We’ve been on a color kick lately. And since I cleaned out the refrigerator in the garage today and found a collection of plastic bottles in need of recycling, I felt inspired to transform them into a set of colorful, rainbow bowling pins.
I thought it would be a free, fun, new to us learning through play activity, where I could casually narrate our play and name the colors as we made them and knocked them down, etc.
But things don’t always go as we plan. Graham very much enjoyed the process of making them and the magic of color theory basics. He enjoyed setting them up, however when I showed him how to roll the first ball and knock the pins over. He ran to the pins distraught and cried, “Oh no!” He displayed zero interest in knocking the pins over and was really quite frustrated by the whole ordeal.
But what he did love was pretending to pour us drinks from them, carrying them around the yard, lining them up, looking through them.
And so, our experience with these simple bottles has served as proof of their versatility. We made these when Graham was about 18 months old and I expected to just use them for a few weeks and recycle them. That’s the beauty of recycled play toys. But now that he’s past two, we’re still pulling them out now and again. (Still not with any interest for bowling, mind you.)
MATERIALS
- 10 Empty Plastic Bottles
- Water
- Food Coloring
- Ball (We were using a soccer ball, because Graham was pretty little. But you could certainly increase the difficulty level with a smaller ball. It would likely just need some weight to it in order to knock over the bottles filled with water.)
INSTRUCTIONS
- Empty all contents from plastic bottle and refill with tap water.
- Add drops of food coloring to create desired shades.
- Shake and play!
ACTIVITIES
- Bowling— If your child is not disappointed by knocking the pins down, the traditional bowling route will be a fun option for you.
- Ring Toss— “Rings” can be fashioned out of paper plates with the center cut out or rope tied into circles or a handful of bracelets and then tossed onto the bottles.
- Scavenger Hunt Version 1— Hide the bottles around the house or the yard and have the child find them.
- Scavenger Hunt Version 2— Have the child find something indoors or outdoors to match each of the colored bottles.
