Bottle bowling

Materials You Need: Plastic bottles, chalk, soft ball. 

What You Can Do Together: here are some steps to follow to engage in activity:  

1. Dot the plastic bottles randomly around the play area, about five metres apart from each other. 
2. Use chalk to draw a large circle around every bottle. 
3. Pick someone to be the first ‘bottle kicker’. The other players become defenders – they should all choose a circle. The defenders must keep one foot inside their circle and use the other foot to keep the ball away when the bottle kicker strikes. 
4. The bottle kicker stands approximately two to three metres away from the circles and drops the ball on the ground. They then kick the ball at a bottle, aiming to knock it over. If they succeed, the kicker and the defender for that circle swap places. 

To play this game you’ll need a hard playground surface or a patch of tarmac in a park. 

What Your Child is Learning: This quirky game is a blend of bowling and football which keeps kids on their toes! Children will delight in setting up the course together, discussing where to position the bottles and drawing around them with chalk, before batting a ball back and forth. All the play is perfect practice for their key development skills, from cognitive to social to motor, and helps kids to gain confidence as they transition into team sports.