First off welcome aboard.
It is hard to beat live bait and a float, especially where kids are involved. If you are after crappie I would go with minnows and a slip cork. There are a ton of White Perch in the lake and they love minnows. They tend to hug the bottom so I would try fishing deeper for them. However, a friend of mine was fishing for Stripers on Murray last Friday and got into a school of them feeding on top just like Stripers. They are first cousin to a Striper so I guess it stands to reason, but all we have caught have been under bait fish near the bottom.
Kids would have a blast if they got into the WP and you would be out of minnows in the blink of an eye.
Hope you have good luck and post a picture or two of your trip/