Fun at home! DIY bowling ideas
Bowling is a ball game loved by people of all ages.
However, it’s not always easy for young children or older adults to make their way to a bowling alley and enjoy it.
In particular, many seniors—who lived through the bowling boom—may be thinking they’d like to try it again.
This article introduces handmade bowling ideas that you can enjoy at home or in care facilities without going to a bowling alley.
Many of these ideas are fun both to make as a craft and to play with, so please enjoy the making process as well.
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Enjoy at home! DIY bowling ideas (1–10)
Try turning the pin into a character
Design the pins you knock down in bowling as characters and give it a try.
Anything can be used as a pin—plastic bottles, paper cups, you name it! Once you’ve found what to use as pins, just decorate them with your favorite character designs and you’re done.
It can also be fun to purposely choose a villain or bad-guy character and play the hero by knocking them down in bowling! For the ball, prepare something that matches the size and weight of your pins, like a balled-up newspaper or a lightweight plastic ball, and start playing!
Milk Carton Bowling
Let’s make bowling pins using milk cartons! It doesn’t have to be milk—any type of drink carton is fine.
Once the carton is empty, rinse the inside and reassemble it back into its original shape.
Before sealing the top, add a marble or a small amount of water as a weight.
Then decorate it however you like with construction paper, origami paper, or stickers, and you’re done! For the ball, crumpled newspaper or flyers, or a plastic play ball, are great options.
Bowling with bottles of lactic acid bacteria drinks
Here’s a small and cute bowling game you can make using lactic acid drink bottles.
Since the bottles themselves are small, you can even play on a tabletop! After rinsing out the contents, decorate the bottles however you like.
For the ball, try using a wad of newspaper or other paper rolled into a ball, or make a DIY ball by combining strips cut from a paper carton.
It only takes a light touch to play, so it’s enjoyable not only for children but also for older adults.
Gather some lactic acid drink bottles and give it a try!
Have Fun at Home! DIY Bowling Ideas (11–20)
Paper Cup Bowling
How about an easy-to-make bowling game using paper cups? You could simply place the cups upside down, but they don’t knock over easily that way, so let’s make pins by connecting two paper cups at their rims.
It’s a good idea to put a few marbles or small stones inside as weights.
Then decorate them however you like—draw pictures, add stickers, or glue on origami paper! For the ball, crumple up newspaper or flyers into a ball and wrap it with tape or origami paper to finish.
Bowling Made with Copy Paper
No special materials needed! Here’s a handmade bowling idea you can make with plain copy paper.
Fold an A4 sheet into quarters, cut it, then fold the pieces like origami to create bowling pins.
Since you need 10 pins in total, you’ll need the equivalent of three A4 sheets.
Once the pins are folded, add color with markers to give them a real bowling vibe! Next, use the quartered pieces of copy paper to make stands to support the pins.
For the ball, cut a strip of copy paper lengthwise, fold it into a thinner strip, and combine several strips like making a paper ball (mari) to finish.
Give this mini bowling game a try—you can even enjoy it solo!
Empty Can Bowling
How about making bowling pins out of empty cans? The clattering sound when they fall is fun, too.
It’s best to use cans that are as close in size as possible.
Decorate the cans by wrapping them with origami or construction paper, then draw pictures or add stickers on top.
You can leave the opening as is, but if you want more weight, put something heavy inside, like marbles, and close the opening.
Without weights, the pins will fall over easily, so try knocking them down with a ball made by crumpling newspaper or by rolling a towel into a ball.
Bowling lane of blocks
If you want to go beyond just pins and balls and actually build a proper lane for bowling, why not try making a bowling lane with blocks? We recommend using LEGO bricks, a popular toy among children.
Combine different types of LEGO pieces to create a bowling lane in any shape you like.
With a bit of ingenuity, you can even build a high-tech bowling alley—like a mechanism that resets fallen pins to their original position, or one that returns the ball to your hands after you throw it! If you enjoy playing with blocks or are skilled at it, give it a try.