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You can use household items such as milk and juice cartons to make skittles for a homemade bowling alley.
This is a great game to play with your little one both indoors and outdoors.
Watch the video below to discover how you can make your very own homemade skittles!
What are the benefits of playing skittles with your toddler?
- This game is a fun and easy game you can play as a family.
- Playing homemade skittles is a great way to encourage taking turns and it helps your little one to practise making choices.
- Counting how many skittles are left standing boosts number vocabulary.
- Using a ball or a pair of rolled-up socks to throw at the skittles is a great way to build coordination and gross motor skills.
- It's a great opportunity to explain that things might not always go right at first and to keep trying.
How to make homemade bowling pins
You will need:
- Empty bottles, milk cartons, or toilet roll tubes
- A small ball or some rolled up socks
Use any empty plastic bottles that you've got around the house. Make sure they are clean and dry and remember to recycle them afterwards!
Set them up in a triangular formation, like a bowling alley. Then you're ready to play.
If you're feeling creative, you could tape card or paper around your bottles. You and your child could draw faces or numbers on them and decorate them with pens. Pretty much anything you can find around the house can be used for decoration.
As you play, encourage your toddler to count how many remaining skittles there are after each go. Can they hit them all?
Build their anticipation by putting on a very expressive voice and saying 虫27;搁别补诲测鈥迟别补诲测鈥辞!虫27;.
This game is a great opportunity to introduce words, like 'more', 'less', 'faster', 'slower', 'hard' and 'soft'.
Praise every attempt that your child makes and have lots of fun.
Homemade fun
You don't always need to go to the shops to buy toys. Here are a few more activities where you can create your own fun using household objects:
- Have some sensory fun with our homemade playdough recipe.
- Who needs paint when you can use teabags? It's also a great way of reusing old tea bags!
- Make your own snap cards or matching pairs game with just some paper and pencils.
- Did you know you could create your own ball run at home with some cardboard tubes and a door, fridge or wardrobe?