Make a Cardboard Tube Bowling Game with Duck Tape

The next time you think of throwing away your empty cardboard tubes, think about saving them to make this super fun cardboard tube bowling game. You can decorate the tubes however you like. Encourage your preschooler to knock the “pins” down by rolling a small ball toward the tubes. Because they are cardboard, the pins will fall over pretty easily so your preschooler is sure to succeed. This is a great game to practice hand eye coordination, learning to roll a ball and determination (you have to knock down more pins than your opponent to win).

 

To make this bowling set, you need:

• Cardboard tubes – either toilet tissue rolls or paper towel rolls that you cut in half
• Patterned Duck Tape
• Twine
• Paper

To make the bowling pins:

1. Wrap the cardboard tube with Duck Tape.
2. Wrap the center of the cardboard tube with twine to cover the cardboard gap – or cover with tape.

 

 

 

 

To make the bowling ball:

1. Scrunch up a piece of paper into a ball shape.
2. Wrap the paper with a piece of Duck tape.
3. Continue wrapping the paper with tape until you have a ball shape and are happy with how it has formed.

 

 

When I made this cardboard tube bowling set, I also added a matching game element. Each “pin” had twine wrapped around the center. The color of the twine matches where the tube should be placed with the bowling pin layout. Three pins have orange twine, 2 have green twine and 2 has both. You and your preschooler can practice matching the twine colors too.