{Play} Crayon Bowling
November 29, 2011 in All Posts, Play, Toddler Activities
We’ve been indoors so much lately and the cabin fever is starting to set in. While it seems like Jane would love to color until the end of time, we seem to reach that point more quickly if that’s all we’re doing. So we grabbed our crayons and turned them into bowling pins!
Materials
- Avocado seed (or other small, round object or ball)
- Crayola Jumbo Crayons (an older child could use the smaller-sized crayons)
How to Play
Have your toddler set up the crayon “pins,” and then let her knock them down with her avocado seed “ball”!
I had to demonstrate how to throw the avocado seed like a bowling ball to Jane since she wasn’t used to the throw, roll and release motion, but she quickly caught on and tried out several different techniques until she found the one she was most comfortable with.
This is a great activity to practice patience and the concept of repeated effort. Jane would get frustrated that the pins wouldn’t stay up, but would keep trying because the sense of accomplishment when she had all the crayons in place was incredible.
And though it took a while for her to hone her aiming skills, when she began to knock down strikes, you could not contain the screams of achievement!
Eventually, we had to let Sam in on the fun and set up our IQ Baby Knock-Knock Blocks as the pins and used balls from our Little Tikes TotSports T-Ball Set.
Happy Bowling!
LEARN! Fine motor skills, gross motor skills, patience, concentration, repeated effort, hand-eye coordination
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Chrissy – who has written 426 posts on The Outlaw Mom® Blog - Creative Living in a Conventional World.
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You’re so resourceful! And I’m impressed with the action-shot photos. Hooray, now I have a good reason to find a new home for the full-scale bowling set that takes up an entire shelf of our linen closet!
That is a crazy cute idea- tweeted!
Thanks for stopping by and tweeting it, Aimee
LOVE this! Pinning to my rainy day board on pinterest! =)
Oh cool! It’s superfun and keeps them interested forever.
Cute idea! Shared it!
What a simple yet GENIUS idea! Seriously. I love it! I can see how any child would absolutely adore this activity. And I can just imagine the sense of accomplishment. Great idea
Aww, thanks, Joyce
In the beginning I had to keep encouraging my daughter to keep trying and showed here that even I couldn’t balance the crayons all the time (which wasn’t hard for me to demonstrate!) After a while she got so into it, she wouldn’t stop playing. I think it’s the challenge of first balancing and setting them up and then being able to knock them down!
Cute idea!!! Although, I couldn’t take my eyes off how your kid was sitting with her ligaments all torqued back unnaturally. hahaha! My son does it ALLLLLLLLL THE TIME!!!!!!!! When we go to Mommy & Me, the physical therapist who leads nearly flails me for letting him do it. It’s a tough habit to break.
She even gave me a goofy cushion that forces kids to work on core strength- My 2 year old boy is supposed to sit still long enough to use it. RIIIIIIIIIIGGGGGGHHHHHHTTTTTTT.
Anyway- Really cute post! Fix those legs! Haha!
Wait, which one, my daughter? I’ve asked our doctor to look at her gait already - funny you mention that. I just thought it was the way kids sit. It’s not? Oops.
It’s the worst way a kid can sit! Not trying to be preachy- I used to do it as a kid and my kids do it all the time. But, our gymnastics and physical therapy coaches chide me whenever they see it…. I don’t know if it would affect gait, though…..