Post by Nicki of Little Island Studios

It’s mid-summer, my children’s activities have slowed down, and I thought I over-heard the word “bored” last week. So, I think it’s time to pull out our classic summer lawn games and get out our Inflata-Bowl bowling pins!

Here are some ways we played with the pins by using our imagination and thinking outside of the box.

Lawn Bowling Soccer Goals:

• Place two large bowling pins on one end of the lawn and two on the other end. You don’t want them so far apart where the kids get discouraged, but enough to tire them out!
• Put the ball in the middle and have one side, usually the youngest, kick off.
• Have the kids try to kick the ball into opposing goals.
• Play up to five points/goals and mix up players for the next game to make things fun and fair.

Lawn Bowling In and Out:

• Place all of your pins in a line approximately three feet apart.
• Have the kids line up at one end and start kicking the ball in-and-out through the pins, around the last pin, and back again. For an easier approach – have them run the ball in-and-out until  they reach the end of the pins.

The laughing, pins toppling over, and kids getting mixed-up on whether they were in or out, will be enough to make them want to play this game over and over!

Classic Lawn Bowling:

• Place the pins in a triangle and have the kids throw the ball to roll over the pins and for a fun twist – kick the ball into the pins!

Lawn Bowling Tag A Pin – One of our Favorites from my teen! (this is fun for all ages):

We made colored bracelets for each child using construction paper. We cut the paper into strips and colored them to match each pin’s color – orange, blue, yellow, pink, green, purple – then provided each child a colored bracelet to coordinate with a pin that will be considered their “home base.”

• Place the pins all around your yard or desired play area.
• Choose a child to be “it”.
• The child who is “it” is in charge of tagging someone else.
• Children can avoid being “it” next if they reach their home base (same color as their bracelet).
• Once a child is tagged outside of their home base, they are “it.”

Happy summer and happy summer lawn games!

Nicki Bradley is the mom behind Little Island Studios, a blog dedicated to family travel, fun, healthy living, eating, yoga, and playroom designing – everything MOM.