Bowling used to be really popular. Remember those glossy, timber floors and rented shoes? It’s still a good game, and one you can play at home if you’ve got a hallway or foyer, or a big room with enough space to roll a ball without shifting the furniture.
We all have those products that are regularly on the shopping list, which come in round, plastic bottles that end up in the recycle bin. Maybe it’s bottled water at your place, or soft drink or fruit juice. At our place it’s milk. Start saving those bottles. You only need ten so it won’t be long before you’re playing ‘skittles’ at your house. You’ll need a soft ball, a larger one for little kids. Keep the skittles (or ten-pins) on hand in a shopping bag or basket, and always make them pack the pins away – a racing game will help with this.
Learning ball skills is an obvious outcome of bowling but just setting out those bottles involves numbers and patterns: four at the back, three in the gaps in front, two in the next gaps, and one at the front. This is an opportunity to enhance a child’s understanding of maths because the pattern always adds up to ten. Have fun. And watch out for people who walk through the front door.
how to play with kids 