Recently I have been posting ideas for home schooling and virtual school trips to help me and anyone else who has suddenly added teacher to their day job. Now I am back into more familiar territory with an easy kids craft idea. Easter is almost upon us so here is an Easter bunny bowling craft activity. This is a two-in-one activity. First you have the craft project then you get to play the game!

So after all the panic over buying toilet rolls lately I’m guessing there are a few empty toilet roll tubes lying around in homes! Here is one way to make use of them. I always like to find ways to recycle and reuse items. More now than ever I am also keen to find activities to entertain the kids that doesn’t need lots of new craft supplies. This is a simple activity, suitable for all ages, and a way to use up leftover supplies.

Paint the tubes

The first step is to paint the toilet roll tubes. There are no rules on how to do this, but we went for a very simple and abstract method. Start by covering a table or using a wipe-clean surface. The next step is to take a large sandwich bag and cut it down both sides to open it up to make a flat surface. Tape the bag down onto your surface.

The next step is to apply blobs of paint onto the plastic bag surface in random patterns. We have lots of half empty bottles of poster paint so this was a good chance to use them up.

Now take a toilet roll tube and roll it in the paint. The tube will gradually build up an abstract, mottled pattern of multiple colours. Add as many colours as you like. Repeat until you have decorated six tubes.

Once the paint is on you can add on glitter or other sparkles to decorate the tubes. Then leave them to dry completely. Using the plastic bag to apply paint makes clearing up quick and easy.

Ears and faces

Once the painted tubes are dry it is time to turn them into bunnies to make your Easter bunny bowling set. Take a sheet of pink card and a sheet of white card or paper. Begin by drawing an ear template on the pink card. If you are struggling to make the shape even just draw one side, fold in half and trace round to make the other side. Cut out 12 ears from the pink card. Next draw a smaller shape in the white paper to make an inner ear. Again cut out 12 pieces.

Glue the white inner ears onto the pink outer ears and then glue the ears onto the toilet roll tubes.

The next step is to add on the faces. We have an unnaturally large stash of googly eyes so we use some for our bunnies. Alternatively, you could cut circles out of black and white card to make eyes, or simply draw them on. Using a black marker add on the mouth and whiskers. You could add a pompom or button to make a nose. We decided that we liked ours without any noses!

Time for Easter bunny bowling

So your bunnies are finished. Now its time to play! You will need a bowling ball to play. We had a large white craft pompom which looked so much like a big rabbit tail that it seemed perfect. You could use a ping pong ball, a bouncy ball or even a rolled up ball of paper.

Line your bunnies up – 3 on the back row, 2 in the middle, 1 in the front. Take it in turns to bowl and score points for how many you can each knock down. Try testing out different balls to see which works best. Game too easy? Try bowling from further away.

Happy Easter everyone, hope you enjoy some Easter bunny bowling!