Soft Ball Bowling for Toddlers

6-10 empty plastic bottles or lightweight cups

A soft ball — foam, tennis, or rubber

Painter's tape for marking the throw line

Collect your "pins" — empty water bottles, stacking cups, or even toilet paper rolls stacked up. Anything lightweight that falls over easily.

Set them up in a triangle formation: 4 in the back row, 3 in front of those, 2 in front, and 1 at the front. Or just cluster them together for younger toddlers.

Mark a line on the floor with painter's tape about 5 feet from the pins. This is your toddler's bowling line.

Hand your toddler the ball and show them how to roll it along the floor toward the pins. Get down low and demonstrate the underhand roll.

Let your toddler roll the ball. It might go sideways, backwards, or straight up in the air — all totally normal.

When any pins fall, celebrate! Count them together: "You knocked down one, two, three pins!"

Let your toddler help reset the pins. Walking over, picking them up, and standing them back up is great fine motor practice and teaches cleanup.

Try using heavier or lighter balls, rolling from farther away, or adding more pins as the game progresses.

Fill the bottles with a small amount of water or rice to make them harder to knock down. This adds a satisfying challenge as your toddler's aim improves.

A hallway is the best bowling alley because the walls act as bumpers, keeping the ball on track.

Most toddlers will throw the ball rather than roll it at first. Gently redirect them to rolling, but don't stress about it. Throwing at the pins still works.

Count every pin out loud together. This is natural math practice — counting, comparing ("You got more this time!"), and understanding quantity.

Decorate the bottles with stickers or tape to make them more interesting as targets.