Bowling

[1growingsprout]

DS7 and DD 5 want to go bowling.... I not in the know about bowling... give me your thoughs

[pigpokey]

If they enjoy it and want to bowl regularly,

Find out what time of day the games go up in price and go to the cheap times. Also shoe rental costs and arm and a leg so consider trying to find some bowling shoes on Ebay or wherever.

[Needle in the Hay]

Give it a try--I think you'll all have fun. I started taking my DS a couple of months before he turned 5. We go now and then. He usually takes the ball in both hands and rolls it, though sometimes he'll try to bowl the "right" way. They can put the bumpers on so your DC don't get discouraged by lots of gutter balls. There should be a rack of light balls for kids. I think they are like 6 lb balls?

Most places have electronic scoring so you don't need to know much about bowling. It will highlight the name of the player whose turn it is.

Oh and where I live the shoe rental cost is minimal. It probably varies from place to place.

[crl]

It's loud so my kiddo hates it. But a lot of kids like it.

Most bowling alleys also have arcade areas so be prepared for that (DS is little so I just don't feed machines and he gets bored and we leave the arcade area). Just so you know, they also have not so healthy food for sale (soda, pizza, fries, etc).

Try to find a place with bumpers so they aren't throwing gutter balls all the time.

Around here bowling alleys are pretty busy on weekends so you might want to try to go at an off time or be prepared to wait a bit for a lane to free up.

Wear socks 'cause you will have to switch to the bowling alley's rental shoes.

One etiquette point I always forget: you are supposed to try not to take your turn at the exact same time as the person in the lane next to you--it's considered distracting.

Have fun!
Catherine

[Sydnee]

We love it! My older two are 7 and almost 5, and we've been going bowling since my middle one was 3. We've never had any issue with the arcade area, I don't even know if they know it's there, and the food, we've never eaten there.

[CarrieMF]

Here they won't put the bumpers up if the kids are 7 or older. My middle dd went bowling for her 7th birthday. we had 1 lane with bumpers that the younger kids had & the others had 2 lanes with no bumpers. They all had fun.

They have ramps for younger kids so you can line the ball up for them.

Here it's pretty cheap to go bowling. The shoe rentals are $1. There is no arcade.

It is all 5 pin bowling, the kids have no problems holding the balls. They don't like kids under 3 to bowl.

they just got electronic bowling this year. Before that we just wouldn't keep track of the score.

[Alyantavid]

My 5 year old loves bowling! They usually do have a cheaper time of day to get in and they'll put the bumpers up. Its great fun!

[AdInAZ]

Watch out for the smoke! Bleh! The stench is really bad in some places. We found an ally that has no smoking though, and its been fun. Dd gets free bowling games from her school during school breaks.

[annethcz]

Bowling is fun, but it can be expensive. If our family of 6 goes out for a bowling night, we plan to spend about $50 for 2 games plus shoe rental. But call ahead, rates and ammenities vary. At our bowling alley, it is much cheaper to go in the afternoon than in the evening.

My older kids are in a bowling league. They really liked it at first, but it's getting to be looonnnggg season.

[Jessy1019]

Go and have fun! We took my daughter the first time when she was a young 4, and she loves it. We've gone several times since then; her friend had a bowling party in January, and even my two year old liked it.

[moonshoes]

Bowling here is expensive and LOUD. DD loves it, DS hates it.

[MtBikeLover]

Both my kids love bowling! They both started bowling around 18 months and we go every couple of months.

Our bowling alleys here all have automatic bumpers so they go up and down depending on who is bowling - up for the kids, down for the adults!

[jennifera]

AdInAZ, As far as i know in many states it is illegal to smoke in any buildings, you have to smoke outside.

1growingsprout, If you can, see if there is a bowling alley with small balls or in some places called Candlepins, This way your kids will be able to throw the balls with know problems.

[rmzbm]

My kids love it! We went all the time when we lived in GA, I like the place alot less here.