess the results of upcoming happenings of the year: How many nights will Awana be called because of snow? How will the local sports team do in the final rankings? Will Leader Katie have a boy or a girl? How many total verses will be said during the year? (Of course, then you do need to keep track.)
Or, you could do a longer capsule, one to be opened when most of the kids are graduating from high school. Include a current event update, goals the kids have, goals you have for your children’s ministry and anything else you would like to put in the capsule.
Large Group Lesson could be about redeeming the time. Ephesians 5:16
14. Souper Bowl Night – Bring soup for a soup kitchen or food pantry. Large Group Lesson on service (many verses you can choose from).
15. Campfire Night – If you’re located in an appropriate climate and have the ability to actually have a campfire, that’s great. Otherwise make one from logs, orange, brown, red crepe/tissue paper and a couple flashlights. Sing campfire choruses. Again, if you can, have s’mores. Large Group Lesson – John 21:9 Talk about the need to follow Christ.
16. King and Queen Night – Children can dress as kings or queens. (Younger girls will especially like this.) Large Group Lesson – Esther or any other Bible event that involves kings and queens.
17. Fashion Disaster Night (good for girls) – Children come dressed as mismatched as they can. Large Group Lesson – 1 Samuel 16:7
18. Cookie Night – Bake a giant cookie (or four giant cookies – one for each team). Count how many chocolate chips you put into the cookie. Each child gets one guess as to how many chips are in the cookie. The one who comes closest gets to take the cookie home (wrapped in plastic wrap) or he/she might choose to break it into pieces and share it with his/her team. Large Group Lesson could be on sharing.
19. Any Country Night – Choose a country to celebrate. This could be one where your church has missionaries or a home country of one of your leaders. Play games from that country, fix food from that country, talk about the culture and the land. Large Group Lesson – a missionary story about that country.
20. Messy Night – Kids wear dirty clothes. This is not only fun, but gives the game director the freedom to play messy games. Large Group Lesson could either be about Jeremiah 17:9 (the deceitful heart) or Isaiah 64:6 (our righteousnessnes are as filthy rags).
21. Obedience Night – Invite a Christian dog trainer to come to club and talk about training dogs. You could play games such as Simon Says. Large Group Lesson – on the importance of obeying God or obeying parents (Ephesians 6:1)
22. Cow Theme Night – Children dress in black and white. Play “Dead cow, sick cow” during Game Time. (A quick web search will provide the rules.) Large Group Lesson – Psalm 50:10 – He owns the cattle on a thousand hills.
23. Ant Night – Invite someone to talk to the group who knows about ants (perhaps they have an ant farm). Have ants on a log for a snack (peanut butter and raisins on celery). Large Group Lesson could be Proverbs 6:6; Proverbs 30:24
And now for the half …
24. Half Night – Halfway through the year have Half Night. Award small prizes to kids who memorize Scripture verses. During game time, kids run halfway around the circle. Have snack time where each clubber receives half a cookie. Large Group Lesson – You could do this one right after King and Queen Night and once again talk about Esther and how the king offered her anything up to half his kingdom.
For more great ideas for your children’s ministry, check out all our articles here.
