How to Build a Bowling Alley in Your Classroom

Building a bowling alley is easier than you think!

In order to teach my Bowling thematic unit each year I build a two-lane bowling alley in my classroom. I have a large classroom, but if I had a smaller one I would simply build a one-lane alley. Here are some tips for constructing a classroom bowling alley.

Things You'll Need

• Soft boundaries
• Bowling pins and ball (plastic)
• PBC piping

Instructions

1. 

   Find a soft border for your alley. You should assume that the kids are either going to trip over or land on these borders, so do not use wood or anything very hard. I use borders that are made for Roller Hockey, so they are made for landing on. If I did not have these I would probably use thick PBC piping for the borders.

2. 

   Set your alleys up next to one another with the ball return running down the middle.

3. 

   Set the top of the ball return on a chair to create the elevation needed.

4. 

   Create a stopping mechanism at the end of the ball return. I use wood blocks.

5. 

   Place little pieces of tape on the ground so that the kids know where to place the pins each time they reset them.

6. 

   Set up a scoreboard for the kids to keep their own score. This is where they learn their math facts. I use magnetic numbers which are so much faster than having them erase and write their scores on a board.

7. 

   Label each lane so that the kids know which score to change.

8. 

   Let them bowl. They will love this unit!

Tips & Warnings

• See my article "How to Study Bowling in Your Classroom" for more information on teaching the unit.

Resources

• Rock and Roll Kindergarten