With this post I wanted to share a fun activity that I normally do with my students on a random week in the year between 2 units of instruction or right before a break.
We have a Cosmic Bowling Tournament and the more “Extra” you can go with dimming the lights, bubble machines and black lights the better and more fun the experience is for your students.
Check out the video below to see an overview and how I set up the activity:
Pretty cool right?
Let’s break down the activity below:
Focus / Grade Level Outcome:
- Students will focus on underhand rolling a ball with control at a target using the cues “Swing, Step, Roll” (similar to our underhand throw cues)
- Students will work together with a partner or group of 2 and follow the Good Sport Code during and after gameplay
Grade Level:
- I normally do the tournament with my 3rd – 5th grade students, and with my younger kids we just play for fun or do cooperative bowling.
Setup (for up to 28 students):
I use dome cones to designate each lane and numbered cones to remind students of the point values for each line. I also use wristbands to quickly rotate teams as I explained in the video.
Also, the more you can add to the “Cosmic Bowling” feel the better, I dim the lights and put this super cool disco ball video up on my TV, use some Disco Lights and Black Lights around the room and put some neon streamers on the wall and neon tape on my bowling pins to get the vibe going.
A Few Tips for Success:
An Ounce of Prevention is Worth a Pound of Cure
Before explaining the game and demonstrating a few rounds of play we quickly discuss good sportsmanship and the correct way to shake hands and say “good game” after you finish playing. Getting students to think about this ahead of time will reduce sportsmanship issues in the game (see below).
Review the Cues
Before any activity I always try and review the cues for the skills we’re working on with my students. After all “The More You Know, The Farther You’ll Go!”
For Bowling, we just use our Underhand Throw Cues, but instead of “Throw” I substitute “Roll” for a “Swing, Step, Roll”
Demonstrate the Game
I’d recommend letting the class watch one lane of students play a few rounds and then once you make sure everyone understands how the activity works you can get the party started!
Wristbands for Rotation
During the first round, while students are playing, I walk around and give one team bracelets to wear to help reduce any confusion when I rotate students.
After the first round of play, I then have all teams (or students) with a wristband rotate the same direction to the next lane over and play at a new lane. If students aren’t wearing a wristband, they don’t move and once their new opponent gets to their lane they will begin a new game.
Scoring
You can definitely just play for fun, but I like to keep track of score by giving out some “Landers Bucks” (fake money) to the winners after teach round and then count it up at the end to see who the tournament champion is.
- You can get a template and see a tutorial on how I make the fake money on TPT here or inside of the PE Specialist Membership Resources Library
- You can get the lesson plan and printable bowling certificates on TPT or inside of the PE Specialist Membership Resources Library
Depending on time available you can modify the scoring or time limit, but I found it worked well to play the player or team with the most points after about 3 minutes was the winner of that game.
Cosmic Bowling Mode
After 1 round of bowling if students show responsibility and follow instructions I let them earn “Cosmic Bowling Mode”. For this, I usually turn off the lights and do the disco dance lights and black lights, which I call “Cosmic Bowling Mode” see below for an example. The disco light I have is a cheap $50 light off Amazon, along with some black lights, neon tape on the bowling pins and neon streamers to give it a disco dance party vibe. All the equipment is linked up in our amazon store if you want to check it out.
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The Awards Ceremony
I award the winner of the tournament with one of the printable bowling champion certificates and pay them one “Landers Bucks” after declaring them the Class Bowling Champion!
Variations and Modifications
- I’ve taught this over 2 50 minute classes and also just done a single class period, they both work, it just depends on how fast you want to move and if you want to allow your students to have time to play all of their classmates – you can easily go longer or shorter depending on how much time you have.
- Change the distances or point values to fit your situation and students
- Change the time limit for each round
- Kindergarten – I usually just play for fun against a partner and don’t worry about the tournament or keeping score
- To simplify the game you can get rid of the point cones and just have every hit worth 1 point and have every player bowl from the same line – you could also play this way to warm up before adding the different point value lines and numbered cones into the game.
- This would be a great way to modify the activity for K-1st students to keep it simple
- 1st and 2nd – I’ve found my 1st and 2nd graders really love to do “Cooperative Bowling” which is the same rules and point values, but instead of playing against each other they add up their points together to see if they can reach the “Wow Challenge” of 10 points before we rotate partners.
Check out the Bowling Lesson Plan and Printable Certificates on TPT Below:
Cosmic Bowling Tournament Lesson and Printable Certificates
That’s it – hope you have fun bowling with your students!
Steph says
Ben!
Can you tell us how you use your Landers Bucks? I watch a ton of your videos but had not seen them until the end of cosmic bowling vid.
Marcus says
Hey Steph,
We use the fake money for prizes and to keep track of points as you seen in the video.
Just an incentive for students in class!
Hope this helps!
Betfair Sportsbook says
Nice Article! Can’t wait for your next blog.
Marcus says
Thanks Betfair!
Glad you’re enjoying the resources!
Kim says
Thank you so much for sharing all your ideas. They really help to stimulate new games in this old brain of mine 🙂
Marcus Nellems says
You’re welcome Kim! Glad you’re enjoying the resources! We all can find new things to learn to help our students!